🇦🇺 905th fly-in: Cloncurry, Australia (YCCY)

[Kumiankka]

link to fly-in index thread

Quote

For next Sunday, May 15th we have another relatively obscure location with surprising quantities of aviation history behind it. Cloncurry Airport (YCCY) in Queensland, Australia was the original home of Australia's famous Royal Flying Doctor Service, established there 93 years ago to date. And the airport also played an important point in the beginnings of Qantas, with the airline's full original name "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services" still proudly displayed on one of the airport's old hangar buildings. Note that all of this was long before the jet age, so the airport isn't exactly built with modern heavies in mind, the longer of the two runways measuring only a little over 6500 feet. The custom scenery for this place also has quite a history of its own, as it comes included with one of the good old AussiePaks by Baz Roberts, specifically #7. And I think it's been included there since at least the days of X-Plane 8, at least in some form! Note that if you're using any custom mesh add-ons, you may need to turn off the "sloped runways" setting for this one. At least on my own install, with a third-party HD mesh included, there were enough bumps in the runway to call for an unscheduled visit by those flying doctors!

Have fun!

 

 

 

 

New pilots are always welcome, just read the guide on how to get started!

Remember to listen in on Teamspeak, new channel assignments listed here:
121.00 - fly-in main channel
123.00 - fly-in pre-flight
124.00 - small talk (in German)
125.00 - general comms (non-fly-in)

 

 

 

 

 

[CHASMAN2014]

Hello Fellow Pilots! Departed Townsville International Airport Qantas flight 2471in a Dash8D.

Push back from Gate 2 taxied to Runway 19

Departed runway 19 for the 1.5 hour trip.

Landed Cloncurry runway 12.

Parked for debarking and refueling at Cloncurry Airport.

@Vega66 flight QFA2470 parked at Cloncurry.

@Kumiankka flight QLK905KA Dash8 parked at Cloncurry.

@Vega66Dornier 228 parked at Cloncurry.

@rajo parked at Cloncurry.

@ostkamp E135 parked at Cloncurry.

@ManofMac Kodiac parked at Cloncurry.

DLH2st taxing to  gate.

Thank you all for a great time, hope to see you next week.

All the best,

Chas

[Kumiankka]

Whew! Managed to fit quite a few flights into just one afternoon, first departing from Cairns on an Alliance Airlines route before shuttling back and forth between various bush airports in all kinds of different planes, old and new.

 

Low visibility and some rather blurry orthos during departure from Cairns

 

Arriving in Cloncurry about an hour later

 

Parked at the ramp, watching more traffic come in - one of the various identical-looking Qantas Dash 8s here
 

Since the Qantas Dash 8 was such a popular choice, I thought why not fly one to nearby Mount Isa. After spending a few minutes installing an up-to-date QantasLink livery, I got the plane started up just in time to watch @ostkamp land.

 

Airborne and setting course for Mount Isa
 

Arriving after a 15-minute short hop

 

Another quick switch of aircraft later, heading back for Cloncurry in an RFDS King Air past Lake Moondarra

 

My second try at a visual circuit to Cloncurry - the runway blended awfully well into those blurry reddish-brown textures, so I missed it on my first try!
 

Parked at the ramp again for a coffee break, while @ostkamp takes off and @DrTuro taxis past

 

Next it was time for the vintage planes, the good old DC-3 first. I'm not sure if this particular retro livery is a real one or something made up just for X-Plane, but it looked a lot nicer than the other more usual retro Qantas paint I found for the Aeroworx model.

 

This time I headed north across the outback, for Normanton - an actual DC-3 route from the early days of Qantas, I believe. Mistook the Bynoe river here for the Norman river a bit further out, but the ADF soon alerted me to my navigation error.

 

Landing at Normanton after a course correction

 

Taking off in another vintage Qantas bird for the flight back, the Lockheed Constellation
 

Naturally, the faster Connie beat the DC-3's time by about 15 minutes, returning to Cloncurry in under an hour

 

By now the airport was almost empty… but not quite, with @Vega66 still around in another DC-3 (rendered here as a Cessna 421 with its tail glitched into the ground)

 

There was still time for us to grab some fighter jets and go up for a spin. Myself in a Super Hornet with special RAAF display livery, and Vega in an F-35 that got converted into an F-16 by the Swift client.

 

The stealth characteristics of the F-35 were evidently too much for the Rhino to keep up with, as I lost contact with Vega flying low above this outback highway (the Barkly Highway, which probably doesn't really have this many lanes)
 

After a quick airport flyby that kicked up way too much dust, I made a quick landing at Cloncurry again, switching planes for one final flight.
 

Climbing out once again in the F-35A. The improved radar didn't help me locate Vega much easier - in fact the main difficulty was the tiny size of the CSL model combined with the Swift client's decision to stop drawing it completely unless I got in very close, like within one or two miles.

