Spare some outback/remote flying tips for a beginner?
 

Gday all,

Been trying to search the forum for some outback/remote operations flying tips, but unfortunately have been unable to find anything. I am a low time CPL that is very keen into moving into that sort of work once the industry settles down, but unfortunately have been blessed (or cursed for that matter) with generally only flying out of Local Victorian Airstrips (Moorabbin, Tyabb etc.).

For someone of my calibre (who has zero experience operating out bush), what would be some trade tips for charter, mustering etc. that may be beneficial for me to start to get my head around, whilst i am bored in isolation.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated, as the more i can learn about the delicate operation of bush flying would be of great interest to me.

Anyhow i hope everyone is staying safe in these Covid times, and thank-you for any help.

Kind Regards,

Mach1

Never believe the customer that you are going to pick up when he tells you the strip is fine,"They use it all the time", unless you know the person well or he is a pilot. They will tell you anything just to get picked up. I have seen some goat tracks in my time. The same goes for weather advice.
Groggy

Know where you are, and know where you're going. If not, stop and ask!

similar with weather. They’ll tell you it’s fine, meanwhile it’s terrible...


sometimes just say “yes” to the boss, even if it is a request to do something maybe not quite right or proper-
then go find a way to do the job safely and legally. If you can’t figure out a way then that’s when you’ve got to become tough enough to stand your ground.

Always have a plan B. Aviation is a fluid environment from the time you get a job.
It's an industry that's fraught with danger and many shady characters so learn from everything everyone says.
I look back after 40 years driving planes, I have a stack of log books and a stack of memories, the latter are priceless, stay safe so you too can say the same thing in years to come -)

Contact Talia Ellis at the Birdsville Hotel.

Thanks all for the priceless advice!

Would there be anything in terms of looking after the aircraft?(for example i was told by an instructor to always position the prop to where birds wont poo down the side of it into the prop hub)

Thanks,

Mach1

I can see you're worried about the important stuff. In that case:

- Don't argue with emus. Emus don't like pilots. If you mess with an emu, it will take revenge on your aircraft as soon as you leave the aerodrome.

- A dingo might take your baby. If you have to fly with a baby on board, protect it. Dingoes will chew your aircraft's tyres overnight, if they smell baby.

- Although there are no financial pressures in flying in the bush, the romantic temptations will be enormous. The lure of deeply satisfying threesomes with drop dead gorgeous and unquestioningly loving and supportive partners may detract from tomorrow's highly profitable flying operations. Be professional and resist: 'Park that' until you take your very generous holidays.

- Don't fly passengers or cargo to Bar Mitzvahs. Beetlejuice wouldn't; nor should you. This unwritten rule applies in the bush.

- Sometimes the airconditioning and communications infrastructure in the bush will under-perform at the same time. Just continue submitting on-line complaints.

Hahaha
One of the best replies i have ever read lead baloon!

You have a sense of humour. Great to see.

Probably the most important rule with which you need to comply is: Have a sense of humour and try to laugh as much as you can about the bull**** circumstances in which you may find yourself.

Safe flying and best of luck.

... and call Talia.

I got in before the emu had a chance. The body went under the wing and I presume the head took the long way over the top.
All I had to show for it was a small dent about 60cm back from the leading edge.

Learn how to read WAC - that is they are still available.
Learn to count sandhills and which State you are in by the direction the sandhills run.
Learn how to determine the length of an airstrip from the air.

You may be surprised to find how quickly birds can build a nest on top of a warm engine.

It's amazing how many people choose to fly along roads, railway lines, power lines, gas pipes and any similar landmarks. If you decide to do the same, better stay to the right, have your lights on and don't forget that someone else might have decided to fly alongside the same landmark but in the opposite direction.

On an uncontrolled strip, it's advisable to always do a low pass to check runway condition before landing. The overhead join may also be beneficial to see other traffic and be seen by it.

Get into the habit of covering the pitot even on short stopovers. Insects can get in there very quickly.

