Brisbane Intl. Airport (YBBN) - Lord Howe Islands (YLHI) - Norfolk Islands (YSNF) Piper "Arrow" III
Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2017 9:25 pmFlying such a route with a small one-engined aircraft is an adventure, over long distances of open water..... but the big thing you nearly never see in big airliners is... the weather.
In Brisbane was 1.5 miles sight, rain, a chance of thunderstorm. The little old, slow and heavy Piper "Arrow" was not the ideal aircraft for this job. But... must we ever have it ideal? I have faster aircraft with more range in the Hangar... like an Embraer Phenom 300 but... ist this the same thing to fly with such aircraft?
A lot of "the big" are around me, as I roll for takeoff.
It´s another thing, sitting in this Qantas-Airliner...
It´s my turn. The Piper "Arrow" is looking slow and heavy.
Underway to the coast of the australian mainland.
On instruments ... Garmin GTN 750...
A bit of the sun but only a small piece of it...
clouds ... clouds...
Around 3:50 hour´s time of flight, I arrive Lord Howe Islands.
To much speed... but with flaps down and power nearly cut I was at least with 65 miles per hour over the runway...
Here we are... but this is only the first step.
Not much time for the island.
And off again.
The "Arrow" has something from an angry turtle. She is so slow... I was for the complete flight below 120 kts. You can optimise as much as you want. There is not much to do.
After around 5 hours of flight the first view of Norfolk Island.
"The legs" down...
Not ideal.
The second step...
Next is to install Vector Landclass NZ and the subscription. And looking for the route to Auckland...
In Brisbane was 1.5 miles sight, rain, a chance of thunderstorm. The little old, slow and heavy Piper "Arrow" was not the ideal aircraft for this job. But... must we ever have it ideal? I have faster aircraft with more range in the Hangar... like an Embraer Phenom 300 but... ist this the same thing to fly with such aircraft?
A lot of "the big" are around me, as I roll for takeoff.
It´s another thing, sitting in this Qantas-Airliner...
It´s my turn. The Piper "Arrow" is looking slow and heavy.
Underway to the coast of the australian mainland.
On instruments ... Garmin GTN 750...
A bit of the sun but only a small piece of it...
clouds ... clouds...
Around 3:50 hour´s time of flight, I arrive Lord Howe Islands.
To much speed... but with flaps down and power nearly cut I was at least with 65 miles per hour over the runway...
Here we are... but this is only the first step.
Not much time for the island.
And off again.
The "Arrow" has something from an angry turtle. She is so slow... I was for the complete flight below 120 kts. You can optimise as much as you want. There is not much to do.
After around 5 hours of flight the first view of Norfolk Island.
"The legs" down...
Not ideal.
The second step...
Next is to install Vector Landclass NZ and the subscription. And looking for the route to Auckland...
.....!
...!
, my first time out of Brissy on a 767 I thought the pilot was going to drive us home ... good to see Lord Howe Island again , been a whiles since I have seen that, course that Norfolk Island looks very familiar .. we do have a few customs after a flight like that "Twist the bottle top Pssss! 'glug glug glug' Arrr " I needed that! 
