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From the horse's mouth:The plan was to takeoff from Cooma and track 10 mls and orbit around Berridale. Then, track 20 mls to Cooma township and overfly the Polo Flat Airfield before returning to the Cooma airfield. The pre-flight briefing included the usual stay within the law with regard to populous areas, fly responsibibly etc, etc. My takeoff was marred by the fact that my helmet had not been properly secured. The clip buckle had not been properly aligned, and didn't catch properly. No problems, a quick circuit to fix the error, and off again. I sighted a gyro in front of me, and adjusted power to stay in close proximity. This required significantly more power than normal cruise. Like 400 RPM. Orbit of Berridale complete, I proceeded in close proximity with the other gyro to Polo Flat, and did a couple of orbits for the photographers that we knew would be there.Depart for Cooma Airfield, fat dumb and happy. Check the watch for an ETA, and figure that with the increased RPM for the majority of the flight, it could be a little bit tight. (Where's the diesel when you need it?} Decision: Land somewhere whilst the engine is still operating, or push it. Bad decision - push it. To top it all off, a radio check revealed that the batteries were flat. Bugger.I tracked via suitable paddocks close to the road, so that if the noise ceased, there was not a major decision to be made. The unexpected expected happened, and when the noise quit, I looked around to see who could be blamed. Alas. T'was me alone. Bugger.The successful landing was witnessed by Greg Carr who was driving from town to the strip at the time. He galloped across the paddock to make sure all was OK. Murray Barker had also witnessed the incident from the airstrip, and turned up shortly afterwards. So, back to the strip, politely decline the offers of diesel and humble pie, grab some unleaded, set up Murray and son Mitchell to mark the bad ditch for the takeoff, and arrive at the field 30 minutes late. S**t, can Murray move when there is a gyro bearing down on him. Can't remember if he dived or not!!The worst of it all was having to look into mirror, and dress down the d***head that was looking at me.The bottom line?: Failure to positively establish fuel consumption on a new machine. Unplanned additional flying at abnormally high power settings. A degree of the "she's right mate" syndrome.Summary
***head.Regards,Waddles.
***head.Regards,Waddles.
][?].....RussRDC
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