One of the great joys in general aviation is a self endorsement on a new type. This is how I found myself, airborne out of Jandakot and heading home to Tasmania, familiarising myself with an American Champion Scout, a type I have never flown before. I got the Scout via a tender from the Western Australian Government Conservation Department. They operate 10 on fire spotting duty and sell one or two every year to make way for a new replacement. They are the largest Champion Aircraft operator in the world. This particular Scout is a 2000 model, it is the third one I have tendered for in about as many years and I didn’t really expect to get it as the other two went for heaps above what I was prepared to pay.

And so I find myself, airborne behind a familiar O360 engine with a CSU in a simple aeroplane with long range tanks, a control stick, left side throttle, a tail wheel at the back and big bush wheels up front. I am pointed at Kalgoorlie and feel a bit like a kid with a new toy. I can’t really wait until Kalgoorlie before attempting a landing so I change course a few degrees and head for Southern Cross for a comfort stop and my first Scout landing. I make a slight fist of it, the wheels touch, the tail sinks and I bounce then bounce again. On the verge of a go around it somehow become controllable. I feel vaguely foolish when I arrive at the terminal area to find it packed with folk, all sitting outside and watching me while waiting for the RPT service. I taxi off to one side, sit on a wheel in the shade and mend my ego with a bit of lunch.

The next landing at Kalgoorlie was somewhat better, an almost perfect three pointer with a ground roll of around 300 feet. The following day I was away again, this time headed for Forest where a good friend is currently working as a survey pilot. On the way I stopped at a small airstrip called Kitchener, where I made a coffee under the wing and took in the remoteness of this strip, somewhere on the railway line between Forest and Perth.

Forest is worth a visit, here there is accommodation and a small aviation orientated museum. This airport has a long history in Australian flying and is still maintained as an emergency strip for anything up to and including a 747. Here I dined with 10 pilots, 10 geo data techs and 2 engineers who are all currently based here doing survey flying. My friend is one of them, he flies a 210, doing 400 kilometre grids at 200 feet AGL using a radar altimeter and a DGPS bar for guidance, 5 hours per day, back and forth, each line about 100 metres apart. The pay is very good but it is far too low to allow concentration to slip and an agricultural pilot or low level endorsement is a requirement. Personally I think he earns his bucks, the 5 hours flying are non stop.

For a plane with big endurance the legs I have done so far have been small so I set out from Forest in the rain at first light for a big day. It was too misty to see far so I opted to follow the railway line until things brightened up a bit. Carby icing kept me on my toes and I was so unused to it, the first time it struck I lost around 4 inches of manifold pressure before I noticed and had to put up with misfiring for a while as the carby heat did its work. Carby ice was a feature of the rest of the trip home. I haven’t had it to notice for decades; suddenly I get two days full of it! An hour or so from Forest the mist lifted and I left the railway line and steered for Ceduna. From Ceduna I flew on to Port Pirie, then Mt Gambier where I refuelled and spent night 3. At Mt Gambier the cold front I left behind at Forest overtook me and the next day all I could manage was a 500 foot coastal to Apollo Bay with a landing in Port Fairy for an hour when the rain became heavy. Interestingly not far out from Port Fairy I saw a rescue helicopter at my level, we passed within a mile or less of each other with visibility down to around 6000 metres in drizzle. I am glad the Scout is fitted with strobes.

I was hoping to get home from Mt Gambier but the visibility towards King Island from Cape Otway was non existent, blocked by rain and low cloud, hence Apollo Bay and another night away. The next morning I managed a low level trip between showers to King Island where in a patch of blue I climbed up “on top” to finish the trip at 9500. After a 172 the Scout climbs fast!

Why a Scout? Well I have long had a love affair with bush aircraft and this particular plane has superb handling, great power to weight and is just what I need for the 300 metre airstrip I have next door that is a bit short for a 172. As a bonus it was built this century and a very reasonable price! All that’s left to do is convince my partner that tandem seating and limited baggage space is a good thing...

On the Kitchener ALA

 Forest Airport from the balloon tower. The museum was once a balloon station for atmospheric balloon releasing. All the hydrogen fittings are still in place and you can climb the releasing tower for a view over the desert and airport. Thankfully there are still some places left in Australia that the fun police have not seen and locked off ...