The Great Australian Crawl: In this event we explore Australia by circumnavigating the continent but still getting a good feel for the terrain, vegetation and civilisation throughout this great land down under.
The series will cover forty events (colour coded by state) around Australia as follows:
Leg 40 Canberra to Bankstown +++FINAL LEG+++
Details to follow. Hope you can join us.
PLEASE NOTE: THIS INFORMATION IS FOR FLIGHT SIMULATION USE ONLY.
Regards, Paul
ATTENTION Aussie Flight Group Participants …
Group Flight: 2023-08-11T10:00:00Z
PLEASE DO NOT SPAWN ON THE RUNWAY. ENSURE YOU SELECT THE STARTING POSITION ON THE RAMP.
Route: Canberra(YSCB) Goulburn(YGLB) Mittagong(YMIG) Shellharbour(YSHL) Wedderburn(YWBN) The Oaks(YOAS) Camden(YSCN) Oran Park(ONPK) Ingleburn(INGL) Towers(TWRN) Bankstown(YSBK).
Take off from Canberra(YSCB)
Track 029 deg to Goulburn(YGLB) 40nm
Track 048 deg to Mittagong(YMIG) 44nm
Track 103 deg to Shell Harbour(YSHL) 15.8nm
Full Stop Landing at Shellharbour(YSHL) +++ 10min Break +++
Take off from Shell Harbour(YSHL)
Track 349 deg to Wedderburn(YWBN) 23nm
Track 282 deg to The Oaks(YOAS) 13.6nm
Track 055 deg to Camden(YSCN) 6.8nm
Track 042 deg to Oran Park(ONPK) 3.3nm
Track 057 deg to Ingleburn(INGL) 6.2nm
Track 023 deg to Towers(TWRN) 2.6nm +++ Inbound reporting point
Track 069 deg to Bankstown(YSBK) 5nm
Full Stop Landing at Bankstown(YSBK).
Altitude: The route can be flown up to 5,500’ to be clear of terrain.
Airport details
Canberra(YSCB)
Elev: 1,886’
RW 17/35 Asphalt
RW 12/30 Asphalt
Goulburn(YGLB)
Elev: 2,141’
RW 04/22 Bituminous
RW 08/26 Grass
Mittagong(YMIG)
Elev: 1,840’
RW 06/24 Bituminous
Shellharbour(YSHL)
Elev: 31’
RW 16/34 Asphalt
RW 08/26 Asphalt
Wedderburn(YWBN)
Elev: 850’
RW 17/35 Asphalt
The Oaks(YOAS)
Elev: 880’
RW 18L/36R Dirt
RW 18R/35L Dirt
Camden(YSCN)
Elev: 230’
RW 06/24 Asphalt
RW 10/28 Grass
Bankstown(YSBK)
Elev: 34’
RW 11L/29R Asphalt
RW 11C/29C Asphalt
RW 11R/29L Asphalt
For comprehensive airport details refer: Aeronautical Information Package - Airservices .
The information is available under the latest ERSA. Simply search for the airport.
Aircraft: C172.
IMPORTANT: In the interest of keeping it REAL, please refrain from selecting inappropriate aircraft, like airliners. Unless it is appropriate for the event. This only detracts from the immersion of the flight.
Seeing Aircraft Correctly: You need to do two things to ensure you can see the other pilots in the event and see them in the aircraft they selected.
Select the same server: To do this, proceed as follows:
From the Welcome Screen, click on your Username (top right)
From the list of servers, under Servers, select WEST USA
Turn off Generic Planes: To do this, proceed as follows:
From the Welcome Screen, click on OPTIONS
Click on GENERAL
With TRAFFIC selected, scroll down to the last option and set USE GENERIC PLANE MODELS to OFF
Turning off Crash/Damage:
Select Options/Assistance
Expand Failure & Damage
Disable Crash Damage
Disable Aircraft Stress Damage
Disable Engine Stress Damage
Accept the changes
Voice Room: My personal Discord server is used for voice comms. If you haven’t already joined my server, click on the below link to request access. I will set you up as a Member so you can access the server. Ensure you do this prior to the flight, as latecomers will need to wait for the next event.
Link to join the Voice Room: Aussie Group Flights Team - On-line Flying
Note: this link is only valid for 7 days from posting.
Weather/Time: We will set the time to 8am. This will allow us to fly in daylight and choose REAL weather so that the winds are correct.
From the World Map view, click on Flight Conditions (upper right of screen)
Click on All Players, Live Traffic, Custom
Under Weather and Time, select Live Weather and move the time slide bar to show 8:00am.
Click Close and Fly from the World Map view.
We can start departing from 10:00z. There will be no need for official radio calls. Lets just have some fun taking in the scenery and the social aspects of the event.
