salt_air taking the Puss Moth back home ... "Down Under"

[salt_air]

Down safe at Bushehr ...

VFR at night .... yes sirree Bobba- Lou

Not the straightest line but easy enough to follow the map from one land mark to the other.

There is a highway that runs along the river I wanted to follow, but couldn't see.

The airports I thought I could use weren't lit ... ... need to rethink anymore nightime genius with better planning.

All green anyway and the tailwinds held up for the entire flight.



Flight Time: 03:37:31
Routine Ground Time: 0:45:00
Special Ground Time: 0:00:00
Penalty Time: 0:00:00









FlightLog_17-52-15.TXT

[salt_air]

Back in the air ... headed to Jask.

Coastline cruise .... daylight this time.

[salt_air]

Safe landing at Jask.

Watch cutting corners on these coastal routes .... at lower altitudes ... almost busted it up twice.

Lost the great tailwind I have been enjoying for a few minutes to a cross wind.

Marked difference in GS and fuel burn .... Note to self .... fill up at each fueling.


Flight Time: 03:49:37
Routine Ground Time: 0:45:00
Special Ground Time: 0:00:00
Penalty Time: 0:00:00







FlightLog_20-45-09.TXT

[salt_air]

Headed to Karachi .... still have a long way to go to get to Melbourne.

[salt_air]

Safe landing at Sharea Faisal (OPSF) ... Karachi.

Horrible visibility nearly the entire flight ... finally got a break as I was approaching the Cape Monze (NDB) Peninsula and the clouds broke up.

What? ... yep cleared as I approached land not vice versa .... was so stunned and happy to be able to look around I lost bearing a bit and drifted way South, but still insight of land.

It was a blast of wind on a direction shift that cleared the clouds, but a pretty stiff 20+ kts cross to quartering headwind meant an 18 - 19 degree crab ... glad it wasn't at night.


Flight Time: 04:25:07
Routine Ground Time: 0:45:00
Special Ground Time: 0:00:00
Penalty Time: 0:00:00



FlightLog_19-50-12.TXT

[salt_air]

Taking off again ... stopping at Jodhpur on the way to the second Checkpoint at Allahabad.

[salt_air]

Safe and sound at Jodhpur.


Flight Time: 02:50:21
Routine Ground Time: 0:45:00
Special Ground Time: 0:00:00
Penalty Time: 0:00:00



A miserable flight in the fog all the way.

Came very (too) close to missing the airport altogether .... actually flew by but caught it off the port side of the plane.





Would have had to stop for directions for sure ... No beacons and the apron blended in with the surrounding turf.




FlightLog_19-27-56.TXT

[salt_air]

Off again .... to checkpoint Bravo at Allahabad.

Dusting off the sextant ... winding up the watch.

[salt_air]

Down safe at the Second Compulsory Control Stop





FlightLog_20-40-46.TXT



Flight Time: 03:58:39
Routine Ground Time: 0:45:00
Special Ground Time: 0:00:00
Penalty Time: 0:00:00



Same ol' boring low (3NM) vis blues for the first three quarters of the flight, then the sky opens up nicely.




One sextant shot after the skies cleared up ... pretty much academic at that point, but comforting none the less.



One enroute NDB (nice 75NM) at Gwalior about half way .... Dead Reckoning towards it and afterwards towards Allahabad ... star shots helped and so did the rivers along the way ... actually close to how they were rendered on the charts.

The two rivers running into town (east - west) worked like a funnel to direct me right into the airport.

Best part of the trip was when the skies cleared up.



A bottle or two of a local beverage and a sit down with the charts to plan .... then to bed.

[salt_air]

Oh Calcutta .... then maybe Rangoon.


Taking off shortly ... VIAL - VECC

[salt_air]

Slight delay in departure .... seems the sim and the computer were having an argument or two.

Ready for take off.

[salt_air]

All green at Calcutta .... Great flight!


