Fly Me Friendly

I got word this morning from Carlo at Flight Experience Melbourne that he’d just arrived at Melbourne airport (YMML) and seen an Antonov parked on the ramp. Talk about perfect timing as I was taking one of my workmates to the airport for his trip home to Sydney (flying Tiger Airways – good luck with that!).

After dropping him off, I shot off around to the viewing area near the AirServices compound on Operations Rd. As expected, this was too far away to be of much use for photos, but gave me an excuse to go check out where it was parked (and take a couple anyway, what the heck).

On my way back I stopped off at one of the ramps where some of the cargo, VIP and QANTAS maintenance operations are so I could get a shot of the Ansett DC-3 (VH-ABR) parked in front of a RAAF BBJ (A36-002) and the A319 that flies to the “blue ice runway” in Antarctica (VH-VHD). Nice :)

I then scooted back around towards the main terminal area, stopping on Link Rd to get a distance shot of the An-124 that, although a bit further away, was better as it had fewer fences & hills in the way. From there I headed back to the freight area and started hunting around for a good view of the ramp. Fortunately I found a spot where I could park the car and get up to a fence, shooting through the links to get a reasonably good view of the beastie.

While I was snapping the shots, a QANTAS 737 was being towed from maintenance to the terminals, letting me get a good size comparison shot. Yes, that thing is *huge*

Not sure why it was parked on the ramp at Tulla, but if I find out I’ll be sure to post it here. Meanwhile, you can see all the shots I took (including larger copies of each shot) over at the YMML Antonov page on my photo gallery.

I got the word from John that the Victorian chapter of the Aviation Historical Society of Australia was having a Christmas BBQ at Moorabbin airport (YMMB) today. So, I went down to hang out, meet new people and spread the word about our podcast.

It was definitely worth while as I definitely got to meet some interesting people, including Keith Meggs (founding member of the AHSA & current president) and Dr Carlo Kopp, a defence analyst who’s work I’ve been reading for a very long time. Dr Kopp is one of the founders of Air Power Australia, an independent defence think tank.

After a few hours chatting with a number of the people there, I headed off to the Australian National Aviation Museum to catch up with what might be new and on display. I’ve been a member for a while although I’d lapsed and not renewed my fees for a few years – ooops. I renewed recently as part of my DC3 excursion to Albury (yes, I need to write that adventure up – sorry – been busy :) and sorted out the back fees so I’m definitely current now :)

Going through their book pile, I found a number that included biographies, novels and historical narratives. After buying a stack of them, I noticed more in a pile waiting to be put out on display. Guess I’ll be going back again after payday to buy some more :)

The other task I have after I get paid is to join the AHSA as it would seem I may be able to help them with getting their print, audio & video archives online. While I’m certainly no historian, I do enjoy reading biographies & historical narratives and am definitely a big fan of capturing & preserving history online for people to access.

I’ll keep you posted on how all this progresses :)

Here in Melbourne we have at least one DC-3 based out at Essendon airport (YMEN) that’s operated by Short Stop Jet Charter. They have it available for winery tours, joy flights and dinner flights. It’s not uncommon to hear it out on a good night flying a group of people around the Port Phillip Bay area & over the city. It’s a beautiful sound and I’m very pleased that these guys are able to keep it in the air.

Actually, it’s in the air right now and I’m listening to it as it flies around the city, passing over us here and there. The house is quiet as everyone else is asleep, but I’m working and the drone is soothingly wonderful, triggering thoughts from my past.

I have very fond memories of being in the right place at the right time while hanging out at Bankstown airport (YSBK) in Sydney and helping with the DC-3s that were parked there. Working with Captain Jack Curtis to taxi one that needed to be moved due to some works being done. This involved pumping the hell out of the wobble-pump to get the engines primed & started then sitting in the copilot’s seat and watching out the window to ensure we didn’t chew up any cones. Another time I went along as we taxied from one side of the airport to the other, wound up sitting inside and chatting while the aircraft was used as a backdrop for a photoshoot, then taxied it all the way back. During an airshow at Bankstown in the 90′s I was cleaning the DC-3 between rides and helping to guide people to & from the aircraft plus wheeling the steps in & out. Later I helped walk the wing when we had to bring one out from the static park to replace the one giving rides after it’d gone U/S. When the airshow itself started, I got to sit on top and watch the show – best seats in the house.

