I took Joe down for a flight to Coomalie Creek a couple of weekends ago and as we backtracked for runway 07 a rather sleek looking Gyrocopter took off. Here are the pictures I took while waiting for the aircraft o pass.
Your CASA Aviation Safety Advisors will be presenting an Aviation Safety Seminar;
Where; Darwin Airport Resort
When; 6.30pm on the 22nd of September 2010.
The main topic will be "Weather- flying in the wet season"
There will also be a briefing from a Bureau of Meteorology forecaster.
A light meal and refreshments will be provided.
From Peter Ball at CASA
Peter Ball from CASA sent this through - apologies if you have already received it.
Which stands for Recreational Aviation Administration Organisations (RAAOs). CASA has been very busy getting all twenty something of these organisations under one roof and ensuring that our governance procedures are up to scratch. For those interested in reading John McCormick's speech. (John is the boss of CASA - formally is the Director of Aviation Safety. I have in this post a couple of very useful and important links that help understand the way the relationship between CASA and RA-Aus is heading.
Yes, I know we haven't have the Merlin for a while now, but I just love the name, because at Coomalie Airfield on a cool moonless night surrounded by history, aircraft, friends, music, food and a warm fire it is hard to say that there isn't a little magic in the air.
We may not have fire breathing dragons, but we do have knights of the air and saints on the ground.
It was great to see 3 gyrocopters participate in the event, the storch was given a showing and a variety of recreational aircraft from MKT and beyond came for the event.
Joe came down for the flight after a blown fuel boost pump fuse almost put paid to our journey down on the Sunday morning. It was Joe's first departure from our new bitumen strip which he celebrated with a big Woohoo! as we took off.
A single trike was heading back in the opposite direction from Coomalie as we headed down with air that was nice and smooth, unlike the gales that had been blowing over previous weeks.
As we turned across the airfield, the DC3 stood out at the end of runway 17. Other aircraft including John in the red drifter were in the circuit and wondered what Darwin tower or Brisbane must make of this activity on 126.7 around Coomalie.
After we had landed and parked up, Joe headed off with Christian, another MKT youngster and they had a great time inspecting the DC3 and sharing stories.
After catching up and looking around at all the aircraft we jumped back in and headed back to MKT. A little more wind this time, but Joe really enjoyed the flight as I did.
A big thank you to all who make this event possible - especially Richard Luxton.
Oh, don't forget to check out the newly manicured cricket pitch in the photo album which dates back to the second world war, complete with with sentinel anthills acting as fielders on the pitch.
See you in 2011.
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| Merlin Magic 2010 |
Well it is that time of year again. Details are sketchy but looks another wonderful Merlin Magic night will be held on the 7th of August. If there are any further details, please leave a comment.
If you can imagine a darkened moonless night, flames from engines, aircraft converging on a world war II airstrip, campfires, folk songs and good fun then Merlin Magic is the event.
While the V8 cars were belting around Hidden Valley on Sunday, Top end Flying Club pilots and friends of MKT Airfield were participating in our flying competition. With our new bitumen surface less than a week old, it also made sense to combine an official opening by Kath Meyering with the event.
Competition on the day was fierce and so was the Southerly wind that had my drifter and many of the trikes pointing their noses at the airstrip on the downwind leg (which means that we were flying sideways.
Photos in main part of entry...
Yesterday marked a special day in the history of MKT. The airstrip that has been here serving light aircraft needs (and military, customs, coastwatch, firefighting aviation needs) is now a bitumen strip. This is a very significant event made possible by the contributions of the people who use MKT and the Meyering family who own the airstrip. It is fair to say that the cost of creating that one kilometre of black ribbon was not cheap, but it was paid for by the people, not through a government grant.
Want to see what it looks like/ read on...
I attended the monthly meeting last Friday and it was entertaining and productive with a great salad and sausage sizzzle to top it off. Thanks to Arti. We learnt that MKT will be covered in 1km of bitumen in about two weeks time and this will be paid by friends of MKT without any external funding from taxpayers to top up, prop up or support this massive infrastructure investment.
