Manfredc3, Rookie started his LM adventure.

On our way to Rambang, Lombok WADR. It's an early morning. We, the crew, had a good talk last night and I will fill you all in on that in a bit.

We are a;; dressed in local costumes today, which is kinda underdressed, because these local clothes are not keeping us warm up here. I'll have to let Stue look for some blankets in the cargo area. I'm sure we have some of those moving throw's back there.

The office at the airport was closed this morning, so I letf them my flightplan and ETA rapped around the door knob.I just couldn't wait. Just hope they found it in time to announce my arrival in Rambang.

WIHH -WADR.

ETA :10:00am
 
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Made it in to Rambang. Was a search to find the airport, but we got there.

For the office: The Duenna file shows that we landed at WRRA, but the simulator shows me clearly landed at WADR. Don't know what the issue is there, but just want to clarify, as there is no such ICOA in the sim.

Now let's go for a hot bath, as I'm freezing cold. Never will I wear anything but my own clothes on a flight!

ATA: 09:52"39

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Last night's crew meeting: Do we abort the race or continue?

As I mentioned earlier we, the crew, had a talk last night.

I thanked the crew members for their effort, and let them know that I feel to have made new friends forever.

Stue mentioned that we had a rough start, but then our learning curve took a steep climb (or was it descend?)

travel-tourism-health_and_safety-passengers-announcements-gravitational_pull-seatbelt-kkin425_lo.jpg

We all agreed that we grew closer, and became a good team, as the race got further along.

Then came the hard part:
It is getting difficult to finish the Race in Melbourne on the deadline of Sunday November 30th. So the question was: "Do we bail out of the race, now, or will we complete the race to Melbourne, even after the deadline?"

Thankfully we all agreed that we have already gotten so far, that abandoning now would make no sense. So we decided unanimously to make it all the way to Melbourne, even if that means we will not get the grande welcoming a few days after the 30th. We will arrive in Melbourne, at the latest by next week Friday, December 5th.

At the end of the meeting, Stue had a surprise for me. She handed me a key chain, with a self-image of her. That way I would never forget who took care of me during this amazing experience.

foto_2.jpg

So, That's where we stand. Now we just have to keep our beloved DC-2 in one piece, and keep pluggin' along.
 
Note that Indonesia changed many of its airports ICAO designations. Selaparang is now WADA but was WRRA. FSX has it as WADA but FS2004 has it as WRRA. (And the Duenna was written around the older database.) So no worries.
 
manfredc3 said:
Thankfully we all agreed that we have already gotten so far, that abandoning now would make no sense. So we decided unanimously to make it all the way to Melbourne, even if that means we will not get the grande welcoming a few days after the 30th. We will arrive in Melbourne, at the latest by next week Friday, December 5th.
Click to expand...

Good decision! You can't stop now - you're so close to Australia. And I'm loving your story telling!! :adoration:
 
Well, made it to Kupang without any major issues.Our old lady is keeping uo appearances very well.

Stue even had time to cleanup things without being bumped around. We are looking forward to entering Australia on our next flight. I'll have everyone check their paper work, to make sure we will not run in to any customs issues when entering Australia.

ATA: 14:55 The navigator must have mis-calculated, or messed up a time zone, lol.

Flight Time: 2:07:28
Routine Ground Time: 00:45:00
Special Ground Time:
Penalty time:

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Departing for Australia, Darwin YPDN.

We were so eager to make it to Australia, that, after making sure all our customs paperwork was in order, we made the decision to do a quick check-up on the aircraft, get it fueled up, and head out yo Darwin.

YAHOO! We will be spending the night in Australia.

ETA: 20:00

Indonesia, we love your beautiful country.

Darwin, here we come!!s
 
Holy crap, where was that darned airstrip. Arrived in pitch darkness, and when I finally got close enough, the only lights I saw were some dim head lights from a bus. It was a scaru approach and landing, as there were no visual landmarks.
But most important..... We made it safely in to Darwin. Welcome Australia!!

ATA: 19:32:33

Flight Time: 3:14:13
Routine Ground Time: 00:45:00
Special Ground Time:
Penalty time:

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Well, after a short celebration with the crew on the arrival in Australia, we all had a good night sleep, and are departing for Tennant Creek.