Mind where you leave a parked aircraft and make sure that it's either well held in place by the brakes or by chocks or tie-down ropes. It's surprising how even a slight slope can cause an aircraft to run away and end up in some trees or bushes, possibly with some unpleasant damage.

Always treat your propeller as live. To put it mildly, preventative maintenance in this kind of establishments often has scope for improvement, so there's hardly a guarantee that any periodic checks have been done by anyone other than the pilots - and very few pilots do the live magneto check frequently and/or properly (although it's not difficult). Did I also mention the fuel and oil caps?

After all, have a great time. Granted, most aim to move onto something bigger and better-paid in the long-term run, but flying a light aircraft in the middle of nowhere is a wonderful experience and one day you will miss some parts of it. Some other parts - not so much though. Best of luck!

If you're a VFR bush pilot, never accept more than one of:

• Min Fuel
• Darkness
• Bad Weather

Triple check ahead you have fuel where you’re going. If it’s drums, only trust they’re good if you know the person when confirming over the phone.

Factor a short-stay motel into your costings - an oh-dark-thirty departure to a country town, wait all day for the customer to come back (not much room to sleep in a lightie) and then a race back before dark / dinner / pubs close. A mighty long day, and you are bone tired before taking off for the return trip.

But find a motel that will let you use the room for a nap, watch TV, refresher shower and gone after 6 hours. Works wonders.

Not all emus hate aircraft - in the Blue Mountains, Peter Piggott (of Uncle Pete's Toys, famous in the 80s and 90s) had a pet emu, Cheepie. This emu would have her head in the window of the chopper while the engine was still running down, friendly and loved a tickle behind the head.

In the outback areas I used to fly, I figured it would take up to 3 days for someone to get to me if I crashed. I reckon that in most of the outback you can force land and walk away, buy you need to prepare to be found and for the wait.
1. GPS EPIRB
2. Water. Everyone in the outback carries water in cars, the aeroplane should be no exception.
3. First aid / survival equipment.
4. Sat phone if you can.
5. In remote Australia you need you mobile to be on the dreaded Telstra, unless its Nth SA where Optus is better.

Always ring ahead. Never assume that fuel will be avaiulable. Most remote places only get a small number of AV GAs deliveries per year. Like the Blues Brothers, you might want fuel just before the truck arrives. If you are flying to stations call and ask if they need anything. The old Elders rule was to always take the newspapers and fresh bread. In the era of freezers, fresh bread is not so important, but the newspapers of the day and / or cut flowers are always apptreciated. Maybe some fresh fruit.

GPS works 99% of the time, but there are GPS black spots in remote areas. There will also come the day, when you get directions on the back of an envelope from a guy at a pub. The GPS is limited use then. Don't plan on simply following the magenta line. Navigation in the outback is a different beast. Its about broad position based on large features and being good about time and heading.

Don't expect winsocks. if you cant pick up wind clues from other features, then you shouldn't be there. Many times, details of airstrips will be given to you by non-pilots. You need to make your own assessment of all runways.

If your flying in the bush landing on ALA's/ remote strips etc always take some spares with you. Spare spark plug or two, and socket set to change, Landing light ,duct tape, zip ties etc. Water for you, couple of litres of oil, Know how to hand start your engine and carry out minor repairs. It is a long way for help to arrive. Never leave the aircraft unattended if cattle are near bye or Camels if overnighting unless you can barricade it away safely. They love using it to scratch on and can easily destroy the flying surfaces.
As above get reliable info on strip condition and fuel availability. Get reacquainted with direct reckoning / WAC charts for navigating as a back up. Watch the weather constantly. Dirt strips can turn into a quagmire quickly with a heavy downpour out bush.

FWIW, I posted this a while ago:In short: Deep systems knowledge of the specific aircraft you are flying is essential.

Lotsa XLNT advice here....AND....don't ferget ta put the PITOT COVER on ya PITOT TUBE....otherwise the various bugs / wasps will do it for ya.....

It doesn't take them long in some places.

Have FUN!!

Thanks all for the tips!

It seems outback flying is a whole other world!

Looks like I have a ton to learn and a lot to read up on, but all these comments have made it so much easier, thanks a lot!

