Central Australia trip

[jpilotj]

Gday,

A couple of my mates and myself have thrown up the idea to hire out a single/twin and head off to central Australia for a few days.

As far as I can tell the plan is to go Bankstown - Bourke - Birdsville - Ayres Rock airport.

Has anyone done this trip?
Any good flight planning considerations? Survival Equipment?
Is it safe enough to do in a single?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers

[Bushebiggles]

I organised a trip for 5 couples in 2004 flying C172 thro' Goana from Brisbane. Unfortunately they went out of business thro' Government rules of ID cards which can only be acquired in OZ after waiting 7 days. So do check this out if still relevant.
I believe you can self-hire from Perth and there is a company called air safaris international who are not cheap, but organise groups which ensures safety. It is a big country with large expanses of desert and esy to get lost.
However its a good idea and well worth exploring - do not miss Coba pedy and Alice Springs.

[172driver]

Done something similar a couple of years ago. Had planned Townsville - Winton - Birdsville - Ayers Rock - then via the Gulf to Cairns and the Reef.

Got as far as Birdsville, when one of the mags on the a/c I had rented (a C210) decided to call it quits :{

Doable in a single? Absolutely, loads of them flying out there. That said, see above :E.

Definitely survival kit, i.e. water (loads!), food, first aid kit, signalling mirror, matches, blankets, a good knife, etc. I see your location as Oz, so you are probably familiar with the SAR procedures in flight planning. Keep to them.

If you can rent a sat phone, might be a good idea as there is no cell coverage (not even in Birdville). Quite a few Oz-reg a/c have HF radio, ours didn't. Another good idea is to have the schedule of commercial traffic in the area. If it all goes horribly wrong, at least you can try to raise someone overhead on your handheld with a fighting chance of being heard rather than depleting the battery in futile blind calls.

100LL was no issue on our part of the run, however it can be further west and north, so do check (and post in the Oz section of PPrune) for availability.

Be aware that there is very limited infrastructure out there. We had to leave the a/c and fly back to Townsville on a hugely expensive commercial flight, then take another plane out to the Reef.

Is it worth it? Absolutely! I had been out bush in Oz numerous times before, but seeing the endless expanse from the air at relatively low level, the Diamantina in flood, some forlorn station..... awesome!

Go - you'll enjoy it :ok:

[Round Engines]

Just do it! I had the chance to do a trip like this back in 97 and to this day it is still one of my most memorable trips. I felt like a real pilot when I returned home. I think I learned more on that one trip than I have ever learned. Also got to spend time with two really good friends along the way.
We left BK and headed to the rock via condobolin, broken hill, leigh creek, william creek, cooberpedy, olgas, ayers rock then alice springs, mt isa, longreach, charleville, st george, lightning ridge, moree and some other places along the way. Still can't believe we did all that, and in a Piper Archer!
As 172 driver stated, make sure you have your survival kit, HF etc. You really do need it out there. And flight planning considerations? Do good flight planning. And book everything in advance.

[jpilotj]

thanks for the help everyone. Some good points raised. Glad to see you all agree it was worthwhile.

[wishful av8r]

Might want to wait until it stops raining though. Maybe a midyear adventure?

[djpil]

Government rules of ID cards which can only be acquired in OZ after waiting 7 daysYou will need an ASIC etc - I'd allow 7 months.
Civil Aviation Safety Authority - Converting foreign licences (http://www.casa.gov.au/scripts/nc.dll?WCMS:STANDARD::pc=PC_90024)