flypaper - Mackay Aero Club

FLYPAPER
THE MACKAY AERO CLUB
NEWSLETTER
September 2014
P.O. BOX 692, MACKAY, Q 4740 PH 07 49572575
Email info@mackayaeroclub.org.au
Webpage: www.mackayaeroclub.org.au
Dear Members and Friends
I would like to thank Gary Bruckner very much for doing the newsletter last month whilst I was
away. I think he did a great job so hope I can keep up the standard! I have a computer which has
gone into cardiac arrest so am doing this on the laptop with a different email address, so I am just
hoping I haven’t missed any articles. Please advise me if this is the case and I will try and rectify it.
Cheers Gaye.
FLYING COMPS.
Flying Comps have gone to the next step. Chrisair Aircraft Maintenance is sponsoring the
flying comps for the coming year, with a desirable price for the person (pilot or passenger)
hitting the target in the SAR Drop. The price money put up is $500.00. Last year’s comp is
finished and the 2015 comp starts on Saturday the 27th of September. Have a go and see how
good you are. If you are not there you miss out. Thank you Chrisair for raising the stakes
another level.
“Just a reminder if you plan to come for dinner on Fridays, please call
Jodie on 0439 386 881 for a booking. This will make it easier to cater for
everyone.”
NAV TRIAL
The annual navigation trail (Air Race for the older members) was held on the 30th of August
and thanks to Bill O’Brian it turned out to be a great day. I think we had 11 planes and over
30 people. We think there were 11 planes until we realised Roy Powell and his Diamond was
nominated twice. This caused a little bit of a problem as we ended up one plane short when we
counted to make sure everyone arrived at the designated spot. Bill made it very interesting
and we ended up in places no one knew existed. Thanks Bill for a great effort.
First stop after zig-zaging through the country side we ended up in a place called
“Selohnolem”, Melon Holes spelled backwards. No idea how he ever found this please. But we
all know Bill, always low and fast. Bill and Eric put on some nice morning tea with lots of cake
tea and coffee and after a look around the property off we went heading for the lunch stop.
Some of us managed to get there as per instruction sheet and some of us got there in different
ways enjoying the great Australian country side. At the end we all managed to get to Dingo
and after the dust settled in the car park we had lunch at the roadhouse. Some of the pilots
listened and managed to participate in the point landing at Dingo which was set up by Bill and
Eric. Others came in from a different direction and missed out on the chance to show off their
landing skills.
After lunch the track home took us to the coast somewhere near Ogmore and up the coast
back to Mackay. Overall a great day’s flying.
And the winners were Michael Curtin (Pilot) and Gary Bruckner (Navigator) with 81 Points.
Second: WFA Dave Curtin & Crew 75 Points and third: Barry Dean & Crew 66 Points
With the cost of hiring the club aeroplane being made more affordable we already noticed an
increase in aircraft hire, which is great for the club and if this continues we might be able to
keep our beloved PCN for a little bit longer. Keep it up guys you are supporting the club.
This year’s annual dinner is scheduled for the 11th of October and planning is
hotting up. Looks like we will have some great entertainment and the
organisers (Alicia & Claire) have plenty other social activities planned. If
you wish to attend the annual dinner you must book by sending an
email to info@makckayaeroclub.org.au or call the club on 07 4957 2575 to let
us know you are coming. This is important for the planning of the event. (See
attached flyer)
(By the way Gentlemen you are permitted to wear pants, socks and shoes, Ladies please yourself)
ANNUAL DINNER
Will be on the 11th of October. Details as per above.
CHRISTMAS PARTY
This has been set for December the 5th / mark this also on your calendar.
CLUB AIRCRAFT (Now affordable)
For bookings please call Gary Bruckner 0422 579 826 or David Curtin on 0418 185 703.
Check availability of the aircraft on our website calendar: www.mackayareoclub.org.au
Cheaper than driving!
JOKES OF THE MONTH.
GREEK LEGAL SYSTEM
A man and his wife were getting a divorce at a local court in Greece; but the custody of their children posed a problem.