Uor beloved DC-2 is in excellent shape for het age, and listening to her engines, she is ready to go.

YPDN-YTNK

ETA: 12:30pm
 
Usually we get threatened to be shot down when flying in to military airspace. But when we flew over Mititary base Tindal, we got raduio contact with high placed australian military person, of which the name can not be revealed, welcoming us to Australia, and wishing us a safe journey to Melbourne.

Now that's what I call hospitality!

Oh, and we didn't want you all to miss out in this wonderful picture Stue took, while we were on our way to Darwin;

a peek into the night
LM WATT to YPDN_3.jpg
 
Made it in to Tennant Creek. Had to de a fly-bye, because the wind directions changed suddenly, from tail to head wind.

ATA: 12:32:10

Flight Time: 3:37:47
Routine Ground Time: 00:45:00
Special Ground Time:
Penalty time:

Not much to talk about, as it was a clean flight, and the crew had an easy job.

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We all got so excited being in Australia, that we decided not to stick around in Tennant Creek for too long and head on on to our next stop YCCY.

YTNK-YCCY

ETA: 0730am

Are we going to make it to Melbourne on time afterall?
 
Made it to Cloncurry without any difficulty. We are all so very excited that we may actually make it to Melbourne by the deadline of Sunday November 30th (MST), that we deciced to take a quick nap, before heading our to our next destination.

ATA: 7:58am

Flight Time: 2:40:37
Routine Ground Time: 00:45:00
Special Ground Time:
Penalty time:

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Thanks Roman,

It surely is giving us a great deal of respect for the pilots that flew this race in 1934, because we are pretty darm tired.

After a short nap, and checking the "Uiver" on it's status, we quickly loaded back up for our next trip to Charleville.

Departing!
YCCY-YBCV

ETA: 12:45pm
 
Arrived at Charleville airport after a very smooth flight. THe longest legs are now behind us. Two more shorter hops to go and we will be in Melbourne.

We better not waste any time, have the airplane checked, and prepare our paperwork and flightplan for the next leg.
The sooner we head out the more chance we have of arriving in Narromine before mother nature turns off the lights.

We are all very tired, if not exhausted, but the idea of reaching Melbourne tomorrow, before the deadline ends, is giving us all such an adrenaline kick, that we do not feel the pain and fatique.

ATA: 12:46:23

Flight Time: 3:40:21
Routine Ground Time: 00:45:00
Special Ground Time:
Penalty time:

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Dead battery right after Take-off

After checking the airplane, and a mechanic fixing one of the flap mounts, that seems a bit loose, We are ready for our last flight, before the big day tomorrow.

We are actually making it to Melbourne on time, YAHOO!!


YBCV - YNRM

ETA: 16:50

Update!!

Oh boy, had a scary departure. Right after take-off the battery power went down to 17.7 Volts, no power to the radio, and no juice from the generators. Sperry non-functional, and no power to the brakes.
So I decided to turn around and go back.

Right at that moment the airplane went in to a stall. Stue started screaming "I thought you checked EVERYTHING!!"
Well I did, but didn't find anything wrong.
Managed to pull out of the stall, and all of a sudden the generators started to work again, so the battery power was creeping op. Got power back to the brakes, and and the Sperry came back alive.
So I decided to turn back on course and continue the flight.

Phew, that was a scary minute that felt like it took forever, and having a Freaked out stewardess screaming in your ear did not help the situation.

Hoprfully we will make it safely to Narromine. And there I will have a mechanic check out the battery, connections and generators.

Come on lady, don't die on us that close to the finish line.

Now I need a strong cup of coffee. I was surprised at my own reaction during this event as I managed to stay calm and focussed. I think that's what kept us alive, and in the race.

Okay, btb..., Let's keep my a-game up, and get us to Narromine.
 
Made it in to Narromine without any further issues. Still want to know what happened after departure with the generators and battery. Might be a long night figuring that one out, but I want to make sure this does not happen again on our final flight in to Melbourne, tomorrow.

But I don't think that hickup earlier will change the crew's enthausiasm. We are all very excited.

ATA: 16:43:29.

Flight Time: 2:39:00
Routine Ground Time: 00:45:00
Special Ground Time:
Penalty time:

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