I recently flew from Moorabbin to Parkes in NSW as part of a longer trip up to Longreach and back. After landing at Parkes I grabbed a hire car and made my way to the CSIRO Radio Telescope, popularised in the 2000 Australian movie ‘The Dish‘. I was given a really informative and interesting behind […]
Navigation flight log template – how I track fuel and estimates in flight
I’ve been asked a couple of times how I log my flight times and estimates in-flight. If you’ve watched any of my pilot vlogs on YouTube you’d have seen I use a kneeboard strapped to my right leg which has a few pages in it. Firstly there’s the flight log template (we’ll get to that […]
Qantas Founders Museum Longreach – Boeing 747-200 707
Today I’m vlogging my way around the Qantas Founders Museum in Longreach featuring the Boeing 747-200, Boeing 707, Qantas Heritage Hangar, and Catalina flying boat. Join me on this special video at the museum as part of my 6 day trip flying solo from Melbourne to Longreach and back. Thanks to our Jet Tour guide […]
Lost radio signal and forced landings – Longreach EP06
Day 3. Today we’re flying from Charleville Airport to Longreach, our destination in Queensland and the home of the Qantas Founders Museum. We pass through an area of no VHF coverage at our altitude so we lose VHF communications on this very remote leg, no towns beneath us, just red dust and a few homesteads […]
Parkes NSW to Charleville Airport QLD – Longreach EP05
Day 2 of my daily pilot vlogs flying to Longreach. Today it’s Parkes Airport to Charleville Airport in Queensland with a fuel stop at Walgett. This is my first time flying into the state of Queensland. This video features a chance meeting with an old pilot friend, IFR departures, RNAV approaches, lots of ATC chatter, […]
The Dish at Parkes – Moorabbin to Parkes Airport – Longreach EP04
Day 1 of my pilot vlogs flying from Melbourne to Longreach and back. Today I took off from Moorabbin Airport in Melbourne to Parkes and stopped to see ‘The Dish’. The CSIRO radio telescope observatory in Parkes is a fantastic place to visit and learn about how Australia was pivotal in helping with the Apollo […]
My best GoPro settings for Hero 4 and 5 for recording flights
As part of my trip to Longreach I’m going to be making daily videos of the experiences I have visiting new towns through regional Australia, but of course I’ll also be sharing a lot of footage of the flights themselves. I’ve recorded my flights from inside the cockpit using GoPros since I borrowed an old […]
Melbourne to Longreach – a single pilot flying adventure
Ever since getting my Private Pilot’s License I’ve flown plenty of cross-country navigation trips. I’ve flown around New South Wales a fair amount, and more recently around country Victoria too, discovering new airfields and meeting new people along the way. But apart from one trip a few years ago when I flew from Sydney to […]
Crosswind landing in the Cirrus SR20
On a blustery day in Melbourne I decided to take the Cirrus SR20 (VH-TDS) up for some circuit practise. I brought along Mike Walden, head of Walden Aviation Services and my original Cirrus Standardised Instructor Pilot (CSIP) who did my Cirrus transition last year. Weather conditions were pretty good, but the 14Kt crosswind from around 40 […]
Safety briefing flying with kids
Anytime you fly with passengers, especially flying with kids, it’s critical to give an informative and easy to understand safety brief. This is especially important when flying with younger passengers. It’s school holidays here in Melbourne so I took my daughter flying for the morning. We shot a video of some of the parts of the safety briefing […]