30 May 2007 - To WA

Last night I found out I had a charter today to a place in Western Australia called 'Coyote Mine' (click for a google earth link). Due to the length of the flight, and the departure times, I took the morning off to ensure I could do it without running out of 'duty' that I was legally permitted to do for the day.

But my day still started at 7:30, when I woke up and sent my daily morning text message to Deb, to try to help her day as well. I had a leisurely breakfast, with the intention to arrive at work about two hours before my scheduled departure of 12, to give me plenty of time to get things in order. Necessary haste to prepare for an unexpected flight I can deal with. Unnecessary haste when I've had plenty of time, I hate.
But the problem today was one of time zones. About 11 in the morning I made some phone calls to the mine to ascertain fuel availability, strip details, etc, when I had the following conversation with a lady named Kyra:
Kyra - "You understand the flight is for a 4pm pickup"
Me - "Sure, that's what my job sheet says"
Kyra - "That's 4pm West Australian Time" (emphasis is mine, of course.....)

So the thing was, I was getting my flight ready an hour and a half to early. Just as well I wasn't flying the other way, or I would have been equally late. Another lesson...

So I had a leisurely lunch as well.

Departing at the revised time of 1:30, the flight to Coyote progressed well, in and out of light cloud, giving the plane a rinse. One noticeable thing was, the further south I progressed, the cooler it got. In fact, for the first time since I got here, I had to use the heater, as the air blowing over my feet was a (relatively) chilly 12 degrees.

Finding the airstrip was easy, thanks to the modern marvel called the GPS, and I arrived early enough to do my paperwork, stretch my legs, and take some photos.

Now at the moment, I can't post any photos, but later I hope to be able to, including one I took of a 1.5m long king brown snake I found doing a runway inspection. He/she was a pretty placid looking critter, but I still wasn't keen to get too close - I'd be flying myself to hospital if he turned cranky.

Shortly, the refuelers turned up, and they took a look as well, as it's unusual to see a snake so plainly in the open. They drove their ute alongside, and I was amused when the snake sat up far enough to get the driver to hastily wind up his window!

Shortly the passengers arrived, and we made a smooth on-time departure, with the setting sun conveniently behind us enough not to be in my eyes, but not so far around I could not watch.

About 45 minutes into the flight things got interesting when some thunderstorms appeared either side of my track, fortunately far enough apart that I could fit between them without much effort. In what was left of the sunlight, and the 3/4 moon light, I could make out the huge amount of rain they were dumping. By this time the passengers were napping, and it was smooth enough that they didn't stir, but I'm not sure if I'm glad they missed the 'light show' being emitted, or glad they weren't awake enough to get unnecessarily stressed.

The flight back was of similar length to the one down - about 3 hours, and because of the time difference we arrived well after dark for a nice night landing. Despite the length, it wasn't until the last hour I began to have longing thoughts of a faster plane, or began to get weary.

About a half hour after landing, exhaustion kicked in, but it was still about midnight before I got home to bed - after the usual paperwork, and packing up was complete. A long day, but again, plenty learned, and another 6.2 for the logbook.