 

Another flyby (and flare drop) before entering the circuit again

 

Back on the tarmac and getting ready to finally shut down, with @Vega66 visible once again on short final

[Vega66]

Hi, Great pilots

Australia is always a great destination for plenty of fun, considering the almost countless airports and airstrips. Also I decided to try the Forkboy2 Australia Ortho, which I found to be a very nice enhancement to the scenery.

The warm up began with an early bush flight starting from Pormpuraaw (YPMP).

 

And visiting a bunch of airstrips before a final stop at Mount Isa. Clear skies allowed to enjoy well the scenery.

At mount Isa, switched to a real world flight, this time with the right aircraft (Dash8), the right airline (Qantas) and I guess pretty much the right route available for the less than 100nm flight to Cloncurry.

Arriving at Cloncurry with already more than a dozen of take-offs and landings performed, paused a while for a rest, while the aircraft being unloaded, and waiting for otther arrivals.

@Kumiankka's Alliance parked next (a very nice but slightly different livery on the CSL), 

And @CHASMAN2014 a few minutes later, in another real life Qantas flight from Townsville Intl. Good snapshot of a full airport.

Many more were arriving, so before taking a break, switched to the next planned aircraft, a Qantas DO228, ready for fly around another bunch of airstrips, and liberated a slot, parking on a more favourable spot, just before @rajo also arrive,

 

To keep short., I post  only a couple pics from the long scenic flight performed afterwards, that ended up at The Monument (YTMO).

 

By then Kumi was preping a flight back to Cloncurry on a vintage Constellation, so I changed to another DC3 to meet him again at Cloncurry.

 

The absence of CSL for Constellation didn't prevent form a nice shot, although the vintage bird is really awesome.

With all those prop and bush flights, the need for some speed was growing, and despite the day already being long, it wouldn't end without some jet manouvres.

Kumi hopped on an F18, while I went for the F35B..

 

With all the previous low altitude exploratory flights, Kumi reminded well that this was a great chance to watch the scenery from above, which is indeed quite impressive at 40000 feet, almost an outer planet landscape.

 

By then Kumi had already switched to an F35A for a couple of more turns and some flare show, after which wemade the  final return .to Conclurry. As I touched down I finally realized my Toe Brake configuration was inverted, which led to a wrong turn and slide out of the runway instead of a proper taxi. Despite of that, managed to park for a final snap, before the end of this great fli-in 

 

Whish you all a great week.

[Quintao]

Nice pictures @CHASMAN2014, @Kumiankka and @Vega66! The forkboy orthos look really nice, must give it a try!

I was out of town this weekend with family and was unable to join for the fly-in down under.

Looking forward to the destination next week!

[CHASMAN2014]

3 hours ago, Quintao said:

Nice pictures @CHASMAN2014, @Kumiankka and @Vega66! The forkboy orthos look really nice, must give it a try!

I was out of town this weekend with family and was unable to join for the fly-in down under.

Looking forward to the destination next week!

@Quintaogreat to hear you will be joining the next fly-in we missed you the last 2 weeks. 🛩️😀

[ostkamp]

Hi all,

I was flying FS-Economy again first flight from Brisbane (YBBN) to our destination Cloncurry (YCCY). It used to be a Corporate VIP flight that I could do in my X-Flights Embraer Legacy 650 as replacement for a Cessna Citation Longitude.

2022/05/15 13:14:04

YBBN

YCCY

N700CL

Cessna Citation Longitude

02:18

801

$7,349.29

View

Departing Brisbane in somewhat cloudy weather for a 02:18 hours flight, route as filed YBBN WACKO1 UNVAT LRE CCY CCYNF YCCY.

There was little to see underway except that brown flat area with some trees and bushes. Since the destination airport did not have an ILS and the other runway was in operation I did a flyby first already spotting some others on the ground.

There was little room left after I turned around but I managed to get setup ... somehow 😉

Coming in too much to the left of the runway.

Managed to get back on the left part of the runway for an acceptable landing.

Of course I missed the exit since I had used up too much already to align to the middle of the runway.

When backtracking to terminal I met @Kumiankka who had held short. I let him taxi first before entering the apron.

Here we seem him taking off in the background.

2022/05/15 13:14:04	YBBN → YCCY (02:18)
Income	$16,212.00
Rental
Amount	02:18
Cost per unit	$2,000.00
Total rental cost	-$4,608.89
Additional cost
Fuel	-$0.00
Landing Fee	-$0.00
Additional Crew	-$230.44
Ground Crew Fee	-$1,621.20
Booking Fee	-$0.00
Total additional cost	-$1,851.64
Distance bonus	-$2,402.18
Earnings this flight	$7,349.29

@rajo is also visible here.

Merlin coming in in some large military transporter, a C17 if I remember correctly.

@DrTuro who also had landed in the meantime, joined me for a flight to Mt. Isa (YBMA) also in FS-Economy. On the way @Kumiankka passed by on his flight back.

