Something that has become an annual escape for some of the DDAC social flyers is the Australia Day long Weekend Fly Away.
For 2020 we decided that we would once again cross Bass Straight and take a look at the Devonport Aero Club's Australia Day Fly in at The Vale – a private strip situated between the hills and mountains just south of Devonport. This year we had 3 Aircraft and 8 people involved. Fred and Erin in a Cirrus SR22 (FJD), Al and Carol in a 172 (EGL) and Rob, Angela, Steve and Shaneen in a 182 (YRA).
Al and Carol departed Toowoomba on the Wednesday prior bound for Torquay as they had a few jobs to do on the way down. This proved an interesting day as it coincided with fairly ordinary conditions that included big headwinds, dust storms and lots of clouds.
Fred and Rob left on Friday morning for Bathurst – the plan being to inspect an aircraft for sale there. We departed Toowoomba in IFR conditions and found a level at 8000 feet that put us between the layers of cloud where it was incredibly smooth. Our only traffic was a “Cyclops” travelling north from Inverell just off our course.
We couldn’t work out what a cyclops could be, interestingly we had it on OzRunways but nothing showing on our traffic in the aircraft. I assumed it could have been something military. As luck would have it, we both popped out of the clouds as we passed each other a few miles apart and it was a Chinook. It was very exciting to see one of these in the air as it went by.
As we flew over Inverell the cloud broke for a few minutes and we could see the country side below had received some nice rain. What an incredible sight after such a long time flying over drought effected country side. Our descent into Bathurst put us back into the clouds and we had to fly an RNAV approach to get in. We spent the afternoon looking around Bathurst and planning the following days flight. The Bathurst pilots decided that a track to the west of Melbourne would be the best as there was plenty of bushfires to the east and some weather predicted as well.
The plan decided was Bathurst – Bendigo for a fuel stop and then overflying King Island for Devonport. Bendigo aero club is a great stop over. They were very busy with members and students in the club house. They had a selection of drinks, chips, pies and noodles for sale – so if your caught short for a snack you will be saved from starvation here. Our friends Steve and Shaneen joined us here and we departed for King Island and continued on to Devonport.
Fantastic conditions, CAVOK all the way to King Island where once again we were above the clouds with overcast conditions below us. Not very exciting viewing for the passengers as it stayed like this all the way to Devonport. The good thing about flying with these very fast Cirrus pilots is that they usually end up out in front and are very helpful in getting firsthand experience of weather and runways in use. Fred elected to do an RNAV approach for 24 into Devonport. By the time we caught up Fred could report clear conditions above lowest safe level so we could descend over the ocean and join downwind for the circuit.
By the time Al and Carol arrived the weather had closed in again and it was an RNAV approach for them.
We organised a taxi into town for our accommodation which was a beautiful old home opposite the river and a pub – great location! Post flight drinks with fresh King Island cheese, sourced that morning by Al and Carol, was just what was required and filled in the afternoon while we got settled in. Dinner was conveniently across the road at the local hotel.
Sunday morning plans to fly into the Vale where finally abandoned due to low cloud, strong winds and the fact that none of us where familiar with the airfield in these conditions.
Devonport Aero Club had provided lots of information on the airfield with warnings of the terrain and conditions to expect there including photographs and a you tube video of the approach and circuit. Hire cars where organised for the drive into the Vale and as is often the case once you cancel the flying plans the clouds lift! The pilots where a little disappointed but we were on our way for the now Vale Drive in. The disappointment was alleviated when we arrived and experienced the prevailing winds and seeing the location of the strip in the valley amongst the somewhat intimidating terrain.
We would have got in ok but there could have been some white knuckled passengers (and maybe Pilots too). There where over 40 aircraft expected for the fly in however only 16 managed to get in. Many drove in and some couldn’t make it to Tasmania even – one group spent the weekend on Flinders Island as that was as far as they could get. Although the numbers where down the day was still a great success. There were about a hundred people attend to enjoy live music, spit roast lamb and veggies and plenty of sweet stuff for dessert. This all made it a very pleasant visit.
We watched a few aircraft depart after lunch and how they handled the strong winds and terrain – almost pleased we chose to drive and not having to deal with the conditions. While we were so close to Cradle Mountain, we decided that we should drive down and check it out. A very nice drive through the high country we made it to the Cradle Mountain visitor centre. This is as far as you can drive yourself and have to take a bus from this point which will drop you at various walking tracks and lookouts along the way.
The temperature was very close to freezing so it wasn’t hard for everyone to agree that this wasn’t the day for us to be hiking around the mountains. Back into the cars we then drove onto Burnie and back along the coast to Devonport, with a stop over in a township called Penguin. We were amused by the Penguin Butchers in town (I wonder what that tastes like?) and other references to penguins around the town.
Sunday Night we decided to try the local fish and chips which were well worth it. Plans were made for our departure Monday morning. We had to drop Steve and Shaneen off at Bendigo so the 182 and the Cirrus planned the first stop for there. The 172 opted for Lethbridge given the slightly slower speed which would not be helped by the planned headwinds for our trip back across the strait.
All of us had an un eventful trip back to the mainland with each of us choosing different cruising levels to deal with the headwinds and cloud levels. Back on the mainland it was somewhat warmer but beautiful clear conditions and lots of aircraft out and about enjoying the day. At this point we decided to make Parkes our stop over for the night. EGL now fuelled and on its way from Lethbridge and FJD and YRA from Bendigo, accommodation was organised at Parkes and we settled in for the trip. It was desperately dry through this part of New South Wales with no indication of much rain at all. Two of the pilots opted for an altitude of 9500 feet where the headwinds where strongest but was silky smooth. One pilot chose 5500 where he was super speedy with a tail wind, got a great view of the dozens of whirly winds across the plains, but maybe wasn’t the smoothest option. We won’t name this pilot but for further details Ange might be able to fill you in.
We were greeted at Parkes with temps near 40 degrees – a rude shock from the previous few days in Tassie where the temperature struggled to get to the high teens. It was that hot that the avgas was vaporising in the bowser as we refuelled.
We quickly tied down the aircraft and headed for our motel – conveniently attached to a pub. The only sensible place to spend the afternoon with the heat outside was in the pub – very important to keep hydrated!
Tuesday morning was the last leg home – average about 3 hours between us. Beautiful conditions for our flight at 7000 feet which put us on top of the cloud base. Conditions where predicted to improve at YTWB during the morning. It started at overcast at 800' but wasn’t improving as fast as predicted. It was starting to breakup but FJD and YRA elected to do the RNAV for Runway 11. EGL was only about 15 minutes behind and in that short time the clouds had parted and allowed for a visual approach for them.
Total hours for the trip was 17 for the 182. A great few days with mates that share the aviation bug and lots of great experience dealing with planning, weather, IFR flying and seeing lots of the country side. All that is left to do is come up with a destination for next year’s Australia Day weekend Fly Away.
Rob Hannemann
DDAC Club President