Many years and a few countries later, I was at Moorabbin (YMMB) in the dark at 5am on the Royal Victorian Aero Club’s flight line preparing our assigned aircraft to go on RVAC’s Dawn Patrol when I heard that beautiful drone once again. I called it and we all stopped to listen for it. Sure enough, a set of lights could be seen flying a distant downwind, rolling onto base and then coming in to land in the dark. As it came over the threshold we could confirm it as the old Ansett DC-3 and didn’t it look beautiful. I caught up with the crew just before the pilot briefing for a quick chat about people, places and so on. Magic moments.

I would really love to learn to fly the DC-3 at some point as it’s a beautiful aircraft and we need new pilots to help keep the old birds flying. Maybe I’ll head over to the USA to get a type rating via Dan Gryder and the HERPA DC-3. I didn’t realise this option existed until I heard about it on Aero News and listened to Stephen Force doing his SIC rating.

For now, I’ll just looked forward to the day when I’ll be able to spare some $$$ to go on one of Short Stop’s dinner flights. Of course, I’ll be wanting to spend the flight on the jumpseat in the cockpit instead of in the passenger chairs (who needs food – just let me do the flight up front).

Another beautiful day at Avalon Airport – even better than yesterday. Today was my last day with the Airshow, working to help the remaining aircraft leave.

I arrived early and walked around taking some “early morning” photos of the large aircraft in the “keyhole” area and the combat jets on their tarmac. There were a couple of early folks getting ready to leave and I helped them organise fueling, take down barriers and so on.

The most “fun” was when I helped drag the Whitney Boomerang out of some soft ground. We’d parked it on grass in the corner of the warbird tarmac last night as the pilot had radio troubles and couldn’t leave. This morning, the main wheels were half-sunk into the soft earth. Ooops – didn’t think it was *that* soft when we parked it there…

The pilot and I wound up sitting under the wing (it’s a low wing – not much room) and rolling the wheels forward. We got both forward about 1/2 turn each and they were sinking again, so we hooked the tow bar into the nose wheel and with me pulling on that while the pilot went back to turning one of the wheels, we were able to pivot it out onto firmer ground, eventually getting it onto the tarmac itself. Whew.

Shortly after the Roulettes arrived, prepared their aircraft and left. The ground crew were wearing standard camo fatigues instead of their performance outfits but still went through the usual formation start-up and departure. Some of the photos I have will show the various ground crews from the Hornet, F-111 and Hawk teams in their standard camo fatigues that are being worn these days.

There were some escort duties including bringing the A-37 Dragonfly team in so they could prep their aircraft and then fly home. We also escorted the Roulette ground crew in to pick up their trailer and then head over to their two static display aircraft so they could prep them for travel.

The RAAF 707 left not long after then we wound up sitting in our vehicle on the tarmac waiting to get back to the warbird tarmac. We were in a queue behind a DC-3, Catalina, RAAF C-17 and 6 F-18′s. We couldn’t cut across the combat jet exit because they had an F-15 sitting there doing engine runs. Eventually we got through in time to help clear a couple of lighties, the last few warbirds and the RAAF Hawks (they’d moved over to the warbird tarmac before the F-15 could move out and block their exit).

The HARS Neptune left followed by the USAF C-17 and then the Super Constellation. The Connie’s brakes make an amazingly loud metal-on-metal sound – you can hear it for miles. Very distinctive.

About this time I wound up going over to Yellow section with Veggie in case they needed help clearing out their aircraft. They had everything under control so we sat and watched as a few lighties and a pair of Super Puma helicopters went past via Charlie to the runway.

Shortly after that, JD came back for us and dropped me off down in G1 (near the warbird tarmac) where a couple of lighties were getting ready to leave. We had some jets moving about plus Jetstar coming in and the RAF E-3 Sentry taxiing on the runway so we wanted to be sure the lighties were looked after. They had to monitor tower but didn’t want to drain their batteries so they switched off and I kept an ear open (I’d been monitoring tower frequency all airshow). When tower advised they could start up, I relayed the message and they got ready, heading out before the RAF E-3 came around.

The RAF E-3 was basically a 707 airframe with one of the giant radar dishes on the top. They’d been parked with the USAF E-3 up the other end of the airport and wound up taxiing down to Charlie and then around the loop to Bravo. Along the way they stopped and spent a bit of time inspecting the ground at a pedestrian/vehicle crossing (they were concerned about FOD) then slowly crawled around the loop with people out under their wingtips to ensure they wouldn’t hit anything on the edges. This caused some tension for ground ops as we’d already ensured the way was clear and we had a Jetstar aircraft that had landed and was back tracking on the runway to get to Charlie then follow the E-3 around the loop (delaying Jetstar is not an option).