I had not flown the Baron 58 for a while and managed to crash it on landing. Bumped off the runway and when coming down again, it was over. 😟 Pilot and passengers survived. Guess I have to turn in the income to the insurance ... 😄

2022/05/15 14:04:58	YCCY → YBMA (00:31)
Income	$1,219.00
Rental
Amount	00:31
Cost per unit	$237.00
Total rental cost	-$124.10
Additional cost
Fuel	-$0.00
Landing Fee	-$0.00
Additional Crew	-$0.00
Ground Crew Fee	-$121.90
Booking Fee	-$0.00
Total additional cost	-$121.90
Distance bonus	$19.19
Earnings this flight	$992.19

For the final flight I switched to an Aerobask Eclipse 550 while @DrTuro remained flying his trusty Airbus.

We held short in order to wait for @ManofMac.

Then it was about Full Throttle again ... this little one really needs full thrust to get even rolling for taxi which is a bit strange.

The landing at Cloncurry went much better this time.

Got parked and called it a day.

The day before I witnessed @DrTuro´s successful "first solo" on VATSIM in his Airbus A320 neo. Congratulations! 🍺

Btw. I just learned that there are traditions wrt. soloing, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_solo_flight

Quote

In American aviation lore, the traditional removal of a new pilot's shirt tail is a sign of the instructor's new confidence in their student after successful completion of the first solo flight. In the days of tandem trainers, the student sat in the front seat, with the instructor behind. As there were often no radios in these early days of aviation, the instructor would tug on the student pilot's shirttail to get their attention, and then yell in their ear. A successful first solo flight is an indication that the student can fly without the instructor ("instructor-less" flight). Hence, there is no longer a need for the shirt tail, and it is cut off by the (often) proud instructor, and sometimes displayed as a trophy.^[3]

😁

Hope to see you soon, have a nice week! 🙂

 

Edited May 17, 2022 by ostkamp

[rajo]

All flights for pilot rajo

Date	From	To	Aircraft	Type	Duration	Distance	Earnings	Action
2022/05/16 01:35:05	NSTU	NFTL	D-RAJ30	Bombardier Challenger 300	01:15	387	$3,003.41	View
2022/05/15 13:12:21	YJVS	YCCY	VH-LNI	Piper PA-30 Twin Comanche	01:57	280	$2,413.09	View
2022/05/15 01:22:35	PCIS	NSTU	D-RAJ30	Bombardier Challenger 300	02:11	698	-$2,961.66	View

 

Because there was a very lucrative flight to YCCY in FSE, and also a Bombardier Challenger 300 was halfway nearby (PCIS), which was perfect for this, and because I had flown my CL30 from Ddenn only a couple of times, and also the copy in PCIS cost only $700000, the best price worldwide, I made short work of it and bought it.

Aircraft

Registration	Owner	Type (26 for sale)	Home	Current Location
D-RAJ30	rajo	Bombardier Challenger 300	YCCY	NFTL

(L) indicates leased
 

Specifications

Seats	Addtl Crew	Cruise Speed
10	1	458 kts

 

the nasty surprise was that it already crashes when loading in macOS Monterey and Ddenn on the forums to the known complaints no longer expresses itself. Apparently Ddenn can do without the Monterey people.

That's when I discovered the Bombardier Challenger 650 from Hotstart, I think currently the most expensive aircraft in xplane ($120.-), which can replace the CL30. This time I bought it with real money.

taxiing at PCIS

I needed much time to get ot ready for start up and take off

but was able to bring it down to Pago Pago, American Samoa. But already Saturday night I realized that this is no longer possible, I would have had to start earlier. So I took this flight 

with the freeware model of the Navajo

Approach ran smoothly

parking at apron among friends

and good bye, see you next week, hopefully with the Challenger 650 as substitute for the 300

[Skylark2992]

Great PIREPs everybody, thanks!

So how many of you pilots are having withdrawal symptoms? I noticed the distinct absence of bridges, tunnels, and jetways to fly under in Sunday's fly-in, haha!

[F5Chaser]

Great flight this week! Love reading the PIREPs and looking at the wonderful scenery.

Given the shorter runway at Cloncurry I decided to make a simple slow flight with the JF Piper Turbo Arrow. Starting in Richmond (YRMD) about 150 nm east. Above me departing in formation with @gp4tom in a Kodiak. Probably what I love most about flying in Australia is you rarely need to worry about terrain clearance. I am not sure my system can handle the Forkboy orthos but they look stunning!

I miscalculated the time I needed for descent and had to make one loop before beginning my approach to Cloncurry. @MerlinEng, gp4tom and I seemed to arrive between traffic so I made a quick pattern, landing on runway 12. I apparently was not monitoring airspeed and let it get 10 knots below VSO. Somehow I did not stall or lose control. The plane felt very stable all the way to the runway and made a smooth landing.

I found a nice place to watch the sunset from, while the others arrived before calling it a day. The AussiePak scenery was great for this flight. It gave both Richmond and Cloncurry a very authentic feel.

See you next week!

Edited May 19, 2022 by F5Chaser