The mother jumped to her feet and protested to the judge that since she had brought the children into this world, she
should retain
custody of them.
The man also wanted custody of his children, so the judge asked for his side of the story.
After a long moment of silence, the man rose from his chair and replied:
"Your Honour, when I put a coin into a vending machine, and a Coke comes out, does the Coke belong to me or to the
machine?"
DON'T LAUGH...... HE WON!!
DO YOU REMEMBER?
Someone asked the other day, “What was your favourite ‘fast food’ when you were growing up?”
“We didn’t have fast food when I was growing up,” I informed him. “All the food was slow.”
“C’mon seriously…Where did you eat?”
“It was a place called home,” I explained! “Mum cooked every day and when Dad got home from work, we sat down
together at the dining room table, and if I didn’t like what she put on my plate, I was allowed to sit there until I did like
it.”
By this time the lad was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn’t tell
him the part about how I had to have permission to leave the table.
But here are some other things I would have told him about my childhood if I’d figured his system coul have handled
it.
Some parents NEVER owner their own house, wore jeans, set foot on a golf course, travelled out of the country or had
a credit card.
My parents never drove e to school.. I had a bicycle that weighed 50 pounds, and only had one speed. {Slow}
We didn’t have a television in our house until I was 10. It was, of course, black and white, and the station wnet off the
air at 10pm, after playing the national anthem and epilogue; it came back on the air at about 6 am. And there was
usually a locally produced news and farm show on, featuring local people!
Pizzas were not delivered to our home….but milk was!
All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered newspapers. My brother delivered a newspaper, seven
days a week. He had to get up at 6 every morning.
Film stars kissed with their mouths closed, at least during filming. There were no movie ratings because all movies
were responsibly produced for everyone to enjoy viewing, without profanity or violence or almost anything offensive.
If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may want to share some of these memories with your
children or grandchildren. Just don’t blame me if they bust a gut laughing!
GROWING UP ISN’T WHAT IT USED TO BE, IS IT?
Memories from a friend;
My Dad is cleaning out my grandmother’s house {she died recently} and he brought me an old lemonade bottle. In the
bottle top was a stopper with a bunch of holes in it. I knew immediately what it was, but my daughter had no idea. She
thought they had tried to make it a salt shaker or something. I knew it as the bottle that sat on the end of the ironing
board to ‘sprinkle’ clothes with because we didn’t have steam irons. Man I am old.
How many do you remember?
o Headlight dip-switches on the floor of the car.
o Ignition switches on the dashboard.
o Trouser leg clips for bicycles without chain guards.
o Soldering irons you heated on a gas burner.
o Using hand signals for cars without turn indicators.
o Sweet cigarettes
o Coffee shops with juke boxes
o Home milk delivery in glass bottles
o Party lines on the telephone
o Newsreels before the movie.
o TV test patterns that came on at night after the last show and were there until TV shows started again in the
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
morning. {There were only 2 channels if you were fortunate.}
Peashooters.
33rpm records
45 rpm records
Hi-fi’s
Metal ice trays with levers
Blue flashbulb
Cork popguns
Wash tub wringers.
MEMBERSHIP DRAW
05/08/14
12/08/2014
19/08/2014
26/09/2014
02/09/2014
09/09/2014
16/09/2014
23/09/2014
Membership Draw August/September
Leon Kay
264
No Draw
Lex Watson
Harold Smith
Rabbit Evetts
Frances Denman
Frank Johnson
Muriel Atherton
282
144
161
020
007
037
$105.00
$110.00
Not won
$115.00
$120.00
$125.00
$130.00
$135.00
$140.00
Not won
Not won
Not won
Not won
Not won
Won
Don’t forget to come along of a Tuesday evening for a chat and a drink. You will be supporting the club and it could be your name pulled out for
the membership draw.
NEWS FLASH !
AUSTRALIA IS SHRINKING .