They finally got around and were far enough forward that Jetstar could get into their terminal area and all without appearing to cause any delays. Eventually, the E-3 got on the runway, started to roll and wound up aborting their takeoff. They sat on the runway and did an engine run up to 80% power on their outboards. Something was still wrong though so they taxied all the way up the other end of the runway and off onto one of the taxiways. There they had to be towed around to the bottom of the runway as there was too much FOD for their liking. Last I’d heard about them, they’d completed a full engine run up and sorted out their hassles and were trying to get slotted back into the departures queue.

By this time, we’d finished with everything at Green and the last few were leaving Yellow. The USAF combat jets were still there but going back on Wednesday, a RAAF F-18 had a problem with its INS and a RAN Seahawk had a problem and couldn’t fly. The F-18, Seahawk and a Sea King wound up parked at the top of Bravo near the QANTAS maintenance hangars.

So, with all that, we headed back to AGO, handed in our equipment, said goodbye to everyone and headed for home. Another Avalon Airshow completed – three now for me (plus one as a spectator :) but others have done 6 to 8. Wow.

As yesterday was hot n windy, today was cold n windy with rain. What a change. The carparks were a sea of mud, as were the public areas around the airfield. It dried quickly but it took until the afternoon to settle down.

With the wind came FOD (Foreign Object Damage – bits of garbage blowing around the place) – a small plastic bag was seen being sucked into the right-hand engine intake of one of the RAAF F18s as it taxied back to its parking spot. Fingers crossed it’s not done any damage as this aircraft is part of the Lion formation aerobatic team (also known as the Green Lemons). They put on a very spirited demo in tight formation and with flares, earning them 10 from those of us judging the shows.

The day started off with a flurry of warbirds coming in, then settled down until about 11am when we had to get the Mustangs, Yak 9 and Kittyhawk into starting positions. Once they were started and had moved out to the warm up area, we pushed the A-37 Dragonfly into place so he could start up his jets then move out. About then it started to rain so we headed for the tents, coming out again to retrieve the first lot and then the Dragonfly.

After that it was “time off” for lunch as we had no more work on the warbird tarmac until the Southern Knights formation team went out in their Harvards. A quick push out to start up and they were off. We all headed down to the crowd line to get photos of the RAAF F-18 & F-111, USAF F-15, the F-18F Super Hornet and a fly by by a B-52 (including one pass at high speed at 500′ – wooo :)

Somewhere in there the Super Constellation came out (with brakes squealing) along with the Catalina and three Dakotas. They did a streamed take-off and then a few fly bys although Connie had to pull out and just land as they’d been forced to shut down #2 engine due to some problems (gotta love those big old radials :)

After all that, I wound up working the intersection (where Bravo meets Charlie’s loop section), handling aircraft coming back and going out. Eventually it all settled down and we closed up our tent (known as “The Green Room” ‘cos we’re section Green on the map).

One more public day then I’m back again on Monday to help get everything out that hasn’t managed to get out on the Sunday night.

Today started out chilly and with beautiful whispy fog clouds around 200′ – just below the tops of the hangars in the QANTAS maintenance part of the airport. We got to enjoy it for a little while then it was back to yet another day of marshalling lighties as the Regatta went out for a tour of the bay and then back in before the airshow started. One guy in a Texan had some radio problems, coming out, trying it, going back, etc. He eventually scrapped the flight and went off to have a chat with the reps of the company he was renting it from.

During all this, a number of RAAF Hornets came in along with the Roulettes. In between them (and the lighties) was another Atlas Air freighter who had to go-around before landing. Apparently Melbourne ATC had kept him at altitude for too long so he was too high to make a good landing. On his second approach the height was right and he landed. One of our marshalls was going to try to “bat him” as he came onto the taxiway – not a good idea, especially not when you’re standing about under where his outboard engine would be going – oops. I managed to get his attention and got him well out of the way.

HARS came in with their Catalina, DC-3, Constellation and Neptune. There was a bit of a pause while Connie sat on Bravo waiting for clearance to go behind the A321 – it was a tight fit, but they made it.

Once the show started, we got to relax again and I left early as I wanted to be back in town for Nykolai’s school “parent sports event.”

