Trip Report: A Weekend Run to Jaspers ------------------------------------------------------ Sunday: The sky was blue, the morning sun was shining and a 20 knot (37km/h) breeze kept the temperature down. We were standing on the balcony discussing whether or not to go flying, I sent a text to Liz at Jaspers to find out the weather conditions up there. Liz promptly replied Bugger all, very smooth & no wind, yet. A little hazy though. With in a few minutes we were in the hangar, getting the Gazelle out and doing a pre-flight inspection. Maintenance release signed. Flight Plan sorted. We were ready to blast off for the short 70 nautical mile (130km) flight. - Hatches and harnesses secure. Clear Prop. The takeoff was smooth, despite the 20 knots of wind, which was mostly straight down the runway, it wasnt all that gusty. Turning Crosswind I made the departure call, Moruya Traffic, Gazelle 3519 is departing crosswind 04, time 11, on climb through 500 for 3500, tracking north coastal for Jaspers Brush, Moruya. - a quick CLEAROFF check and we were settled in for the planned 80 minute flight. Slow, but fast enough to enjoy the scenery. As Glenn, my passenger, hasnt yet done his navigation endorsement, I talked him through everything I was doing, and everything I was planning to do as the flight progressed; mostly things like 5 miles south of Ulladulla, we will switch to Nowra Radio Frequency, 118.85, and make a general radio call - if the tower and military airspace has become active during the flight, they will inform us and we would have to return to Moruya, this time. If not, we can happily keep going to Jaspers. so he could follow along and be aware of what I would be doing. The flight up was uneventful, as expected, and we flew over some nice beaches, headlands, islands, lakes and even some small mountains. The average ground speed was around 50 knots (90km/h), so we were certainly in no rush. Most of the flight was between 2500 feet and 3500 ft. The approach into Jaspers began with a descent from overhead South Nowra Township, onto the dead side (away from the landing pattern). As we descended through around 1500ft, it started to get a little bumpy, but this was expected and nothing to worry about. We turned right, towards the airfield, and this was followed with another radio call, letting the other aircraft know what I was doing - Jaspers Traffic, Gazelle 3519 joining midfield crosswind 06, Jaspers Brush. The Brumby, with Liz and Jayden, had just become airborne and Liz radioed You can go number one - meaning that we would be the first in the traffic pattern to land. Turning final, I kept the power on a little to counteract the gusty conditions and also as a buffer in case of sink, downdrafts and other things that would make the flight eventful - the wind was mostly across all runways. Touch down was soft, on the left wheel first as intended for the moderate crosswind, a slight gust and we were flying again, only about a foot, but we quickly settled back down and with that, an hour and a half after departure, we were safely at Jaspers Brush. Overall, we used around 20 Litres of fuel on the way up, a fuel burn of about 13.5L/hr. Not bad. Once the plane was parked, we went up to the club house, relaxed and spoke with Liz, Jayden and Shannon, who were the only people at Jaspers while we were there. After about an hour or so, Liz helped with some fuel to top up the tanks as we had organised before the flight. We would have made it back to Moruya without extra fuel, but it is better to be safe and have the option. The return back to Moruya was fast, we had a good tailwind, expected flight time of 40 minutes, almost half the time it took to fly up there. We were in the air at 2:20pm and back on the ground at 3pm. The average ground speed was around 90 knots (170km/h), pretty quick for a trusty old Gazelle - much better than driving, far less traffic and more of an adventure. To summarise: It was awesome! - Cameron.
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 01:59:08 +0000
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