Is there any recommendations for dealing with customers that may be irate or not in a state for flight?

Thanks all

Kind Regards,

Mach1

Before you have to do it for real, learn how to jump start from a LandCruiser. No prop swing required.
If a dirty great wasp/bee/insect/spider gets in the cabin, don't get excited and try to brush it through the storm window. Open as many orifices the plane offers, and let them do it them selves. Otherwise they will get as exited and toey as you.
Be prepared to smell stuff that you will never forget. Then you will remember that living beings can really smell that dead.
Just as important as covering the pitot, don't forget to take it off. Especially if you use the pitot heat.
Always keep the grid MORA/LSALT in mind if you get caught out.
Flys. Lots and lots of flys.

interpreting a WAC
 

Learn to interpret a WAC in both wet and dry times, when the world looks totally different. Better to do visual nav with roads and outback stations than rivers, or creeks.

And if you're IFR be very wary about accepting two or more of the above.

Know the probabilities for inclusion of weather on the various types of forecasts - GAF 10%, TAF 30% and TTF 50% - particularly if you're running minimum fuel. You'll often see thunderstorms at an aerodrome when they're not forecast on the TAF, but only occasionally see them if they're not forecast on the GAF. I've seen the first reference to thunderstorms at Darwin on more than one occasion being a METAR. The same goes for fog.

and on top of Baron nosewheel struts.
One thing that you will learn is what it is like to have no background noise.
Maybe an occasional bird, that's it

As has been suggested earlier, always have a Plan B. I would go further and suggest have a plan C and D. The day you start running out of options is the day you will run into trouble.
A good attribute for a bush pilot is the way they can think on their feet and improvise. Having a good knowledge of your machine is critical when things break down as well as having good hand skills to fix it. If you are not comfortable or have the tools to fix anything listed in Schedule 8, then bush flying is not for you. Spend some time in a hanger and know how to fix tyres, check spark plugs etc.

This has been posted before but is with repeating ....
Airstrips near pubs and food
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/vi...7499999998&z=4

Congratulate yourself that you found that pimple in the middle of a featureless plain by good navigation and rigorous track/heading keeping. Very important pre-takeoff, set that blood gyro! Once in the air and about to depart have an idea where the sun should be in relation to your departure track and ensure you set your departure heading ACCURATELY asap because there are minimal features that relate to the WAC and it could be a good while before you relate the WAC to a feature on the ground..NEVER TRUST THE MAGENTA LINE until you are sure you have set the correct destination...the bit about the Sun will help you if you forget this...A wise old Cunnamulla flyer bashed my ears on this very subject....and we were in a KingAir at the time!

Be very prepared for absolute **** visibility in smoke/haze. In most of the inland (Especially anywhere in QLD west of the range), if you get ABV100 you will invariably get above the inversion layer and it into clear air with no turbulence...just remember that all that **** below you makes it difficult to pinpoint features. Having said that, the higher you get the more realistic the WAC looks. Me is a very low time PPL but I spent too much time in the back of Codd Air's B65s wandering around western QLD flying into and out of rough strips graded specially for crew change. (Please excuse the link to Airhistory and credit to David Carter in advance)......

.....One important thing. NEVER allow anyone else to load your aircraft. The guys I worked for managed to overload the nose locker of this particular Queenie with drill bits that would have been ..um..interesting if not caught early.

Aviate, navigate, communicate. Fly the aircraft, always know where you are, and then chat to whoever you need to (ATC, pax, boss).

