By Mark Bland
A familiar saying tells us - ‘The bad news is that time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot’. That says something about making good use of the time we have left!
I think this may have influenced Ojars' decision to purchase a Grob 109 VH FFO motor glider with a view to flying the Morning Glory cloud out of Burketown near the Gulf of Carpentaria. Check out this video: tinyurl.com/5dtwtk6b
When he asked me if I’d like to go with him, how could I say no? After all, it's one of those Bucket List things most of us would love to do.
With only a month or so to plan, we were probably a bit under-prepared, but Ojars has flown all around the Outback in both his Piper Comanche and his trusty Tri-Pacer. The first item on the agenda was organising accommodation, as it's normally difficult to get at short notice during the Glory season of late September to mid-October. Fortunately, a cabin at the Burketown Pub was available!
After briefly getting familiar with the Grob 109, Ojars decided we wouldn’t survive with just a toothbrush and a change of clothes, which was about all we could carry two-up with half fuel. So we thought flying his Tri Pacer along with the bags would be more comfortable, but that would mean I would be flying the motor glider the 1230nm journey to Burketown. Or, we could swap aircraft on alternate legs.
The plan was to depart Monday, 23 September following the GCV awards night with possible stops at Leeton, Cobar, Cunnamulla, Quilpie, Winton, Julie Creek and Burketown.
During a last familiarisation flight the day before, we discovered the propeller cruise pitch mechanism had disintegrated bearings, but thankfully Steve Hobby came to the rescue and fixed it.
We departed at 07:00 Monday morning with clear skies and forecast light SW winds. Aftr stopping at Leeton for fuel, the track up past Lake Cargelligo was all very familiar to me. The country starts with beautiful lush green crops and plenty of open paddocks but then changes dramatically to scrub and more scrub! What could go wrong? The engine was purring, 80kts ground speed - all good - and we were also escaping the cold of the south. I'd ditched my jumper at Leeton. By mid-day we had refuelled at Cobar and were on our way to Cunnamulla. By the time we got to Quilpie, almost halfway, we were ready for a beer, 627NM completed. The Brick Hotel thebrickhotel.com.au was very good.
The prospect of a Glory on the 25 /26 September had us excited and the publican dropped us at the airport for an early departure. Oh no! Inspecting the Grob revealed the prop bearings had worn out again - bugger @*%!
Closest spares might be in Charleville 110 NM East. I knew there was a reason Ojars bought the Tri Pacer. We had a hot bumpy ride out and return to Outback Spares YBCV for new bearings and another night at the Brick. Next morning produced 30kt northerlies, which meant a third night at the Brick and a Glory chance missed.
We departed Quilpie early on 26 September. After an long, uneventful day of more and more and more scrub, we arrived in Burketown. Yeah! Did I say it was hot? Effing Hot, about 38 degrees. This became the norm, even reaching 40 degrees on some days.
Barry Hendy was at Burketown with his Phoenix, also for his second visit.
For the next five days we amused ourselves by visiting places like Normanton, Karumba and the indigenous community Doomadgee, as well as playing lots of pool at the Burketown Pub. I think Ojars was a hustler in his day, but he did let me win a few games!
By 3 October, forecasts were looking favourable and we were getting some good vibes from Barry and Geoff Pratt, a long time Glory master from Cairns. John (Spiller) Spillsbury had also arrived in his Motor Falke. John has made more than a dozen trips in his Falke from Tasmania, a true legend. He’s also a talented mechanic and a guru on Limbach engines, so it's great to have him around in such a remote place.
About four days of Glories were forecast, but Windy.com was showing them overhead the Burketown Airport before dawn. Ideally, the best situation is to launch at first light (legal) and head out towards the coast to meet it as it blows in from the NE at around 60kph. In our case, it meant we had to chase it inland and then ride it further inland until such time that it either collapsed or you had enough fuel to fly back to Burketown. This was around 80 to 100nm.
The first good cloud arrived on 3 October, but was a bit too far downwind by the time we launched. We played around in the secondary cloud near the coast, though it wasn’t strong enough to shut the engine off completely! Barry in his faster Phoenix caught the primary and was in heaven soaring it all the way to the Northern Territory border.
“Good things come to those that wait,” my mother used to say, and on the 4th and 5th October we struck Glory! Pictures tell the story better than words - over four hours in total, soaring engine off and over 400km travelled.
Ojars Balodis (right) and Mark Bland flying the Morning Glory.
We left the best cloud on Sunday the 5th, a bit early as we decided to head back and make an early exit from Burketown to take advantage of northerly tailwinds on the long journey home.
Our return trip was via Winton, Longreach overnight, Charleville, Cobar and Leeton overnight before a last quick leg back to Benalla.
Overall, a huge thanks to Ojars for inviting me to be part of a huge adventure. It was definitely worth the effort. It made me realise what a big, big country we live in. Would we do it again? YES.