Turning on Points of Interest
Select Options/Assistance
Expand POI
Set Landmark Markers to ON
Set City Markers to ON
Set Airport Markers to ON
Accept the changes
Turning on Name Tags (This will assist you in following the group if you get disoriented):
Select Options/GeneralTraffic
Set Show Traffic Nameplates to On
Accept the settings
Still confused, check out the multiplayer video tutorial from SimHangar Flight Simulation: MSFS | MULTIPLAYER | How To Guide | Everything You Need To Know | Fly in events coming soon. - YouTube
Let me know if there’s anything else that I’ve missed that you need to know.,
Regards, Paul
Flight plans for the event …
Little NavMap: VFR Canberra Airport (YSCB) to Bankstown Aerodrome (YSBK).lnmpln (3.2 KB)
MSFS: VFR Canberra Airport (YSCB) to Bankstown Aerodrome (YSBK).pln (4.2 KB)
Print this flight card out for your easy reference during the flight (Note: only available up to the date of the flight): Dropbox - Flight Card_GAC.pdf - Simplify your life
The following information is ONLY applicable to those wanting to use Dead Reckoning for navigation in the flight.
I will provide information on loading for the plane, along with charts and other information applicable to the process.
Important: To be guided by the weather based headings, it is important that your plane is loaded as assumed and that the C172 is the selected plane.
Real weather will be used but we will have our usual wheels off at 8am, to provide the necessary visual reference throughout the flight.
Note: There isn’t any expectation to fly using dead reckoning. This is just for those that want to try it.
Use CLEAR OFF checks …
A common check throughout the flight that pilots use are the CLEAR OFF checks.
C ompass/Heading
L ogs updated
E ngine instruments, Oil temps and pressure
A ltitude
R adios
O rientation (do you know where you are? can you confirm your position using multiple references?
F uel and tank selection
F orced landing locations
These are typically done after TOC, every 10 minutes, at waypoints and at TOD.
In the Sim, you can press the D key to realign the Direction Indicator to the Magnetic Compass (Not necessary for G1000 avionics).
NOTE: EXAMPLE ONLY …
Below is a sample of the Flight Card information for Flight Plan and Fuel. There is also a Weight and Balance sheet based on the typical empty weight of a C152 and how we are loading it.
I just want to give you time to absorb the detail so it isn’t too confusing at the event.
Plan
The first column shows the waypoints as shown on the VFR Maps.
LSALT: This is the Lowest Safe Altitude. Which involves reviewing 10nm either side of Track and noting the highest elevations. Then finally adding 1,000’.
ALT: The planned cruising altitude based on observing the ODD +500’ for travelling East and EVEN+500’ for travelling West.
TAS: This is the True Airspeed for the C152
TRK: This is the direct track to the next waypoint.
WIND: This is the reported wind for the area of the waypoint, reported in Direction and Speed.
HDG: This is the adjusted heading to track, based on the reported winds. THIS IS THE HEADING YOU FOLLOW FOR THE EVENT.
GS: This is the calculated Ground Speed, based on the reported winds.
DIST: This is the distance to the next waypoint.
ETI: This is the time to the next waypoint, based on the calculated ground speed. THIS IS WHAT YOU USE TO TIME WITH THE STOP WATCH.
EET: This is the elapsed time during the route to each of the waypoint.
ETA: This is the Estimated Time based on when we planned to take off.
FR: This is the remaining fuel based on a starting amount of 90 ltrs (see the fuel sheet for details of usage along the route).
90: This is the fuel figure at the start of our flight - 90 lts. The amount of fuel at our landing airport is also listed for reference.
REV: This allows us to enter revised fuel figures along the route.
ATA: This is the Actual Time you record when reaching the waypoint. Example if we took off at 0900z and it took you 19 minutes to get to the first waypoint, you would enter 0919.
These are the only fields that are important for the event.
I will issue the Flight Card, with all this information once I get up to date weather just prior to the event.
We are navigating with Dead Reckoning, so you will need a stopwatch to time your legs. If you don’t have one handy, MSFS provides one for you.
From the floating menu, select the NavLog option.
This provides a handy stopwatch for timing your legs.
What to look out for on the Charts.
Note the indication for Roads, Rivers, Railways, High Tension Power Lines, Airports and built up population areas.
Note: When determining your position on the chart, don’t rely on one point of reference to suggest your position. Where possible pick up to three visual references, if available, to determine your position.
The charts and weather correction information will be available from the Discord Server, in the Great Aussie Crawl Channel under Group Flight.
To join the Discord Server, click on the following link (there is NO COST): Aussie Group Flights Team - On-line Flying
Loadings for Cessna 172 (Either G1000 or Steam Gauge)
Pilot: 78kgs
Luggage: 5kgs
Fuel: 160 lts/116kgs
Event reminder …
