Southern Microlight Club of Victoria
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Adventure Flight WSL to Marlo by Alf Jessup
A decision was made late Saturday afternoon the 12th of February 2011 to conduct a sortie to Marlo from West Sale and back on the Sunday if the forecast stood up to what it was meant to be.
Mick Ludbey, John Brent and myself were confirmed starters for the 80nm each way trip from West Sale to the east over the beautiful Gippsland lakes region then to follow the coast from lakes Entrance the remaining 29nm to Orbost aerodrome located on the coast at Marlo.
A late in the evening (sorry for the short notice) text message to Ken Jelleff and Steve Bell inviting them along for the sortie was declined by Steve due to his trike being situated at Flowerdale in preparation for the SMC following weekend 5 day Western Wander tour, and not hearing back from Ken.
A time was set for departure out of WSL at 07:30 Sunday allowing for John to arrive from his home base at LTV.
Both Mick and I were out at the hangar at 06:30 to refuel and prepare the trikes for our sortie for the day.
John arrived around 07:10, landed and took a much needed smoke break, fuel top off and pit stop before we all became airborne around 07:30 and tracked 060 for Paynesville and Lakes Entrance.
The air was so smooth at our cruising altitude of 1500agl as we tracked NNE towards our first waypoint and to top it off we were rewarded with a 12-15 kt tailwind giving us around 68kts GS and the GPS telling us that in a mere 1hr and 15 minutes our wheels should be kissing the ground on Marlo’s Rwy 25.
Conversing in between the chat channel while monitoring the required CTAF’s we were all (Living the dream as Mick often say’s) and could not think of anything else these pilots would rather be doing than what we were doing now, watching the world slip by beneath our wings.
Paynesville was now fast approaching and a decision was made to gain another 1500 feet to cross the water between Paynesville and Metung and then descend back down once we were over the water and proceed onto Lakes before going coastal the remainder of the way.
Between Metung and Lakes I looked back to see Mick about 300+ meters behind and just of my right 100 ft above my altitude and John about the same behind Mick and I must say it was an awesome sight and I only wish one day that I will bring the camera along and catch these visions.
I asked to boys to stay in this formation as we overflew my parents place on the NE end of Lakes Entrance as my father as much as he hates flying has the uncanny ability to always hear me coming and be on the decking waving as I fly over.
Formation over mum and dads done Both Mick and I veered towards the coast and started a descent while John took his continued track to meet up with the coast around Lake Tyres, arriving over the beach at 500agl the air was still smooth right up until we passed Red Bluff, between Lakes and Lake Tyres then the air decided to rough us up enough that we climbed right back up to 1500 and continued on our merry way in the smooth air towards Marlo.
10 miles out the mandatory inbound calls were made by us all and then the 3 mile and the circuit calls, upon reaching about 700agl on downwind the air lit up and tossed us around just enough to keep you on your toes and looking at the windsock on downwind she was telling us we would be in for an interesting ride.
Turning base I was getting enough turbulence from the forest to the north which runs almost the full length of the strip and beyond the departure end of Rwy 25 that this landing wasn’t going to be a normal run of the mill landing, I was not disappointed it wasn’t prettiest but it was safe and I was glad to be on the ground after flying 1hrs and 13 minutes in silky smooth air and the last 4 in hmmm, a washing machine.
John landed further up the strip than I did and commented that his was not too bad and Mick like me landed at the start of the keys and had one sort of like mine, not the prettiest but safe.
Trikes secured we headed in to the beautiful facilities of the Orbost aero club and donated some money to the honesty jar and made ourselves a coffee as no one else was about.
We sat and chatted a while consumed our coffee and watch the wind ease off just a tad and change direction from the NW to a more westerly running down the strip.
After being on the ground resting for an hour and a half we decided to head back, John all refuelled we decided that depending on our ground speed going home that if we could not maintain at least 40kts we would call into Bairnsdale for John to top up again.
We decided to use all the strip for our take off as to hopefully get out of the rotor earlier as the eastern 500 meters of the strip has no close trees to the north for the first 500.
We all back tracked together and yep you guessed it I was the guinea pig for the take-off and what a take-off it was, 18kts+ on the nose a ground roll of 40 meters and up like the space shuttle, (well that’s what it felt like) some moderate turbulence until passing 600 feet then it smoothed out a bit, whilst climbing to 2500agl I called the wingmen and was relieved to find they were all safely airborne.
Upon reaching 2500 my groundspeed was 44kts indicating about 62 and I relayed this to Mick and John and informed them that I was going to climb to 4500 and see what that bought me, at 4500 I was getting 50kts and really smooth air which I relayed to them, John followed me up and Mick elected to stay at 2500 to enjoy a few mild bumps.
Looking to the west we noticed what looked like a large cloud band about 20 odd miles ahead and coming from the NW just short of the coast line.
