Moses' Melbourne Or Bust Revisited / Lockheed Twin

[Moses03]

Just about have everything ready to go. We seemed to have recovered from the steamer sinking in the harbour with all our supplies on board! Hopefully will be heading out to Belgrade tomorrow or Friday at the latest.

A race official wandered over to our area of the ramp today and slapped a big blue sticker on the nose of "Miss Electra" as the crew has started calling her.

[salt_air]

Just about have everything ready to go. Hopefully will be heading out to Belgrade tomorrow or Friday at the latest.

A race official wandered over to our area of the ramp today and slapped a big blue sticker on the nose of "Miss Electra" as the crew has started calling her.

Great News Moses,,,,,,excellent recovery!

Well done!

[Dangerousdave26]

Well come back Moses03

:applause:

Way to over come.

[Moses03]

Time to get going. Departing for Belgrade (LYBE).

Tallyho!

[PRB]

Splendid news, M! Good to see the big Lockheed twin in the show!
:ernae:

[Moses03]

Thanks fellas-

Arrived in Belgrade (LYBE). Always feels good to get that first one safely tucked away. Slight tailwind helped close the gap with arrvoo's Eye-talian trimotor.

Sure love the big Fowler flaps on the Lockheed.

[java2srv]

Hooray for Miss Electra!:jump::jump::jump:

Glad to see you back in the air Moses03!:applause::applause::applause:

Will be watching and cheering. :jump::jump::jump:

Jack

[Moses03]

Thanks Jack!

Departing shortly for Cyprus (LCRA). The weather reports are more favorible than the Aleppo routing currently. It will be a straight shot across to Baghdad from there.

[Milton Shupe]

Moses, love the aircraft and paint ... best of luck. :ernae:

[Moses03]

Thanks Milton. I sketched an idea for a scheme on a napkin and passed if off to a familiar paint contractor- Damian aka "Windrunner". :)

Hope to pitch in with Team Melrose after I make it to Baghdad in a day or two.

[Moses03]

Finally down safe in Akrotiri, Cyprus (LCRA).

The favorible weather reports were all wrong as we had to fight through headwinds, sandstorms (over Turkey) and then the real world DSL implosion which left the Real WX stuck on solid fog (over the mountains naturally), until I could reconnect 20-30 min later.

[Moses03]

Early morning pre-flighting completed. Departing dead East to Baghdad (ORBS) shortly.

[Moses03]

Arrived in Baghdad (ORBS). Not too much to report. Had a steady annoying 8-14 knt headwind the whole way. Blast!

The RAF camera plane was up making the rounds. Enjoyed their company for a spell.

[MM]

Needless to say, the RAF is quite interested in this speedy new Lockheed. Sent up it's experimental "photo ship," made by Supermarine, for a closer look.

[Moses03]

Fueled up and ready to roll. Departing for Jask (OIZJ).

[Moses03]

Well, this is going to be interesting. We took off a little late from Baghdad and now the sun is starting to slip away. Jask has no lights and the Electra does not have a working landing light. Ways to go yet too.

Hope they have some oil barrels burning. Gulp...

[Moses03]

Thankfully the locals manning the station had an oil barrel going. Made it to lonely Jask (OIZJ).

[MM]

Whew! You had us worried. :applause:

[salt_air]

Thankfully the locals manning the station had an oil barrel going. Made it to lonely Jask (OIZJ).


Great Job Kevin!

Me and the Super Electra's "little sister" had a tuff time with Jask even in the light of day.

Continued Good Luck for the remander of the Race, Sir......:wavey:

[Moses03]

Leaving Baghdad late was my own fault. We had been parked there long enough for a roadside market to spring up in the shade of the wings- and thriving too. It took longer than expected to clear them out so we could preflight the plane.

[Willy]

Did you find the hen nest inside the cinder block?

[Moses03]

Did you find the hen nest inside the cinder block?

Yes, and we had fresh eggs for breakfast this morning. ;)


Getting the heck out of here. Departing for Karachi (OPKC).

[Moses03]

Arrived safe in Karachi (OPKC). This was a milk run if ever there was. Clear weather, steady modest tailwind, ample high range NDBs, and a coastline to follow if anything went to heck.

Turns out the Aussie Jimmy Melrose had landed just a few minutes ahead of us. We taxiied over and said hello. A pleasant fellow that young man. He even helped chock the Lockheed.

Also, Dangerousdave had also arrived within the past hour in his red DH.80A. Keeping the locals busy at Karachi today.

[Moses03]

Saddling up for Allahabad (VIAL).

[Moses03]

Made it to checkpoint #2 VIAL.

[Moses03]

Time to get moving. Departing for Rangoon (VYYY).

