Paddock refuelling, mountain-top landings and bushfire diversions

The past couple of days have been challenging with steep learning curves yet probably some of the most enjoyable and rewarding flights I have done to date. On Thursday we flew the longest flight yet, 3.7 hours of engine running time. I arrived at the hanger at 7am to give the aircraft a good look over, checked the weather forecast and winds en-route, finalised my flight planning and submitted my flight plan and SARTIME with Airservices. We departed at about 9:30 towards the Perth hills again before flying "Victor 66", a route which takes you through controlled airspace to the east of Perth airport. At the end of 66 we tracked southeast over farm after farm toward Narrogin, yet another country town southeast of Perth. This time I found Narrogin airport on time, did all my necessary radio calls, lined up correctly and landed on the appropriate runway. Compared to the previous nav, this was already off to a flying start at being a much better flight!

This was only the beginning of the fun. We couldn't get fuel at the airport so Rotorvation has a fuel dump at a farm east of the township. So we took off from the airport and I had to find this location that I've never been to before and is basically a house and few sheds amongst paddocks, power lines, roads and trees. Again I was able to find it without a hitch, do my confined area checks and put the machine down next to the shed where the fuel drums are kept. This was surreal for me; flying to another location in a plane had always been from one runway to another, but this was the first time I had gotten out of the helicopter in a random paddock. 

After refuelling we departed and not two minutes into the flight my instructors said that he wanted to go to Pumphreys bridge, somewhere different from my planned route, to take a photo. What a pain in the arse! Part of my navigation training is to ensure that I can deal with a diversion in flight. As you can expect there's a few things that need to be considered:

• Find the location on the map and start tracking towards it with a rough compass heading taking into account the wind. This needs to be done properly with a protractor and ruler if doing a long leg but rules of thumb often help out for short diversions.
• Ask the passenger if they just want to fly by it (i.e. in this case for a photo) or spend some time flying over the area. The longer they need there, the more fuel you will burn so you need to ensure there's enough to get home safely or to another place with ready fuel. You may also be limited with daylight if the flight is at the end of the day so you need to know when the end of daylight is and plan the flight to be back 10 minutes before last light for legal, if not common sense, reasons.
• What level should I fly there? Am I going to be impinging on controlled airspace, am I at least 500ft above the ground or 1000ft above populated areas? How high can I be before I have to worry about any cloud bases? Am I flying at a hemispherical level?
• Do I need to be on a different radio channel now? Am I going to fly near any other airstrips that I need to inform traffic in the area of my new intentions?
• Do I know where I am as I'm flying along this new route? Can I pinpoint myself on the map and ensure I'm heading towards this new location?
• We also need to let Airservices know that we have changed our flight plan and potentially our SARTIME so that if we don't cancel our SARTIME they are able to search along the route we have flown for our aircraft.

Once the big checklist is done you relax and enjoy the new view:) I found Pumphreys bridge by more or less following a road there and once the time that I estimated we'd be there came up on the clock we were overhead a junction of roads and a creek that the map said was Pumphreys bridge. I then did a steep turn over the bridge so the passenger could take his photo of very non-photogenic concrete bridge before commencing my new track to the next destination.

We then practiced an engine failure and found a clearing in the trees to put the machine down safely. During climb out of the clearing in the trees my instructor described a scenario where the radio operators asked if anyone in the vicinity of Mt Cooke (our next location to fly past) could help an injured hiker. I gave a (fake) radio call that we were in the area and could render assistance. So we flew to Mt Cooke and I did a recce over the mountain top to find a safe location to put the machine down. There were a few prescribed burns going on around the mountain which was pretty awesome and gave a very clear indication of the low-level wind flow over the area. I set the machine into wind and, flying along the ridge-line on final approach, put the machine on the ground. 

Now those of you that know me know that I would love to be a rescue chopper pilot. This was basically it and a bit. I imagined dropping my Instructor off there (I promise I'll be back mate!) and taking the injured back to Jandakot for medical assistance, well in reality I'd probably drop him at a hospital helipad:) 

We took off from this ridge and my Instructor said that another person was on a burning mountain and if no one helped he'd be burned alive (I know, graphic right!). So I found this new location on the map and did another recce around it and it looked really rocky, like I didn't think it was safe to put the machine down anywhere. I thought maybe this was testing my "command decision making" processes and so piped up and said that I don't think it's safe to put the machine down on top of the peak but could land over there and you could run up the slope. Well my instructor reminded me that the flames were approaching the top and he'd be burned alive very soon. Yeah righto, made me feel like a proper dick. So I looked harder and there was just a very small and relatively flat bit of land that would be suitable. I set up the approach twice (the first time I came in too shallow) and landed on this slightly sloped landing area. Now in reality we wouldn't have been able to do anything at that point as another body would have put us over weight but with some prior planning I could have dropped my passenger in a safe location and picked up the perilous hiker.

Another take off from another peak and we still had time to do another practiced forced landing before making tracks back home. 3.7 hours! After a late lunch and a thorough debrief I got out of there with the clock approaching 4pm. I'd been there since 7am and it had been an intense day of concentration, pressure and enjoyment and I was wrecked. I think I would have blown over 0.05 in a breathalyser despite not touching a drink, I honestly felt that delirious! The whole flight gave me a massive confidence boost in my skill for pre-flight planning, navigation and in-flight changes. Something that would set me up perfectly for my flight the following day.

Landing to refuel in the paddock at Narrogin.

The fuel dump is in a farm of a past student of Rotorovation and regular drives are done out here to ensure there's fuel here when required.

Today I flew solo to Northam. I arrived for the afternoon slot around midday with my maps ready and got stuck into the weather forecast of blue skies, smoke and light southwesterly winds. Not a drama; as long as the fires aren't too intense. This was my first solo flight through controlled airspace, of refuelling and of going somewhere (on my return journey) that I haven't been before. Blades were rotating at 1:30pm and many smoke columns could be seen on the eastern horizon. My instructor warned that the fires may require an in-flight diversion so I was ready for what could eventuate. The flight to Northam occurred without a hitch, the now familiar landmarks approaching when they should be. However there were some good fires occurring along Victor 66 but since I was essentially upstream of the fires the smoke was being blown away from me. Finding the airport this time was much easier, once you've been somewhere once you always seem to remember the layout of a place. I landed and refuelled the machine.

It was the way back when my skills were tested. My return route wasn't the reciprocal of the first and it was becoming clear that the smoke was going to be an issue as I headed towards my first waypoint. I could see that where the smoke was blowing over my track the visibility was really low, but since I had flown through some smoke on a previous nav I thought that I'd get a bit closer to take a look. I noted a main road that, if need be, I could return to that and it would take me back to the entrance of the Victor 66 route. Sure enough, even with the advantage of a closer perspective, I estimated the visibility in the smoke to about 1-2km or so, well below the 5+km that I need to navigate with reference to the ground. I returned to the road and followed it towards Victor 66. I made my radio calls and requested an airways clearance. I then had to do numerous calculations in flight to ensure that I'd be back in time to cancel my SARTIME and wouldn't run out of fuel. As it worked out I arrived around a similar time that I'd calculated whilst on the ground at Northam and so didn't need to amend the SARTIME. Fuel wasn't an issue with full tanks on this route.

This flight gave me a further boost in my diversion skills and a real reason to do one! Things are now starting to approach the end of the licence and after flying some more solo hours I will fly with the chief flying instructor to brush up on any emergencies that could occur in flight and get me ready for the flight test.

Refuelling at Northam.

A good view of the fires from upstream but you can see that the smoke is highly concentrated in the low levels downstream.

Check out that balance Nick! ;)