Chatting with John I decided I was going to stay up here until I reach this cloud and see how many holes were in it, upon reaching it there were plenty of holes as you overflew them but the further you looked the more solid it was looking so I decided overhead Lake Tyres I would descend under them a decision I would later regret, approaching Lakes now under the cloud the thermal activity was starting to hot up and I was regretting my decision to come down especially whenever I looked up the further I went along and saw all these big holes and the smooth blue sky above them.
Mick tracked coastal to Loch Sport then came inland and John followed me direct from Lakes to WSL basically the return track the way we come up except we weren’t flying as straight as we were 3 hours earlier bouncing around and me still cussing my decision while looking up at the smooth stuff above me, I decided way back that I wasn’t going back up as even though the holes were plenty big I find as you get closer to the cloud base the rougher it gets so I continued on my merry way.
Passing Paynesville we descended from 2500 to 500 to check it out, pretty interesting watching the VSI show 600fpm up with the bar in and 75kts on the ASI then to see 500fpm down and more dropping out of the thermal on the other side so the roller coaster ride continued every so often with a wakeup call when the left or right wing passed through the edge of a thermal.
The longer it went the better I felt and the more comfortable I was beginning to feel especially watching the GPS count down the miles to home.
Approaching East Sale the thermals I felt actually were decreasing or maybe it was me just knowing I was only 10mn from home, as we approached the West Sale airport the windsock was pretty much down Rwy 27 at about 15+kts so a call overhead had me joining the circuit for 27 and the end at least for me of a wonderful and interesting 160nm round trip sortie
I landed at 11:45, John at 11:50 and Living the dream Mick at 12:15.
Trikes all in the hanger we rested and reflected on our trip over a coffee and some smokes (Mick even said he might take it up after that workout).
We all commented on how fatiguing it was the return trip home and I must agree it was quite draining compared to the flight down.
I might be getting old or maybe just got used to the Dark Side aircraft where it is a flick of the wrist for correction in turbulence but I will admit it was hard work at times but I never felt unsafe at any time.
These hardy little machines will take far more than you comfort zone will allow so you just have to try and relax and go with the motions so to speak when it is not perfectly smooth conditions.
John made a safe return back to LTV and overall it was a great flight had by all so thanks guys for the company.
Flight time
Alf, 912 SST, 3.5hrs and 35 litres
Mick, 912 Cruze Outback 4hrs and 38 litres
John, 582 ST2B Outback 4hrs 30 +- and 60+ litres from LTV
Cheers
Alf
A decision was made late Saturday afternoon the 12th of February 2011 to conduct a sortie to Marlo from West Sale and back on the Sunday if the forecast stood up to what it was meant to be.
Mick Ludbey, John Brent and myself were confirmed starters for the 80nm each way trip from West Sale to the east over the beautiful Gippsland lakes region then to follow the coast from lakes Entrance the remaining 29nm to Orbost aerodrome located on the coast at Marlo.
A late in the evening (sorry for the short notice) text message to Ken Jelleff and Steve Bell inviting them along for the sortie was declined by Steve due to his trike being situated at Flowerdale in preparation for the SMC following weekend 5 day Western Wander tour, and not hearing back from Ken.
A time was set for departure out of WSL at 07:30 Sunday allowing for John to arrive from his home base at LTV.
Both Mick and I were out at the hangar at 06:30 to refuel and prepare the trikes for our sortie for the day.
John arrived around 07:10, landed and took a much needed smoke break, fuel top off and pit stop before we all became airborne around 07:30 and tracked 060 for Paynesville and Lakes Entrance.
The air was so smooth at our cruising altitude of 1500agl as we tracked NNE towards our first waypoint and to top it off we were rewarded with a 12-15 kt tailwind giving us around 68kts GS and the GPS telling us that in a mere 1hr and 15 minutes our wheels should be kissing the ground on Marlo’s Rwy 25.
Conversing in between the chat channel while monitoring the required CTAF’s we were all (Living the dream as Mick often say’s) and could not think of anything else these pilots would rather be doing than what we were doing now, watching the world slip by beneath our wings.
Paynesville was now fast approaching and a decision was made to gain another 1500 feet to cross the water between Paynesville and Metung and then descend back down once we were over the water and proceed onto Lakes before going coastal the remainder of the way.
Between Metung and Lakes I looked back to see Mick about 300+ meters behind and just of my right 100 ft above my altitude and John about the same behind Mick and I must say it was an awesome sight and I only wish one day that I will bring the camera along and catch these visions.
I asked to boys to stay in this formation as we overflew my parents place on the NE end of Lakes Entrance as my father as much as he hates flying has the uncanny ability to always hear me coming and be on the decking waving as I fly over.