What would Burke & Wills, Ludwig
Leichardt and their like have done to have
a modern light aircraft ,a GPS and Oz
Runways available to them on their epic
exploration journeys.
On our just completed trip from Mackay
across the center to the west coast and
back across the Nullabor and the Great
Australian Bight one marveled at the
tenacity and the courage of the early explorers. The huge areas of
featurless waterless country is still somewhat daunting today. Imagine
what it was like, not knowing what lay ahead and traversing the great
unknown one camel plod at a time!
Yes, modern transport and technology have shrunk the vast distances
of this country. A Jetstar or a Virgin will whisk you from one side of
Australia to the other in a couple of hours, but all you will see is the
back of someone’s head and sustinance comes in the form of luke
warm coffee.
BUT, what a great privilege it is for a group of like-minded FLYERS to
fuel up our planes and set off to traverse the country taking in the
unfolding landscape, dropping in at out of the way places, meeting the
locals, and marveling at the harshness, the beauty and the
unexpected. All the while gaining respect for those who went before
us not really that long ago. THEY DID IT ONE STEP AT A TIME.
Friday 12th. Having decided to forgo Dinner at the Aero Club, EUY
departed Mackay, climbed out to the west and set track for
LONGREACH. Here we caught up to the Toole's
from Rockhampton and the Lewis's from Southport.
Next stop BOULIA. A security controlled airport ( I
believe the 'ROOS can be troublesome). But they
did have an impressive newly resurfaced runway
and a very obliging re-fueler. We were joined here
by the Collins's from Tully and 81 year old SHAD
and his Tecnam from Southport.
An early start for Alice Springs. As always the
impressive Macdonnell Ranges provided a dramatic entry to the city. A tour of the Air museum, the
art gallery & cultural centre etc. and a leisurely lunch was enjoyed.
A big day ahead so another early start. A
beautiful day so a couple of us diverted to land at
AYRES ROCK and do the scenic flight around
the ROCK and THE OLGAS before continuing on
to GILES where the wind that was to plague us
for the next few days had picked up and gave us
a strong gusty crosswind. A taste of what was to
come. Had hoped to visit the weather station but
the flies the heat and the distance to walk made it
a lunch only stop at the local community store.
On to Warburton for a fuel stop and more gusty wind. Fully fueled at $ 3.15 a Lt. and it was off to
TJUKAYIRLA roadhouse. Owned by the local aboriginal community the road is the runway. This
widened strip of bitumen is an emergency Flying Doctor strip. We arrived a 5 past 3 but were
informed that they shut at 3. So no dinner.
An agreement was negotiated with the only
item on the menu available was fish &chips, so
fish & chips it was!
Next morning the wind was blowing the joeys
back into their mothers pouch. Never the less
course was set for Meekathara. THE westerly
wind was strong and rough, reportedly up to a
56 Knt. headwind. A phone call to LEONARA
assured us that they had 4 (only ) drums of fuel
available so because of fuel concerns a
decision was made to divert. We bumped and
crawled our way towards LEONARA but the weather was not finished with us yet. About 30 mile
out a front with rain and very rough wind was met. Roger & Suzi did an about turn and headed
back to a mine strip and watched as their ground speed went from 78 Knts to 157 Knts.
The rest of us being forewarned by Roger diverted to LAVERTON further north where a helpful kiwi
council person took us into town where we
lunched and waited for the weather to clear
.Eventually we all arrived at LEONARA where
each plane took on a drum of fuel. Once again
the" going out of their way to help attitude" came
to the fore. A bus materialized out of nowhere
and off to town, where a motel was found and we
all settled down and decided that enough was
enough!
The weather people told us that the weather was
very unusual and they only get it like that about
once in ten years.
Next morning the decision was made to head to GERALDTON instead of KALBARRI to better
manage fuel.
Still lots of headwind and fairly low cloud and a couple of us picked up some CARBY ICE.
Approaching GERALDTON the country began to change and the dry sandy country gave way to
wheat fields. and quite a big wind farm.