Flight Time: 03:35:01
Routine Ground Time: 0:45:00
Special Ground Time: 0:00:00
Penalty Time: 0:00:00






FlightLog_11-22-20.TXT

[salt_air]

Down to Rangoon (VYYY) for the night.

The trek across Indonesia to Australia is always were the "Fun" starts ... terrain where you least expect it.

[salt_air]

Safe landing at Rangoon (VYYY)!


Flight Time: 05:07:14
Routine Ground Time: 0:45:00
Special Ground Time: 0:00:00
Penalty Time: 0:00:00







FlightLog_22-35-19.TXT









Right, so trying to run a straight line again .... somewhat successful, but lawd what a workout.

Crab crazy crosswinds from Hades ... 15 to 20 degrees for the last half of the trip.

Constant wind checks (E6B and Driftmeter) for differential (crab angle) and if they are varying enough then sextant checks usually with some correction every thirty minutes.

Whew!

Haven't used the sextant in a while and wanted to drag it out and dust it off .... well it's clean now.

If I had to fly this again .... in daylight with the visibility the same ... I would have just flown VFR and used the three NDB's that run right along the coast before jumping across the mountains into Rangoon.

Only when essential like across longer stretches with no navigational signals in range (water, dessert, yadda, yadda) is the sextant really a benefit to what we are doing in this event.

So it will be ...







Good weather and winds ... ready for a nap.

[robert41]

Roger on the sextant use. I have not used it much since last July. Came in handy for the trip straight to Darwin. Cut a couple of hundred NM's off the leg. Much of it over water, just enough land sightings and ndb's to help. Best use was over the long Timor Sea run. Big relief finding Darwin in the dark. Near perfect weather was a godsend.

[salt_air]

Roger on the sextant use. I have not used it much since last July. Came in handy for the trip straight to Darwin. Cut a couple of hundred NM's off the leg. Much of it over water, just enough land sightings and ndb's to help. Best use was over the long Timor Sea run. Big relief finding Darwin in the dark. Near perfect weather was a godsend.

Thanks Robert .... "A place for everything, and everything in it's place" ... yeah?

[salt_air]

Wish I had thought to copy young Jimmy's efforts earlier in the process of elimination as far as which aircraft to use.

Thinking back I remember passing over the Puss Moth saying "Whew! ... ain't no way I'm flying that sled".

Only after deciding to use an aircraft that was actually in the 1934 race ... while researching the planes and pilots ... did I get intrigued with Jimmy Melrose's story albeit brief.

That had me "Shoehorning" (ahead of a perfectly good previous entry in the Lockheed Vega "Puck") these flights in at almost the last minute .... pestering the committee late in the pre- event stage with requests for changes or allowances that would only apply to me in the event and hastily putting together an outline for the trip.

Two things have come out of trying to match up the real life accounts with the sim flights and this "Beast's" (Me) competitive nature.

One ... Jimmy's plane had a much longer range than the one I have configured ... a much lower handicap figure would have been invoked for sure if that had been matched up.

I have had to stop at the airports to fuel ... He stopped to take care of "business" ... resupply cockpit items like beverage, smokes (if he even smoked?) and I'm sure it was an ego boost for all of the participants to have the crowds, however small, cheer them on and not always to fuel as do.

This was not a private event .... World news, front page, followed directly and in person by every country it encountered and even in the ones outside of the arena like the USA.

Two ... with the flight time accounts the plane was not flown flat out, but at the high end of cruise settings.

SIDE NOTE
=== If there ever was an event that lent itself to the use of our friend teson1's (Gunter Haas) great Real Engine setup, then this is it ... Maybe next time? ===




Right ...

So far planning has been cut and dried with the aircraft's range and the allowed airports.

Also coupled has been the account of Jimmy's routing which was exactly the same as what that process produced drawing flights between allowed points.

However for this leg, a little extra planning .... trying to stay true to his flights during the race as accounted for in the small piece I'm using from the SAAM's website ... there's a small deviation and it appears that I will have to compromise one of the stops that he made enroute to Melbourne.

