Easter 2013

[Adrian S]

Due to my work commitments we have had to cancel the 2013 16 day Low and Slow trip. What we are now planning is a 2 day fly away to Richards farm near Dowerin for those that are keen.Let me know if you are interested.Adrian 0427094552

[tonydenton]

so ya had to work like us from the good side. my heart is bleeding for you adrian.

[Adrian S]

Tony,Yep your right, we feel a huge responsibility here in the West to work to keep Australia afloat. I hope all of you on the East Coast have learnt a valuable lesson and do the right thing at the comming Federal election. We need a change in govt so someone manages the country properly and all of us in WA can relax a little as well as repair the damage to the live export trade, then I can get back to being able to aviate when I want to. Cheers,Adrian

[tonydenton]

just as i expected adrian. .i was going to say i"ve been doing my bit but the rest of you are getting heavy.

[tonydenton]

ok all jokes asides, just heard the news last night . serious fires in your area. i hope you everyone comes out safe.

[chook]

Tony, we were VERY lucky. The humidity increased and the wind stopped allowing the guys to get the upper hand. They are just mopping up at this stage.I was in Tassie last week (my daughters wedding) and was surprised at the helitacs they use over there. The little bucket containing the water under those choppers would be lucky to hold 300 litres. Our guys over here have an integrated belly tank which if my memory serves me correctly takes on nearly a 1000L.And after the wedding rehearsal while sitting on the lawn at MONA last week sipping a cold ale, one of our neighbors rang me to let me know that 3 helitacs were taking water from my lake to fight a grass fire 800m from our place in the next street - I live on 15 acres in a rural setting.Have not had that situation for 7 years and the week I go interstate- grrrr. Regards............Chook.

[tonydenton]

i have never been able to work out why the air force helicopters are fitted out with the neccessary gear to water bomb too.i"m not blaming the air force just someone in the powers that be. they must also have to get up flying hours etc, what does it matter if they are flying milatary games or actually dropping water bombs on targets etc. and saving our country side. i"m glad your all good. i have been going to post what it was like here in bundy with the floods . i don"t have any photos but but just a blurb.

[Adrian S]

Tony,Unfortunatley the RAAF no longer have any helicopters in their fleet, only the Army and Navy do and the numbers they have are small! Your idea has merit but here in WA we need 20+ Fire bombers on call each summer and the ADF just wouldnt have the numbers or flexibility to cope. Yes we stopped the Bindoon fires agout 500m from the houses. During daylight hours we had 13 aircraft tasked and the airspace was busy,If the weather hadnt changed in the evening then there would have been a some significant property loses and 7km after that our Hangers etc at the Airstrip. Cheers,Adrian

[Des Garvin]

"Have not had that situation for 7 years and the week I go interstate- grrrr." Aye Chooky you would have had the frount seat on Thursday with that fire from the railway line. Believe there was quite

[birdy]

We haven"t had much fire excitement ere this year Des.Nuthn much left to burn.Lost bout 2900 squ KM last summer.One started on our nothern

[chook]

Yep Des, unfortunately I did have the front seat. Caused by a train in the valley which sparked along for about 10km before it was stopped, then woompah up the hillside she came. Probably travelled about 3 km in an hour ending up about 800m from my joint. So then a helitac started drawing out of my dam for just over an hour and a half before breaking off for fuel. I estimate he pulled 130 ton of water out of my dam to put the ba3tard out. We were really lucky that the guys kept it in the grass and it didn"t get into the trees and start spraying large embers all over the place. FESA closed the area off for 3 days keeping everyone out while they battled it. I chose to stay put without the wife and dogs with some support from the local neighbours. As you can see, our last fallback would have been the dam. In the end the water level only dropped about 300mm which also included the spray that was sent up as a result of the rotor wash. I did ask Stoffels to come over and give us a hand with G000 - the best he could offer was 10l of water and a full bladder!Regards.....Chook.

[Des Garvin]

I like the picky shows just how they do it here. I was lucky to witness the same heli down at Uppeswan on the Wednesday at the fire there as we were heading over to our elerest boys place in town. Not as close as you were though. My thoughts were that I was wondering how you were fairing, pleased to hear you were ok. You still have plenty of water there not like the river here since the department of water has allowed the issue of water licences it now is dry from begining of January for the last 4 years which is a worry as we have been here since 1984 and it never stopped flowing.So our leader of aviation interests did not show up to help you out

[chook]

Ok some more pics now I have some time.Pic # 1 9723 Flaring after a tight turn ( he was in a real hurry)Pic # 2 9725 Ok now the ba3tard is getting real close. Time to start the firefighter. Notice my sprinklers are running continuously on the last station. The rest of the 2 acres of grass have already been watered and this is the direction that the fire will approach from.Pic #3 This is what greeted my wife as she approached Bullsbrook from the north. This would have also been Des"s view. This was about 30mins before PIC #2 was taken so you can imagine the smoke that would have produced. They were watching it from the evacuation centre and she said that everyone went quiet when it erupted and wondered who"s house was that?Regards........Chook.

[Adrian S]

UpdateGuys & Girls,SLACWA have a short 2 night Easter fly away happening - Friday 29th, Saturday 30th,

[Adrian S]

UpdateGuys & Girls,The weather forecast is looking good for