Sunday March 16, 2008
Jandakot (JAD/YPJT) - Cunderdin (YCUN)
Duration: 1h05, 85 mi
Departure: 10:45
Arrival: 11:50
Aircraft: Cessna 172N VH-IGY (owned by Air Australia)
I had never been to Jandakot Airport before. Outside there is a lot of construction work going on and as you approach it looks like a giant sandpit. There is a sign asking pilots to "fly neighbourly" by limiting noise as much as possible. We arrived early at around 09:35 and parked in the wrong place near the Royal Aero Club. They have a nice modern building with good views onto the tarmac - we watched aircraft movements for a while, including the Tiger Moth, Extra 300/L and Robin R-2160 pictured below.
 Photo © Neville Murphy-Aviation Images Australia |  Photo © Lachlan Brendan |
Photo © Neville Murphy-Aviation Images Australia
Close to 10:00 we called up our pilot to make sure we were in the right place, and it turned out we were meant to be two buildings away at Air Australia. Their building isn't as nice as the Royal Aero Club, but it is quite open with lots of windows. We had to wait a bit while the final preparations were completed for our flight. Outside there were quite a lot of China Southern trainers, including two Cessna Citations, and plenty of Cessna 172s and similar. Below is the only picture of our Cessna 172 in the database.
 Photo © Neville Murphy-Aviation Images Australia |  Photo © Jonathan Rankin |
Photo © Neville Murphy-Aviation Images Australia
Once we were ready we got strapped in (I was sitting in the back), the pre-flight checks were completed, headphones on, and we took off on runway 24L. Our flight for the trip to Cunderdin had us tracking via Royal Fremantle Golf Club, up the coast to Observation City, over Perth City, and then direct to Cunderdin.
Flight path
Flying over Perth we were at 1500 feet, which gave us great views of the city. I saw my house as we flew over the suburb of Redcliffe, and then we went directly over Perth Airport. Unfortunately it was a bit bumpy, but we hoped it would become smoother later in the flight.
Perth City
Flying up the coast
Subiaco Oval (home of football in Western Australia)
The WACA Ground (home of cricket in Western Australia)
Perth International Airport with Qantas 737-800 VH-VXI and A330-300 VH-QPE
We climbed to 2500 feet to fly over the hills and it was still bumpy. The further east we went, the dryer the countryside below looked. Once we got to Cunderdin we had to wait for a glider and tow plane to take off, and another aircraft to land. Very busy for a little country airport! While we waited we circled over the town.
The hills east of Perth
East of the hills
Very dry countryside
Arriving in Cunderdin
As soon as the runway was clear, we landed on runway 05. We parked the plane in the obvious spot near a 1956 Lockheed SP-2H Neptune (VH-NEP). I have no idea what it's doing in Cunderdin. We found out that it would be better to park over by the gliding club on runway 05 so we got back in the plane and taxied over.
Lining up for runway 05
Our Cessna on the ground at Cunderdin
Lockheed SP-2H Neptune VH-NEP
Sunday March 16, 2008
Gliding Club of Western Australia
Cunderdin (YCUN)
Duration: 0h26
Departure: 12:48
Arrival: 13:14
Aircraft: Politechniki Warszawskiej PW-6U VH-GRB
We were met by some very friendly Gliding Club members who were very keen for us to get started quickly. There were two twin-seater gliders in operation - my father-in-law went up first in a glider that didn't seem to have any form of identification on it and then it was my turn. First I had to sign a disclaimer in case I was killed...
Then I had to strap on a parachute. Strangely parachutes were only worn for one glider and not the other. After climbing into the front seat the pilot gave me the safety demo... "In case of emergency, pull this handle and the canopy will fly off. Undo your seatbelt by pulling here and you'll fall out of the glider. Once you're clear pull this handle firmly to open the parachute and then that's all you'll have to worry about." Hmmm... while this advice is very practical it felt quite confronting and a lot less reassuring than the just knowing the brace position and and emergency exits (however futile these things might actually be).
