Get FinancingA Look Back At The 2018 Outback Air Race
On a cloudless Saturday morning in mid-August in 2018 all four Coffs Harbour teams set off for Brisbane’s Archerfield Airport, full of excitement and a highly competitive spirit between the teams.
Because our group had about the shortest distance to travel to the start, we were unsurprisingly amongst the last teams to arrive. An impressive array of over 40 aircraft entered in the 2018 Outback Air Race parked across the GA parking area awaited our arrival, and finding a parking spot for our aircraft was a challenge.
The Outback Air Race is an aviation time trial through the remote Australian Outback to raise funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia. The Air Race has been held approximately every 3 years since 1996, and has to date raised over $3.1 million towards outfitting RFDS aircraft with essential medical equipment.
Over the years a huge variety of aircraft have entered the races, including a helicopter, small jet, vintage, experimental, STOL aircraft and seaplanes, piloted by a range of pilots from RAAF, airline, commercial pilots, instructors, and general aviation private pilots to RAAus.
John Martindale and I are both private recreational pilots, resident in Coffs Harbour NSW, and we each own a Mooney which we hangar at South Grafton Aerodrome (YSGR).
We initially heard of the Air Race from friends who participated in previous events, which sounded like a hell of a lot of fun whilst supporting a very worthy cause.
As we are both adventurous types, we decided to have a go and entered John’s 1985 Mooney M20J in the 2018 Air Race (because his aircraft was newer than my 1967 M20F), calling ourselves Team “Show Me The MOONEY!”, John as Captain, myself co-pilot sharing the flying duties, and so the adventure began.
One of the prerequisites for entering the race is to raise a minimum $2,000 per participant towards the RFDS, so we set ourselves a goal for our team of raising double that, namely $8,000.
We set off our fundraising drive by contacting Bunnings to get a couple of Sausage Sizzle slots, which they generously granted us.
Bunnings sausage sizzles are a Country Australian institution, and are generally very well supported.
Interestingly, we had surprisingly many individuals come and make generous contributions, explaining that they had close family or friends that wouldn’t be alive were it not for the RFDS.
However, after cooking what felt like 1 million sausages over 4 such events, needless to say I don’t ever want to face another sanger sandwich again! We were also handsomely supported by family, friends, and generous donations of our Aero Clubs, local service clubs and businesses, eventually managing to nearly double our fundraising goal by reaching approximately $14,500 in total.
So - John felt his plane needed a makeover if it was going to be flown all over the country, so he decided to get a new paint job, and the result was spectacular.
The newly decorated plane arrived back just in time for our send-off from Coffs Harbour, where we had the local politicians and city dignitaries giving the record four Air Race entries from Coffs Harbour an official send-off.
A reception was held that evening in a large hangar at Archerfield Airport for all the competing teams, which consisted of an Aviation themed dinner. Our Coffs Harbour contingent made a strong showing, winning the dress-up competition with Warren Millar of Team “Triple Whisky on the Rocks” (Tobago VH-WWW) taking out the gong.
The 2018 Air Race had a record 42 entries, involving over 100 competitors from all parts of the country. There was a particularly strong contingent from Perth that flew all the way across the continent to join the race.
The Outback Air Race is in fact a navigational accuracy trial and not a speed race. Departure times are staggered each day, which allows for pilot experience and different aircraft types and importantly promotes safety in the air.
The route is broken up into stages (legs), and each evening teams are provided with the respective bearing and distance to a start and end waypoint, each within 10 NM of the departure and arrival airports, and teams must nominate in advance the exact time they will be over the start and finish waypoints for each leg, and the altitude at which they’ll cross.
Points are deducted for each second early or late, and each metre vertically from their nominated altitude, or horizontally away from an imaginary vertical line extending above the point. There are also limitations on the manoeuvring allowed within 10 NM of each waypoint.
Teams can deviate en-route to sightsee or drop into a local pub so long as the deviation is advised in advance in their flight plan and they are over their start and finish waypoints by their nominated times.
GPS tracking by means of in-plane GPS trackers is used both in the aircraft and by the officials at each point. Although long distances and times are involved, winners and losers can be decided by a matter of metres and seconds.
The 2018 Air Race was divided into 8 separate legs, with the winner of each leg presented with “The LEG”, a mannequin’s leg required to be filled with cash donations at each stopover.
The problem with winning the LEG, other than having to traipse around town for a day carrying the uncomfortable item and getting it filled with cash liberally deposited into the LEG by the generous locals, is that everybody wants to steal it and it’s very expensive to get it back. Each night at evening dinner the committee holds the day’s prize-giving, and a fine session for various transgressions and activities reported throughout the day. And losing the LEG became the most heinous of crimes for which a heavy penalty was extracted (all going to the charity of course).
John and I were fortunate enough to win the first leg, so received the LEG, but at the evening buffet dinner, after tying the LEG to our chair and leaving the table to fetch a plate of dessert, the LEG disappeared, not to be seen again for the next 24 hours!
The Air Race took everyone through some remote and interesting areas and towns:
- We tasted rum and visited the Jabiru Aircraft factory in Bundaberg
- Paid homage at the Qantas Museum in Longreach
- Revelled in the majestic scenery at Adels Grove, truly an oasis in the middle of nowhere
- Explored the memorabilia pinned to the walls of the quaint Daly Waters Pub, where the beer was COLD
- Dodged crocodiles on a trip down Katharine Gorge
- Explored the magnificent Argyle Lake, had a sunset swim and sundowners in the lake with 20,000 crocodiles in it
- Did a scenic spin around the highly unusual Bungle Bungles and Argyle (Pink) Diamond Mine
- Then the last spectacular lap down the coast over the Bonaparte Archipelago and Horizontal Falls to Broome.
One of the main joys of this adventure was the scenery – the north-west of Australia must boast some of the most extraordinary and spectacular scenery John and I have had the privilege to view out of our respective aircraft windows. The remote and haunting Kimberly Region is truly magnificent.
John and I were fortunate enough to win a few of the legs, enough of them in fact to walk off with the eventual overall prize, much to our surprise and delight.
The return trip from Broome took us across the centre of Australia, across some more remote and spectacular scenery.
Over 2,000nm (3,700km) and 15 hours in the air for the race . . . and at least the same to get home!!
Total of 4,000nm (7,400km) . . . That’s as far as Japan . . . yikes!!
So in conclusion an epic adventure ended where we made many new friends in what will undoubtedly be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Tim Alexander and John Martindale
For more information, and to find out about the upcoming 2022 race, visit the Outback Air Race website.