Trip Report YSBK - YORG 22/08/2010

[Grahame Hutchison]

Well almost.

The plan for today was a morning flight out to Orange and back for a surprise visit to my neice, and to check out their new home.

0545 Alarm, quick shower and breakfast while I checked the weather and submitted my flight plan, then into the car for the one hour
drive over to Bankstown.

0730 Arrive at Schofields, signout SFR and then out to the line for the pre-flight. Both tanks were quite low, so I call Shell and had
the tanks filled to capacity, 182ltrs.

Sat in the cockpit and completed all the numbers in the flight plan, the wind being 240/10 at 2000ft, 230/20 at 5000ft and 240/15 at
7000ft. The forecast was for broken cloud at YORG at 1000ft so hopefully it clears as the day warns up. Total distance will be 202nm,
and the headwinds on the way out will drop the speed down to 101kts, but up to 130kts on the way back with the tailwind. The round
trip worked out at 107min and 64ltr of fuel, with a departure time of 0830 and SAR time of 220230.

0820 Startup and requested a taxi clearance which was only to the Manoeuvering Area boundary. As I approached the Kilo/Uniform 1
Intermediate Holding Point I was given a clearance to the Alpha 5 holding point Runway 29R. Into the run up bay at Kilo 4 for final
engine and instrument checks, then a short taxi to Alpha 5 and a call for a takeoff clearance.

0830 Initially I was asked to line up and hold, as there was another Archer on Runway 29C about to depart. As this aircraft lifted off
I was cleared for takeoff, and ended up following the aircraft all the way out towards the Nepean River, slowly catching up with it.

0835 Passing the radio masts just north of the old Hoxton Park and tracking 260 degrees directly for Mulgoa, climbing to 2500ft and
then 4500ft with the DME steps.

0841 Overhead Mulgoa and onto a heading of 283 for YKAT. Used the Garmin 430 GPS to track my progress as I climbed out to 6500ft.



0852 Overhead YKAT which consists of two short dirt runways, and passing a small dam between Katoomba and Medlow Bath.



0858 As I tracked past Lithgow out the starboard side, there was significant cloud cover to the west approaching Bathurst. The cloud
was broken at first, then became solid and building up significantly towards Orange. The forecast for Bathurst was early fog and a
cloud base of 1800ft.



Looking at the initial broken cloud it may have been possible to get into Bathurst, however I think the probability would have been quite
low, so I decided to head back to YSBK unfortuately.



0903 A 180 degree turn and back heading 113 towards YKAT and what a difference looking back east towards the mountains, clear blue
skies. You can see the cloud line disappearing to the south.



Heading back to the escarpment.


Approaching Medlow Bath.


0923 Overhead Mulgoa again and decided to do a pass over Warragamba Dam where the water level is looking quite good.



0926 Backing onto heading 074 for Prospect, checked the ATIS for YSBK, and my clearance was number one for Runway 29R maintaining
1500ft. The Delta ATIS had the wind at 240/10kts with a crosswing max of 10kts. It was a bit bumpy on the way back into YSBK right
through to the final approach.

The Clear Visual Approach from the tower was not forthcoming so I called approaching the downwind leg at 1500ft. I was then cleared
number one for the Visual Approach to Runway 29R and Cleared To Land. With the new Class D airspace requirements, you cannot
descend to the 1000ft circuit height without the Clear Visual Approach from the tower.

0931 Touchdown Runway 29R and it was a smooth textbook landing. I vacated the runway at Mike 3 and requested a Taxi Clearance
for Schofield.

0935 Shutdown and completed the usual paperwork, VDO, Airswitch and Maintenance Log.

After the formalities at Schofields, I took off for a drive around the hangers to see if there was interesting aircraft today.

[Grahame Hutchison]

[Jason H]

Very nice Grahame, I like the detail.

I was out at BK today taking a few friends flying on the Victor 1 (my first time). What an amazing flight on an amazing day; at least in Sydney it was.

[Grahame Hutchison]

Thanks Jason, it looked great along the coast today, although the cloud did come in from the west in the afternoon. Victor 1 is a great flight and a real experience the first time you do it.

[Kurt A]

Hi Grahame,

Great report. Thanks for sharing. If you do get out to Orange to complete the flight, I'd love to see the remainder of the trip.

Cheers.