[Moses03]

Finally down in Rangoon/Yangon (VYYY). Welcomed uneventful flight. Tried like heck to find a tailwind but it wasn't meant to be. We must have looked like a wounded dolphin constantly going up and down looking for the least resistance.

[Moses03]

Off to Alor Star (WMKA).

[Moses03]

Down safe in soggy, humid WMKA.

[Moses03]

Short flight in the rain to Checkpoint Charlie-WSSL.

[Moses03]

Arrived in Singapore. Weather cleared up some about 100 miles out.

[Moses03]

You can get a lot of flying in when you have a day off from work and the wife and kids are off visiting family. :kilroy:

The Esso map is marked up for Selaparang (WRRA). Departing momentarily.

[Moses03]

Down safe in Indonesia (WRRA). What an exotic land. Volcanoes!

[Moses03]

Heading out over the Timor Sea to Kupang (WRKK).

[PRB]

I like volcanoes.

[Moses03]

Drat! Had a CTD 10 min into flight.

Restarting here in a few.

[Moses03]

Okay, rebooted and stuff. Off again-

[Willy]

Drat! I'll have to pay that VooDoo high priest for another CTD! :d

[Moses03]

Drat! I'll have to pay that VooDoo high priest for another CTD! :d

Dang, tough crowd! Just remember, I have cinder block minions stationed all along the race course. Hope your aircraft has a locking door and someone with insomnia on board. :icon_lol:

[PRB]

He has minions!

[Moses03]

Surfed right in to WRKK. Next stop, Australia!

[Moses03]

Departing for Darwin (YPDN).

Was interested to find out that Kupang was where Captain Bligh and his loyalists of "The Bounty" fame made shore after being set adrift by Fletcher Christian and the mutaneers.

[Willy]

There's a rumor floating about that the Australian Customs in Darwin has been tipped off to some dastardly Lockheeds trying to smuggle cinderblocks of mass destruction into the country. No idea who would have started such a rumor while in Darwin.... :engel016:

[Moses03]

Who me? You might check with Mr. Lockheed-PRB on cinderblock smuggling... :monkies:

...Then out of the gloom, Darwin appeared. Bit of a rough bouncy landing but down in one piece. Need to check the left main for any wear and tear after that one.

Off to Humpty Doo for a cold beverage and a much welcomed hot bath.

[Willy]

Welcome to Oz! :ernae:

[Moses03]

Real life goings on might scuttle the effort but here we go anyways. Heading out to Cloncurry (YCCY).

"Using MSFS FS9 Weather Engine"

[Moses03]

Made it without incident to YCCY.

[bpfowler]

looking forward to seeing the big Lockheed make it to Melbourne.
Thanks Moses, for getting me set for the next Electra event!

cheerio,
brady

[Moses03]

Miss Electra onward and upward to Charleville (YBCV).

[Moses03]

Safe at YBCV. Nice crisp dash over the scrub. Had drifted too far west of Isisford to spot which was my VFR waypoint (no NDB), but when I picked up the Charleville beacon I was only about 4 deg off.

One more hop!

[Moses03]

Departing for Melbourne. For the Precision Challenge my estimated flight time enroute to YMEN is 3:15.

Using MSFS FS9 Weather Engine.

[Moses03]

Something was odd on rollout. Had to restart. Take two-

[bpfowler]

looking forward to seeing the big twin land in Melbourne!

[Moses03]

Thanks brady. On the first attempted takeoff, the tail was real heavy. Once we rolled to a stop I checked the rear on the plane and found what must have been a good two dozen cinderblocks hidden under a life raft. Some nefarious types had been lurking around the ramp before dawn no doubt.

[Moses03]

Nature can be cruel. After a great tailwind (no chance on the precision bit), I was faced with a driving rainstorm and zero viz. Tried in vain to land somewhere near the field but there were buildings all around. Finally spotted the tower and tried to force the issue. Actually touched down for a sec safely but suddenly a parked plane and hangars appeared out of the fog and kaboom!

Just kind of glad to have finished at this point.

[Willy]

Rats Moses! Can you duct tape it back together and we'll act like nothing happened?

[MM]

:eek:

What's a few scratches among friends? Willy's tape and a splash of paint and she'll be good as new. You can sell the ship to that rich fella who's looking for a private L-14 to fly around the world. And then join us down at the Windsor to plan the next adventure.

[donlimpio]

You can still walk, you can still talk, looks all good to me - welcome to Australia (scratching off dust)!

[bpfowler]

good to see you in one piece! heard the canadians are looking for lockheed 14s for their new transcontinental airline. Not saying theyre gulllible, no, not at all. But if you throw in the cinderblocks....