12.06.2007: What I did not believe would be possible anymore finally happened today. I received my Australian Certificate of Validation! This paper allows me to go flying with my JAR-PPL in Australia without a flight instructor or another pilot next to me. Unfortunately it is only valid for three months, but if you want one that is valid for longer you need a safety background check, which can take two months or more to complete.
Unfortunately the weather is really bad for the time being, it is cold, windy and raining daily. I guess I will have to wait a bit before I can go flying. In addition I was ill for the last 10 days, so before I am back to full strength I anyway won’t fly.
24.06.2007: Yes, today I finally went flying! The weather was not too nice, but I decided that if I don’t go now I might not find time to go anymore at all before I go back to Europe on the 2nd July. And anyway, as a European pilot I am used to flying in poor weather…
I initially planned a flight from Camden to the coast, than north along the special VFR coastal route past Sydney, then to “The Entrance”, I place I have visited during one of the weekends, then inland to Lithgow and Mount Victoria, where we are equipping a section of the Blue Mountain railway line with our train control system (that’s why I am here) and then past the “Three Sisters”, a rock formation, and across the Blue Mountains National Park back to Camden.
As the map shows that did not work out as planned, as the weather in the mountains was just too bad, so I flew back past northern Sydney to Camden.
Here some pictures of the tour. From Camden I flew south-east straight to the coast, passing one of the many water reservoirs. They are not used to generate electricity, as a Swiss might suspect, but to store water for the Sydney water supply. Even after two weeks of rain the lakes are only about 50% full, before that the situation was even worse.
I hit the coast north of Wollongong, a place I have visited during one of the weekends. There I turned north towards Sydney.
Below a view of the famous Pacific Highway, which is partially built as a bridge due to the difficult terrain along the coast.
Then I flew along the cliffs of the Royal National Park. They say it is the second oldest national park in the world after Yellowstone. One can already see that the weather is starting to get worse.
There were quite big waves along the cliffs, as it was pretty windy. In some places I could see surfers…
Just north of the Royal National Park, at Jibbon Point, starts the “VFR Route Victor 1”. When entering the route one has to announce the position and intention on a special radio frequency, but only as a broadcast as there is no active control of the route. The route would be within the CTR of Sydney, but there is a special sector just outside the coast line with a ceiling of 500 ft to allow VFR traffic to pass. As the VFR Route is just about 4 miles south of the threshold of Sydney Airport’s Runway 34R, arriving Jumbos pass just 500 ft overhead the VFR traffic!
Fortunately navigation is really easy, just follow the coast line. Flying at 500 ft above the water is quite spectacular, but there is not much safety margin in case of an engine problem. Wearing a life vest is therefore compulsory when flying Victor 1…
Here a view straight ahead. One can see (not really) a Boeing 737 just passing ahead of me. As the Warrior had no autopilot I could only take pictures with one hand while flying with the other one. The VFR guide for the Sydney area, which can be downloaded from the internet and which describes the Victor 1 procedures, warns of wake turbulence, they recommend to keep some horizontal distance from airliners.
Here the first view of the city. The spot in front between all the houses is a cemetery. I was first surprised to find it marked on the visual terminal chart, but is really quite a good landmark for orientation.
A bit north of the cemetery lies the world famous Bondi beach, one of the hot spots for surfers.
North of Bondi the route ends at the entrance into Sydney harbour. It is possible to fly from there to the famous opera house and the harbour bridge, but that requires climbing to 1500 ft and entering the CTR. Due to the poor weather I skipped that. Below 1500 ft is a restricted area, as there is a seaplane base from where one can make sightseeing flights in Beavers! The prices are however outrageous, 225$ per person for 30 minutes, for that price I rent the Warrior for a full hour including the landing fee.
North of Sydney lies Manly, with the second one of the famous Sydney beaches.
I then continued to the very scenic area north of Sydney. Most of it is part of either Ku-ring-gai or Marramarra or Brisbane Water National Park.
Below part of the city of Woy Woy, not bad. Most of the houses are directly on the water.
A bit more north lies a place called “The Entrance” (easy to see why). The place calls itself world capital of Pelicans, and once you go there you know why.
As already mentioned above I had to change my further routing after that point due to low clouds towards the mountains. I therefore turned back, passed Manly again and then proceeded north of the city back to Camden.
Here Manly again when heading south.
And here North Head, the northern limit of the entry into Sydney harbour. I was again down to 500 ft, which is about as low as the top of the cliffs.
My flight lasted a bit more than two hours. I had again the same Warrior as during my check ride (VH-LES), quite an old and worn out model…
28.06.2007: Yesterday I had some contact with Chip Erwin, the CEO of Czech Aircraft Works, which is the manufacturer of our kitplane. They have so much success with their plane that they are struggling to increase the production capacity as fast as they can to meet the demand. From what I have heard they are currently at 12 planes a month, with a further increase planned.
The consequence is that the delivery of our kit will be delayed from the originally planned September to later in the year. I had already suspected that from some comments on the Yahoo SportCruiser forum, but now I have it confirmed. Chip originally wanted to delay the delivery until January. I have told him that I will be in Australia again in November / December, so I can live with some delay, after coming back from Australia I will however be at home for some time and I want to spend that time working on the kit. He promised therefore to have it shipped in December, so that it arrives in Switzerland still before Christmas.
On the positive side that gives me until the end of September to decide on the accessories. I am mostly through with engine, propeller etc. but still want to look into the cockpit.
Today I saw that the weather in Sydney will be better for the weekend, so I reserved the Warrior for Sunday morning.