Day 3 of this airshow can be summarised by one thing: crazy lighties…

The day was running reasonably slowly so we took a break down near the entrance to Bravo. Soon enough, we had a number of light aircraft (Cessna’s, Pipers, Beechcraft and ultralights/RAAus aircraft) come in, most on runway 18R (the grass strip to the west) and many were classic “weekend flyers.” For every one that had read the briefing info, came in smoothly, taxied well and followed marshalling instructions, there were about 5 that were clueless. We had lighties that couldn’t figure out which one was 18R, didn’t know the approach procedures and lined up on 18C despite being told they were for 18R and that 18R was grass. Then there were the ones who came straight at you when you were trying to tell them to keep going the same way they were currently pointing, etc. Sure enough, it came down to us giving up on “normal” marshalling and just pointing them in the rough direction, often having to yell instructions.

Oh well, we survived and there were no crashes, collisions or injuries…

The RNZAF 757 came in to the usual collection of sheep & Kiwi jokes then the RAAF 707 came in, trailing more smoke than an aerobatic aircraft. The F-111 that had been doing engine runs yesterday evening went out for a test flight and came back shortly before an Atlas Air 747-400 freighter came in (under a QF7000 series flight number).

The freighter was here to pick up the Grand Prix Formula 1 vehicles and equipment. Quite amazing to see everything packed up and wrapped in cocoons.

Once the display started, we were able to take a break and have lunch. Part way through, the Atlas Air freighter left on the tail of a Jetstar A321 that was leaving their terminal.

After the show, the RAAF 707 fired up in the keyhole and wanted to come out ASAP but Jetstar refused to let them pass behind them on Bravo. They waited for a while in the keyhole while a Caribou once again waited at the Bravo holding point with the old Ansett DC-3 behind it (VH-ABR). They were both eventually cleared and then we managed to sneak a bunch of lighties before the Jetstar A321 at the terminal left.

The 707 came out of the keyhole and then wound up waiting at the Bravo holding point as a pair of lighties were allowed to land on 18C. One declared it couldn’t land on grass (a Rutan Long-EZ or something like that) and a RAAAus aircraft on floats that announced it was almost out of fuel due to being vectored a few times (possibly because they hadn’t read and/or understood the procedures info). They landed and then had to come off on Charlie, despite being told to go to Foxtrot, claiming they couldn’t go further. They then shut down still inside the runway boundaries, so had to be pushed further into Charlie. Eventually they were in and the 707 could go.

After another hour or two of marshalling lighties into fields there were no more, we’d hit 6pm and so it was time to call it a wrap. Another successful day completed but there’ll be a long one tomorrow. It’s going to be a busy time until next Monday :)

Another day at Avalon started with rain on the way down and a few very light showers at first. Once they stopped, it was cool for the first half and then warmed up around midday.

On arrival I went to chat with the DC-3 crew and find out what was news in their world before heading over to the Green Room. From here, I spent most of the day marshalling aircraft from a RAAF 707 to a Rutan Long Eze. I also got to help out with Jurgis Kairys and his three aircraft team called the Air Bandits – very crazy show they put on.

It was a little quiet just before the airshow and we took a break for lunch. About then my friend Carlo came over to chat with a film crew he’s working with. We had to cut our chat short though ‘cos I had to get back out onto the tarmac to help with aircraft going to/from the show.

After that it got busier and we were bringing jets in and out along with a few lighties that landed on Avalon West and had to track either via the loop or up through the “zig zag” taxiway between paddocks in Green & Blue.

One of the last items on the airshow was a P-3 but it had to cancel its show after a single pass due to a minor technical issue. Turns out they had indications of imbalanced flaps (not pleasant) but experimenting with them during various orbits above us indicated it wasn’t an issue. Still, they cancelled their show and returned to Edinburgh in South Australia.

Following this, a number of aircraft were lining up to leave, including a Caribou that wound up waiting at Bravo holding point right next to us for a while. Many hand signals and smiles between crew and ground staff as we waited for them to be slotted into the departures.

Around 5pm, all had been sorted out and we were getting ready to leave when a few lighties came in on Avalon West and we had to get them around the loop. Then the RAAF 707 fired up to leave but I had to hold it at Bravo & Charlie while we waited for a Jetstar A321 to leave and get out of the way.

After that, it was over and I could finally leave. At least today most of the problems with ground comms were sorted out (they’d had interferance on the UHF channel they’d been using). Tomorrow’s shaping up to be a busy one as we start the trade show and have more aircraft arriving. I’m looking forward to the warbirds arriving – they’re always a lot of fun.