Formation over mum and dads done Both Mick and I veered towards the coast and started a descent while John took his continued track to meet up with the coast around Lake Tyres, arriving over the beach at 500agl the air was still smooth right up until we passed Red Bluff, between Lakes and Lake Tyres then the air decided to rough us up enough that we climbed right back up to 1500 and continued on our merry way in the smooth air towards Marlo.
10 miles out the mandatory inbound calls were made by us all and then the 3 mile and the circuit calls, upon reaching about 700agl on downwind the air lit up and tossed us around just enough to keep you on your toes and looking at the windsock on downwind she was telling us we would be in for an interesting ride.
Turning base I was getting enough turbulence from the forest to the north which runs almost the full length of the strip and beyond the departure end of Rwy 25 that this landing wasn’t going to be a normal run of the mill landing, I was not disappointed it wasn’t prettiest but it was safe and I was glad to be on the ground after flying 1hrs and 13 minutes in silky smooth air and the last 4 in hmmm, a washing machine.
John landed further up the strip than I did and commented that his was not too bad and Mick like me landed at the start of the keys and had one sort of like mine, not the prettiest but safe.
Trikes secured we headed in to the beautiful facilities of the Orbost aero club and donated some money to the honesty jar and made ourselves a coffee as no one else was about.
We sat and chatted a while consumed our coffee and watch the wind ease off just a tad and change direction from the NW to a more westerly running down the strip.
After being on the ground resting for an hour and a half we decided to head back, John all refuelled we decided that depending on our ground speed going home that if we could not maintain at least 40kts we would call into Bairnsdale for John to top up again.
We decided to use all the strip for our take off as to hopefully get out of the rotor earlier as the eastern 500 meters of the strip has no close trees to the north for the first 500.
We all back tracked together and yep you guessed it I was the guinea pig for the take-off and what a take-off it was, 18kts+ on the nose a ground roll of 40 meters and up like the space shuttle, (well that’s what it felt like) some moderate turbulence until passing 600 feet then it smoothed out a bit, whilst climbing to 2500agl I called the wingmen and was relieved to find they were all safely airborne.
Upon reaching 2500 my groundspeed was 44kts indicating about 62 and I relayed this to Mick and John and informed them that I was going to climb to 4500 and see what that bought me, at 4500 I was getting 50kts and really smooth air which I relayed to them, John followed me up and Mick elected to stay at 2500 to enjoy a few mild bumps.
Looking to the west we noticed what looked like a large cloud band about 20 odd miles ahead and coming from the NW just short of the coast line.
Chatting with John I decided I was going to stay up here until I reach this cloud and see how many holes were in it, upon reaching it there were plenty of holes as you overflew them but the further you looked the more solid it was looking so I decided overhead Lake Tyres I would descend under them a decision I would later regret, approaching Lakes now under the cloud the thermal activity was starting to hot up and I was regretting my decision to come down especially whenever I looked up the further I went along and saw all these big holes and the smooth blue sky above them.
Mick tracked coastal to Loch Sport then came inland and John followed me direct from Lakes to WSL basically the return track the way we come up except we weren’t flying as straight as we were 3 hours earlier bouncing around and me still cussing my decision while looking up at the smooth stuff above me, I decided way back that I wasn’t going back up as even though the holes were plenty big I find as you get closer to the cloud base the rougher it gets so I continued on my merry way.
Passing Paynesville we descended from 2500 to 500 to check it out, pretty interesting watching the VSI show 600fpm up with the bar in and 75kts on the ASI then to see 500fpm down and more dropping out of the thermal on the other side so the roller coaster ride continued every so often with a wakeup call when the left or right wing passed through the edge of a thermal.
The longer it went the better I felt and the more comfortable I was beginning to feel especially watching the GPS count down the miles to home.
Approaching East Sale the thermals I felt actually were decreasing or maybe it was me just knowing I was only 10mn from home, as we approached the West Sale airport the windsock was pretty much down Rwy 27 at about 15+kts so a call overhead had me joining the circuit for 27 and the end at least for me of a wonderful and interesting 160nm round trip sortie
I landed at 11:45, John at 11:50 and Living the dream Mick at 12:15.
Trikes all in the hanger we rested and reflected on our trip over a coffee and some smokes (Mick even said he might take it up after that workout).
We all commented on how fatiguing it was the return trip home and I must agree it was quite draining compared to the flight down.
I might be getting old or maybe just got used to the Dark Side aircraft where it is a flick of the wrist for correction in turbulence but I will admit it was hard work at times but I never felt unsafe at any time.
These hardy little machines will take far more than you comfort zone will allow so you just have to try and relax and go with the motions so to speak when it is not perfectly smooth conditions.
John made a safe return back to LTV and overall it was a great flight had by all so thanks guys for the company.
Flight time
Alf, 912 SST, 3.5hrs and 35 litres
Mick, 912 Cruze Outback 4hrs and 38 litres
John, 582 ST2B Outback 4hrs 30 +- and 60+ litres from LTV
Cheers
Alf