Rockhamton Downs and High oil temp

Just for the record.. Rockhampton downs 'airport'

Blasted Jabs... They just don't like hot weather. Rockhampton downs was in the high 30's today and blowing a 20kn wind. The trip out there from Tennant Creek took almost 1 1/2 hours this morning and just 30 mins back this afternoon.

The trip may have been faster but the oil temp was getting a little to high for my liking. Pressure Altitude managed to hit 8700' when I was just 2800' above see level. New record for myself.

Tomorrows weather is meant to be very similar so I will need to leave at the crack of dawn to make it to Mt Isa before the day gets hot.

The Simpson

I made it in one piece without getting lost. It took 3 and a half hours to get across the Simpson and Istill managed to find the only strip in 100NM. :) Multiple GPS based navigation is the best invention as land marks were few and very far between. The respect for the older pilots grows by the day.

The weather was fairly good with a constant 9 knot tailwind gently pushing me towards Numery Station after a rough patch as I left Boulia. A few thermals gave me a free lift now and then (read: Kidneys, ouch my Kidneys). I was surprised at how far the flooding had got with nearly every sand dune having a green strip between them.

I left Numery station yesterday, had a quick pitstop at Delmore downs to discuss a Hornet (ultralight) project with the owner and then headed to Tennant creek as a stop over to Rockhampton downs.

I will head across to Mt Isa on Saturday and then back south to Monkira on Sunday if all goes to plan and should be home in time for the weekend after.

Weather

Queensland Sunny one day, pouring the next.

I ended up spending an extra couple of nights in Emerald (Qld) due to the weather closing in over all of Queensland. Clouds were down to 1500' and having some 2000-3000' plus hills west of emerald I decided to stay put and get to fly another day.

I left Emerald this morning hoping to make it to Bedurie but I was forced to make a detour to the north due to a large storm cell just west of Monkira Station. Most unsealed roads west of Longreach have been closed due to the rain and it would have been impossible to drive across to Alice Springs without heading north to Mt Isa and across to Tennant Creek and heading south again. This wet season seems to be draging out a fair while.

I am now going to Head to Numery station along the Plenty Highway and head south from Harts Range. Further rain is expected tomorrow morning but it should only take about 4 hours to make it to Numery.

Preaching to the converted

The field days at Birrong (Springsure) and Potters flat (Yuilba) went well. The Birrong field day had 54 attendees and I slightly ran over question time by well over an hour. Questions were flying thick and fast and the interest was huge. It is almost sicking to hear our customers plug our product so strongly.

Richard Goldens feild day was a case of preaching to the converted. Of the 26 attendees, 9 were direct customers with some strong interest coming from the other attendees. One of the attendees (Charles Mason) who admits to enjoying throwing a few clurly questions completely surprised the attendees with his postive questions and comments about our product. He admits to enjoy finding week spots in peoples products but could not praise our service or product strongly enough in front of everyone.

The airstrip on Tuesday was a little hairy coming to land with a 24kn cross wind and a very rough grass surface. It just proves how tough the little jabs are, The owner of the airstrip stated that he would not dare to fly his cessena in the gusty conditions that were present but the Jab impressed him with how it handled. :)

I will be spending the next few days working east of Emerald (Qld) and aim to be heading west over the Simpson on Saturday or Sunday depending on the weather.