Says here:

"Melrose left Allahabad at 4:00am on 25th October to Calcutta then on to Rangoon, where he arrived at 3:00pm. He was on his way again at 1:45am next morning to Victoria Point then Singapore where he arrived at 1:40pm."

Victoria Point is not in our sim world as such, but during the British rule of Burma (1824 - 1948) was located at or near Kawthoung which is in our sim world.

Simple planning would have me draw a line between Rangoon and the next checkpoint (Singapore) then include enough legal airports to allow for fueling ... normally Rangoon, Bangkok, Alor Setar, then Seletar (Singapore).

That flight would be drawn away from and come no where near Victoria Point (Kawthoung).

So in an effort to keep true to the account of Jimmy's effort ...

Not going to be taking a "hit" for stopping and fueling at an unofficial airport and I have to be getting close to wearing out my welcome at 119 ... too late for any blanket changes to event routing ruleage like that anyway.

Compromise would be ... I have had pretty good luck so far with winds (hope I don't curse myself here) and fuel burn.

If I take the "normally" plan listed above and with fingers crossed delete the stop at Bangkok I get a line that runs close enough to Kawthoung that it can be used as a waypoint ... No stop there, just a flyover ... true enough I suppose.

No time penalty suffered ... bonus of using the 113NM NDB there (KT 290.0) and excellent visual reference of the airport at the end of a peninsula as well as the rest of the geography of that port area.

Risky bidnez Bubba .... pushing the plane's range to it's limit with no way out after the halfway mark (Bangkok still in reach).




Headed to Alor Setar ... Giddyup!

[Dil52]

SIDE NOTE
=== If there ever was an event that lent itself to the use of our friend teson1's (Gunter Haas) great Real Engine setup, then this is it ... Maybe next time? ===


Headed to Alor Setar ... Giddyup!

Using RE would be a challenge alright!

Blue skies!

[Moses03]

Austin- Kudos for trying to stay true to Jimmy's original routing. Good luck in the Puss Moth!

[salt_air]

Austin- Kudos for trying to stay true to Jimmy's original routing. Good luck in the Puss Moth!

Thanks Kevin ... I appreciate it!

[salt_air]

Safe and sound at Alor Setar .... whew!

A tad less than a gallon of fuel left in each tank .... no probs.

A nasty quartering headwind all the way .... had to throttle back a tick make the distance.

One word .... Luck.


Flight Time: 06:49:17
Routine Ground Time: 0:45:00
Special Ground Time: 0:00:00
Penalty Time: 0:00:00






FlightLog_17-01-19.TXT

[salt_air]

Freshen up a bit (restart) .... fuel, water in the face and out to Seletar (Singapore).

Easy route .... NDB's along the coast or the "Singapore Sling" ... if you will.

[salt_air]

Down safe at the Third Compulsory Control Stop.


Started out on an easy peasy NDB run and immediately had to deal with mountains that came right out to the coast and 1 NM visibility so I just turned out off the coast and traced it all the way to the airport (WSSL).




Textbook VFR using the NDB's as mile markers instead of waypoints ... keep right and keep movin' Buster.



Flight Time: 03:33:17
Routine Ground Time: 0:45:00
Special Ground Time: 0:00:00
Penalty Time: 0:00:00







FlightLog_21-16-46.TXT

[salt_air]

"He then left Singapore at 1:00am on 27th October to Rambang via Batavia where he again landed in the early afternoon ... "



Time is getting short .... need to get down to Batavia.

Let's see ... the Equator is around here somewhere .... makes a difference when fetching data for the sextant.

A good bit of prep yet before I can take off .... probably a water route keeping coast(s) in sight using available NDB's as mile markers again.

[salt_air]

Safe landing at Batavia (Jakarta) WIIH

Dark for the first half, then a nice sunrise ... a quartering headwind all the way .... plenty of stars and NO terrain.

Will be soon though.


Flight Time: 04:39:19
Routine Ground Time: 0:45:00
Special Ground Time: 0:00:00
Penalty Time: 0:00:00






FlightLog_20-27-42.TXT