TRIP REPORT - Local Flight over Biloela & Thangool in Light Wing LW1 25-0035 with CDFG Member Dave See

As featured on the CQ Plane Spotting Blog, Callide Dawson Flying Group (CDFG) recently held their very successful 25th Anniversary Fly-in at Biloela / Thangool Airport over the Queen's Birthday long weekend.  To top off a absolutely magnificent couple of days, CDFG member Dave See invited me on board his beautifully presented Howard Hughes Engineering Light Wing LW1 25-0035 for a local flight during the afternoon of Sunday 8 June.

The Light Wing was manufactured by Howard Hughes Engineering in Ballina, New South Wales.  Produced in 1986, Dave informs me that his Light Wing is the second off the Howard Hughes Engineering production line.  After starting its life in a flying school in Mount Gambier (South Australia), it went through a couple of ownership changes before eventually taking up residence in Theodore.  An engine failure over grazing country only a couple of miles from the owner's home strip caused some damage resulting in a new under-carriage, wing, prop and engine - the engine now being the ‘blue head oil injected 582’.

During the big flood which saw Theodore evacuated a few years ago, an enormous amount of goods and paperwork were lost, including, sadly, the original logs for the Light Wing.

Dave bought the Light Wing in May 2009 and has put in over 520 hours in since then - including two flights to South Grafton, twice to Dunwich on North Stradbroke Island, and a couple of times to Moonie, Emerald and Clermont, and almost every privately owned airstrip around the local area.

Dave describes the Light Wing as a great little plane to fly - "trim it out and fly hands off, very forgiving but like the typical tail dragger, keeps you busy on the rudder pedals on landing".

But as I can attest, the hardest thing with the Light Wing is the getting in and out bit, where it helps if your pretty nimble.  However, once you’re in there seems to be enough room to be quite comfortable.  I agree!

So, after squeezing into the Light Wing, Dave started the engine and idled for a little while before we taxied out for departure off the grass Runway 14 at Thangool Airport.

We departed over the sealed runway 10/28 at Thangool and tracked towards over the town and towards Biloela.

Nice views over the Callide Valley and the Callide Power Station.

We approached and overflew Biloela at around 1500ft.

We tracked back towards Thangool and slowly climbed to 2500ft to then overfly Thangool Airport, allowing for some great overhead photos to be had of the field and Fly-in.

Joining a left downwind and base leg before we lined up for finals on Runway 14.

After a bit of a bumpy landing, we taxied back to the aircraft's parking spot and powered down.  We then extricated ourselves from the aircraft!

My sincere thanks to Dave See for the opportunity to fly with him in his lovely little Light Wing.  It was a truly memorable flight!

The whole weekend at Thangool was a great success, and was a great credit to the dedicated members of the Callide Dawson Flying Group.

TRIP REPORT - Great Barrier Reef - Hardy Reef to Hamilton Island - HeliReef Whitsunday / Whitsunday Air Services / Hamilton Island Air - Eurocopter EC120B Colibri Helicopter - VH-YWY

After a lovely morning of snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef at a small section known as Hardy Reef, we were informed that our time on the Cruise Whitsunday purpose-built pontoon was about to come to an end, and we were to fly over the reef to Hamilton Island Airport on board one of Helireef Whitsunday / Hamilton Island Air (Whitsunday Air Services) helicopters.

I had spotted three choppers parked on their own nearby pontoon - a pair of Bell 206 Jetrangers - VH-VTO and VH-VTU - and a Eurocopter EC120B Colibri. These three choppers plus a couple of Robinson R44s had been providing 10 minute joy-flights over the reef earlier in the day.

We boarded the launch at the pontoon and headed for the Jetrangers. As we tied up briefly to their pontoon, we were informed to stay on board as we were heading back to Hamilton Island on board the EC120B along with one other couple.

This was probably a good thing as these Jetrangers looked to be able to carry as many as six paying passengers with some facing backwards !

We headed for our chopper - Eurocopter EC120B Colibri VH-YWY - and met the pilot who stored our bag in the Colibri’s rear cargo hold.

My wife and I were given the back seat. My loving wife suggested that I have the window seat as I take better photographs!!

As the chopper powered up and took off, our view for the next half hour or so became reality. The vast expanse of the Great Barrier Reef is phenomenal.

Soon, the pontoon that we had been on looked like a small blip on this massive pristine landscape.

We flew over heaps of coral and soon after, we were able to view the jewel of the Great Barrier Reef – Heart Reef.

After circling Heart Reef we headed toward Hamilton Island.

Out pilot – Craig – was able to give us guided commentary during the flight which was very informative and certainly well received by us all on board. 

Soon after, land came into view on the horizon as we approached the Whitsunday Island and yet more stunning highlights in the form of Hill Inlet and magnificent white sands of Whitehaven Beach.  

We over flew over Hill Inlet and then up the length of Whitehaven Beach heading South.  I even spotted a tourist boat and another chopper on visiting Whitehaven Beach!

We then headed towards Hamilton Island flying over some more beautiful scenery – gee the Whitsundays are a simply stunning!

Soon after, and after a couple of right- hand turns, we were on final for landing parallel to runway 32 at Hamo.  

We made our final approach and touched down on the HeliReef Whitsunday / Hamilton Island Air parking apron – next to the two Jetrangers that took off shortly before us!

The Hamilton Island Air apron had no less than five helicopters and a Cessna 208 Caravan (VH-WTY ) parked on the apron, while an couple more choppers could be seen inside their hangar.

Hamilton Island Airport is fairly small with a terminal building and apron with 3-4 parking gates. Most scheduled commercial services into Hamo - operated by Virgin Australia and Jetstar - usually arrive and depart in the morning, so an empty apron this afternoon was not a surprise!

We collected our bag and made our way outside and onto a courtesy buggy for a ride to the marina part of Hamilton Island to wait for your ferry boat back to the mainland. It was a nice touch to wrap up a lovely flight over one of the wonders of the world - the magnificent Great Barrier Reef!