Early this year I found CoolGunS GA Highway Project - a route from Australia to Europe in GA friendly hops for which he is creating custom airports. I thought I'd give it a go in the JustFlight Turbo Arrow IV.
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My first challenge was getting to the start line. My plan was to fly from Adelaide Parafield (YPPF) to Alice Springs (YBAS) and on to Derby (YDBY).<p>
The first leg was a chance to evaluate the turbo Piper's endurance, which turned out to be pretty good. AT 9,000ft I could get ~13 gallons per hour cruising at 32 Hg and a respectable 160 kts. That confirmed I had more than enough go juice to cross the Western Desert.<p>
Which turned out to be harder than expected because I timed this perfectly with Tropical Cyclone Hayley making landfall at, you guessed it, Derby. Discretion being the better part of valour where cyclones are concerned, I spent a couple of days in Alice.<p>
It also gave me an excuse to visit Impulse Simulations YBAS which I have had for a year and never flown! Very atmospheric and full of little details. Highly recommended.<p>
During this I discovered all my pics of the first leg were bad because the screen capture method I used doesn't play nice with HDR. Bugger. So this is the second part of the prologue, YBAS to YDBY across the Western Desert.<p>
On the plus side, the low pressure system that remained gave me a handy 15 kt tailwind.
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<i><center>I started the day opposite the RFDS apron. Sadly, this was before I fixed the operator codes for RFDS traffic so I had default Kingairs instead of proper liveries.</center></i><p>
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<i><center>Tracking north east from Alice the landscape is dominated by a series of parallel ridges. The high point of this one is Mt Lloyd</i></center><p>
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<i><center>An hour and a half and 95nm in I passed Lake Lewis. Don't kid yourself that's fresh water, its salt.</center></i><p>
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<i><center>Lake Dennis at right, Lake White at centre and Lake Wills in the distance. More salt lakes, this is Lassiter's Reef country.</i></center><p>
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<i><center>Passing the only town for 1,000kms, Yuendumu. For any Midnight Oil fans, the Western Desert may very well live and breathe at 45° but its a chilly 10° up here at 9,500ft and Kintore is indeed about 300km WSW of here.</i></center><p>
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<i><center>Its hard to comprehend how big, old and empty the Western Desert is.</i></center><p>
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<i><center>Mt Pierre station is on the edge of the St George Ranges. The first sign of civilisation since Yuendumu ninety minutes and 300nm behind me.</i></center><p>
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<i><center>The Fitzroy River means I am done with the Western Desert after 3 hours and 600nm.</i></center><p>
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<i><center>As I started my descent I ran into the remains of Cyclone Hayley which had kept me in Alice longer than planned. I will follow the road at centre right down to the coast and Derby (YDBY)</i></center><p>
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<i><center>Downwind leg to land at Derby (YDBY)</i></center><p>
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<i><center>Parked up for the night at Derby (YDBY) after more than 4 hours in the air. This is the start line for CoolGunS GA Highway to Europe Project. Tomorrow is a long haul over the Timor Sea to Indonesia.</i></center>
The next installment: GA Highway to Europe Project Leg 1