Before heading to the bush, get into a maintenance org, and learn how to do all the pilot maintenance you can. Change a tyre, change a spark plug.
Read Section 7 in the POH on aircraft systems, then go through it again, and write down a list of questions on anything you are not clear on. Then go through that list with a LAME, and get a clear answer. Section 7 of the POH should be of more interest to a pilot than Playboy or Cleo.
When enquiring about the condition of an little used airstrip, ask if anyone would be game to belt down it in a landrover at 120 - 140kph (that's approximately your landing speed for most light singles). If there is any hesitation before they say yes, then there's your sign.
It's a requirement to do a fuel drain before flight. The second half of that reg is more commonly forgotten, and that is to do a fuel drain after re-fuelling ( before starting up to taxi). Always best to catch nasties before they get sucked into the fuel filter / fuel system.
Check the weather from more than one source. Look for the common information across all sources.
Check the weather for today, then check it for tomorrow and the day after. It's all very well to get from Point A to Point B today, and overnight, but a weather system coming through may mean that you are at Point B for tomorrow and the next day (and the day after....while the strip dries out).
Get a dual sim for your phone that does both Telstra and Optus. Think about investing in a Sat Sleeve that will turn your ordinary mobile into a sat phone.
Get a bluetooth compliant headset, so you can link your phone to your headset, and make calls in flight (push the pilot isolate switch to separate you from the pax). It means a quick chat to the boss or to the Gingerbeers may settle your mind / nerves.
A couple of muesli bars, extra water, a clean pair of socks, jocks, a toothbrush and a phone charger in the hand luggage weigh very little but will come in handy surprisingly often.
In advising a passenger (or the boss) why something can't be done, double check your facts and figures, be polite, and try and offer an alternative rather than just saying "no". Stick to the facts, and don't get into a slanging match (unpleasant with a passenger, career limiting if its the boss).
I agree with most of the previous comments - know your personal limitations, and always, always have a Plan B (and a Plan C, just in case).

On the day I got my PPL, my flying instructor said -
Right now, you have a full bag of luck, and an empty bag of experience. The trick is to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of luck.
At the time, I thought he was being funny.
20 years later, I look back and think how right he was.

Flying in the bush will introduce you to experiences, locations and people you would never otherwise meet. Some you will teach, others you will learn from (good or bad in both instances).

On one crew change I could not lift a roughneck's bag. When challenged as to what was in it, out come a couple drill bits.
Doorstops was his reply.

If you're still in the city - get a taxi licence and drive a few months as a taxi driver. Touting for business and dealing with runners is the bush pilot experience you need. Seriously - if you're based in a community, then you end up walking through the town looking for business - and that business can sudenly scatter on arrival if you're not careful and prepared.

Ask if you can do a week's work experience in your flying club/school's maintenace hangar. Just being able to remove, sand blast and re-gap the plugs, change the oil and change a tyre will be enough to put on your resume to make it stand out a bit.

If you can, get a driving licence that lets you drive smaller minibuses. Good for tourist pick ups.
A first aid certificate as well as dangerous good certificate. Don't leave home without them.
Night VFR rating. Easier to keep current than an Instrument rating.
Some maintenance skills are bloody useful.
If you can get any time flying a C206 would be very useful.
Leave the attitude at home, be friendly and open. :)

Good luck

If you find a green snake in your baggage locker, don't worry - it isn't ripe yet. Watch out for it if it has turned brown.

Learn to cook a few meals (Italian or stir fry is a good place to start - cheap and easy). You'll be sharing accomodation with others and sharing cooking nights - buying takeaway pizza each time makes you look an idiot. Make sure you can do basic housework, wash and iron.

Off topic, but Was at the Marree pub many years ago on a state of origin night during tourist season. The strip almost ran out of avgas. I’ve never seen a group of pilots, guys and gals, having so much fun.

Was at the Marree pub in Oct 2011 and the strip had run out of avgas. Dinner at the pub with fellow aviators was a lot of fun. (Fortunately no footy to have to watch.)

Was around that year Gerry. When I arrived about 4pm, (landing downwind), the kids were all busy cleaning their windscreens and interiors for tomorrow’s tourist flights over Lake Eyre. Trevor Wright would have been proud. I’ve never seen a group of young folk working so hard and then playing so hard.

Anyone remember the mice?

CASA's Out-n-Back series 2 has some fairly good practical advice for low time pilots flying in the outback (in amongst the usual dry safety messages).

Pretty easy viewing, and one of the better pieces of work to come out of CASA in my opinion.

Never, ever be afraid to turn back when you feel continuing ahead is getting beyond your level of experience……..especially when weather is involved.

I see pilots drink all kinds of stuff, but Avgas?