Roger discovered a crack in his spinner but the
very helpful LAME produced a replacement
and had it fitted in quick time. Only problem
Rogers pristine Green & White Plane now had
a rather insipid Blue spinner, the butt of a few
jokes over the weekend.
On to KALBARRI where we spent an
enjoyable few days. The Murchison River
carves its way to the coast through magnificent
red and white banded gorges (Tumblagooda
Sandstone). It was here we got our first taste of the famed W.A. wildflowers not in massed displays
as seen in the central desert country but scattered throughout the low scrubby growth with
unexpected and beautiful variety. Also came across the fearsome looking but harmless THORNY
DEVILS.
Back to the coast, and time for some walking as we explored the spectacular ZUYTDORP cliffs.
Named after a Dutch East India 17th century ship wreck, the cliffs stretch 200 km. South to Shark
bay. Pods of dolphins entertained us playing in the Indian ocean swells while offshore humpback
whales cruised by.
Friday saw us airborne once again and headed south along
the ZUYDORP cliffs back past Geraldton and on to
CERVANTES the destination for the CESSNA 182 FLYIN.
Sounded like Mackay with familiar Rego's IEG,WFA,and Greg
and Gaye calling up just before us.
The very efficient ground crew guided us in and in no time
either had people whisked off to town or partaking of very
welcome food and drinks.
I believe 27 planes and some seventy people turned up, a
pretty good effort given the distances most had to travel. 6 planes were from Mackay so we were
well represented.
Friday night was the time for catching up with old
friends & making new friends. A diverse group of
people from all walks of life who come together
through a common interest, the Cessna 182.
Sat. was time to go and catch our lunch. All
aboard a cray fishing boat and after pulling up
pots, measuring crays and checking for eggs
most got thrown back from where they had come
from. Lunch was looking a bit light on but
fortunately they had some they had prepared
earlier.
A tour of the processing plant showed how the catch was handled and prepared for export. I am
still not sure that to freeze a lobster or crab before throwing it into boiling water is the humane way
to dispatch them. Be a bit like dying twice!
A tour of the PINNACLES in the afternoon. These unique limestone pillars rise out of the yellow
sand dunes some 5 m. tall spread over the
landscape in their thousands.
Dinner saw the usual revelation of sins and fines
were extracted to go to a local charity, (the local
school)
Sunday. A tour of the local area and once again we
were treated to an impressive display of
wildflowers.
A boxed lunch on the beautiful foreshore at
DURIEN bay. DURIEN BAY seems to have a
thriving parachute operation with a couple of
aircraft operating almost non- stop while we were in the area.
Monday planes headed N. S. & E. Don’t think any went West! Too much headwind & too much
water.
EUY went East to Kalgoorlie and then on to Forrest near the W.A. border, a one time refueling
stop and stopover for early Airline services crossing from or to Perth and the Eastern states. Also a
small museum at the old weather station.
Next day down to Eucla on the Great Australian Bight and then a low level flight along the
incredible cliffs still being pounded by the Southern ocean swells that formed them. Overflew the
Nullabor roadhouse where most of the other Mackay crew overnighted and on to the Head of the
Bight where we were rewarded with the sighting of quite a few whales and calves. A couple of
orbits overhead while the the tourists below took photos of us while we took photos of them!
On to the pretty town of Ceduna noted for its oysters. Denise partook liberally and declared that
their reputation was well deserved.
THARGAMINDAH Next stopover. Why? Because we hadn’t been there for years and because you
never know what you will find in these places " less travelled". Oil & gas are bringing changes
there.
Charleville for fuel and a feed. A very good service is provided here for travelers like us with fuel
and café, and we like to support them.
Heading for home and heard on the radio the other Mackay crews heading to Charleville after
overnighting at TIBOOBURRA.
Arrived back in Mackay at 13.20. Completed 40
hours flying time, saw some spectacular and varied
scenery, met and enjoyed the company of many
interesting people, experienced weather from
challenging to absolutely magic, and look forward to
doing it all again.
{Ian Thomason}