Despite a forecast that was decidedly Wagnerian, the LFC Marlo Day Trip on Saturday 2 September was a great success with all planes doing it relatively easy on the way there, and only marginally harder on the way home. Nine planes and 21 people made the trip down, with Baron ITL and C172RG NAY leaving from Moorabbin. All others came from Lilydale. The forecast was for a good flight down, but the group was facing warnings of severe turbulence below 5000 feet for the trip back. After a more detailed analysis of the weather using every tool available, the group decision was a GO! Indeed, the trip down was glorious for all, with howling tailwinds giving us all fantastic ground speeds. Some aircraft went direct, whilst others elected to cruise coastal from Jack Smith Lake all the way to our landing airport: Orbost (YORB). Our host driver for the visit was Marly from Marlo, who made two trips in the courtesy bus to shuttle as all to lunch at Marlo Pub.
The pub itself is a beautiful place with great food that overlooks the Snowy River on the coast. After a lunch that by most accounts was well worth the trip, we lounged around in the sun on the deck for awhile before Marly shuttled us all back to the airport again. Great service indeed!
Probably no-one was relishing the trip back, but the weather reports were just not stacking up against the forecast. The overcast was quite high (Pioneer 4944 came back at 8500) and the headwind was a bitter pill, but although the trip for all was wobbly, the turbulence hardly made it into the definition of “moderate”. Some showers over Sale prompted some decision making, and Arrow PAR dropped into Bairnsdale for a precautionary refueling, but other than that, the main challenge was to find a route and altitude to limit the headwind. Some planes tracked over the range, and others went home PFR (Powerline Flight Rules); down the Princes Highway and then via the powerline into the Yarra Valley. The threatened severe turbulence just didn’t happen, and all Lilydale planes strolled onto the runway facing a mild wind that was straight down 36. Home and hosed!
With the amount of planes and people that supported this event, it made it the largest fly-away or day trip LFC has done to date.
By almost common agreement, our next Marlo run needs to be an overnighter so we can absorb more of the town that we could during a one-day eat-and-run trip. Look out for Marlo announcements in the future.
Thanks, Sonya, for the pics below.
Bonanza BIM departs the coast of Bass Strait on the way home.
The Beech brigade was well represented with two Bonanzas and a Baron
The crews of Bonanza BIM and YDD get ready for the trip home
Socialising after lunch on the sun deck at Marlo Pub
Lunch at Marlo Pub. Great food!
Russ and Julie get Pioneer 4944 ready to go home.
Orbost airport even has its own terminal! The airport is closer to Marlo than it is to Orbost.
Carmel and Doug Frazer with their Pipistrel Virus.
Yes, well, we knew the weather forecast was not all sunshine and tailwinds for the trip back. Still, it wasn’t as bad as we were being told!
