RV = Rescue Vehicle

[Dustyone]

The Mission ,

My neighbour at the airfield had departed on a family holiday around Australia some 7 days earlier only to become stranded in the remote Australian town of Coober Pedy in his Mooney M20J.

A plan was hatched to fly the owner,engineer and support crew with required parts the 1000 Nm from YRED ,Redcliffe to YBCP Coober Pedy . We would leave the owner with his repaired aircraft and return the next day another 1000 Nm.

My RV-10 was fuelled and loaded for a Saturday morning departure.


The first refuelling was at Thargominda,a small country town in far western Queensland where we had the pleassure of paying $3.09 / Litre for Avgas .

From Thargominda it was a direct track to Coober Pedy.


The direct track meant we would overfly The Strzelecki Desert ,




Next was to overfly the inland lake called "Lake Eyre ".
Lake Eyre, officially known as Kati Thanda?Lake Eyre, contains the lowest natural point in Australia, at approximately 15 m below sea level, and, on the rare occasions that it fills, is the largest lake in Australia, covering 9,500 km?.

Lake Eyre sometimes only fills once in every decade,we were blessed to see it at near capacity.

[Dustyone]

Once arriving in Coober Pedy and parking beside the stranded Mooney it was all hands on deck to repair the stranded bird.
The Mooney had broken a mixture cable that required a complete replacement. The part had to be flown in from Mooney USA and fitted by a LAME.
All the work was completed in the "Big Hangar" at Coober Pedy.



4 1/2 hours later the Mooney was back together and ready for flight.



A cast of thousands waited as we completed all the checks,



My RV-10 was tied down for the night beside the Mooney,


and as perhaps a sign of the times and the demise of the old classics, another brand new RV-10 landed and tied down on the other side of the Mooney.


Coober Pedy is famous for its many under ground homes and hotels and is one of the largest producers of high quality Opals in the world.
I plan to return here to properly explore this town with my wife,however the hotel we stayed in for the night had a fantastic exhibit of Opal Caves and history.


More info here ,
https://www.cooberpedy.com/

The next day was an early start as we left the Monney owner with his family to complete their outback adventure. For us , it was another 1000Nm flight home the same as we came.

The early morning sun on Lake Eyre was spectacular,




Then a quick refuel again at Thargominda and then landed at Caloundra to drop off the Engineer.


A quick hop to Redcliffe and we were home by 4:30 pm.
The trip was just over 2000 Nm and approx 7hrs each way .

What an amazing aircraft !

[dreed]

Very cool and very good of you! That fuel cost is painful though! Is that in AUD? By my math about $8.22 US/Gal. Ouch!

[erich weaver]

Interesting that the flies were all on the Mooney

[Canadian_JOY]

Such a shame you were so tight for workspace in the Coober Pedy "hangar"! :-) Your friend is very fortunate to have you and others to rescue him and his family.

As for the fuel price, on Sunday I paid CAD$2.45/litre (taxes included) for 100LL in New Brunswick. If you do the math ($2.45 x 3.78 litres per US gallon, -25% USD exchange rate) it comes out to about $6.95/US gallon. And that's at an airport that's not at all remote. The Trans-Canada highway runs only a couple of miles from the airport, and the border with Maine is only about 3 miles away.

To my American friends, be happy for your low avgas prices! :-)

[skydiverlv]

KIAD $8.77 for 100LL here in the US. Signature flight services

[Dundee Downunder]

6 RV's and a Falco due to depart Serpentine for William Creek (Lake Eyre's nearest airport) on 26th of this month.
OzRunways is reporting fuel at Forrest is AU$3.38 /litre (ie US$8.90 per gallon).
1092 nm one way for a gander at lake full of water!!! Any excuse to go flying.
Cheers....

[mbauer]

Thanks for sharing your photos! Awesome scenery to fly over and see.

Best regards,
Mike Bauer

[climberrn]

Thanks for sharing. Enjoyed the pics and trip report. It looks like you have outboard fuel tanks. If that?s the case, what kind of range do you get and what capacity?

[KRviator]

So how many carton's is he gonna owe for that little favour?!? Don't think you'll ever need to set foot in a bottlo again!