A rope is attached to the glider from the tow plane and sitting on the ground I was excited but a bit anxious. I'm jolted out of my contemplation by the canopy being slammed shut and hitting me on top of the head.
On the ground
Once we're ready to go a man holds onto one wing to balance the glider once we start moving. The tow plane inches forward slowly taking up the slack in the rope, and then the power is applied. After a little wobble we're heading straight down the runway. The glider lifts off first and sits a couple of metres in the air, then the tow plane goes up and drags us higher. We reach an altitude of 2000 feet under tow before the rope is released and we're on our own.
Going up!
Still under tow as we gain altitude
We fly under a cloud and the lift indicator starts beeping that we've found a thermal. Then we start flying in tight circles gaining altitude with the pilot asking every couple of minutes if I'm feeling ok. With the constant turning, the sun beating down from above, and the constant beeping I wasn't feeling 100% so after a few minutes I let the pilot know and we pull out of the thermal having gained a respectable height of 4500 feet. In hindsight I'm quite impressed that we gained so much altitude in so little time, and could easily have gone higher.
The way I had imagined gliding was a bit different to the reality. I had imagined smoothly drifting along in almost silence, but in practice it's quite noisy with the wind rushing by. Since we didn't have headphones on, it was almost as loud as in the Cessna. I took a few photos and slowly started to feel more relaxed.
Cunderdin Airport and surrounds
In the glider
There really wasn't a huge amount to look at and everything down below looked extremely dry. We flew over the town and did a couple of passes of the airport. I must admit that I was still a bit tense which prevented me from relaxing limited my enjoyment of the flight at the time.
Farms
Town of Cunderdin
Major salinity problem in land near the airport
Airport buildings
It didn't feel like long before it was time to come down - the landing felt very controlled and safe and we touched down with only a small bump.
Coming in to land
Back on the ground we were able to watch the other two go up for their flights, as well as some of the Gliding Club members doing solo flights. I was also able to get a closer look at the plane that was towing us up. It was VH-FSJ, a Piper PA-25 manufactured in 1961. We were told that it costs $38 per tow for members - they have a winch that they can use as an alternative launch method which only costs about $5 per launch. They said they are going to give it a go during winter.
Tow plane VH-FSJ
The other glider being used for joy flights
Taking off
The glider I went up in, the PW-6U
Queuing for a tow
Ready for launch
Coming into land past another glider
While we were there, a Singapore Flying College Cessna was doing touch-and-goes on runway 32. He must have done about five of them!
Photo © Frank Schaefer
Sunday March 16, 2008
Cunderdin (YCUN) - Jandakot (YAD/YPJT)
Duration: 0h40, 85 mi
Departure: 15:10
Arrival: 15:50
Aircraft: Cessna 172N VH-IGY (owned by Air Australia)
Once everyone was finished gliding we had lunch and then got back in the Cessna just as the Gliding Club was packing up their portable cabin for a move to runway 23. We got strapped in and then taxied almost the full length of the runway before taking off on runway 23.
Once we were in the air the views were very similar to those we saw on the trip out to Cunderdin, especially in the initial part of the journey flying over very dry, rural countryside. This time our route was Cunderdin - Mount Dale - Jandakot, more southerly than our outbound trip. Flying over the hills we passed Canning Reservoir and Wungong Reservoir (which I later identified using Google). Again it was a bit bumpy throughout the entire flight.
Heading west towards Perth
Canning Reservoir
Wungong Reservoir
Back at Jandakot, we flew over the airport before turning right and landing very smoothly on runway 06L.
Overall an excellent day out. Even though I didn't enjoy the gliding as much as I thought I would, I still love the concept of it and for that reason I would like to go again some day. Next time I would like to go in winter so that the surroundings are a bit greener. I would also recommend a similar trip to pretty much anyone!
I hope you enjoyed this report. My next trip is taking advantage of an awesome special - my wife and I had talked about going to the north-west for a "cheap" holiday but then we found it was cheaper to go all the way to New Zealand! PER-AKL-DUD-AKL-PER flying Air New Zealand 767-300 and 737-300 in late May for $256 return. Bargain!
