Kerry Skyring ist eines unserer Mitglieder, ein stiller Bursche, welcher nicht viel aufhebens um seine Person macht. Soweit ich weiß arbeitet er bei Radio FM4 und in seiner Freizeit hilft er dem Mühli beim Kitfoxbasteln. Dort hab ich Ihn eigentlich erst genauer kennengelernt. Kerry ist ein passionierter Spornradflieger und hat in seiner Heimat Australien eine Auster stehen.
Es ist noch nicht lange her, da hatte er ein Motorproblem, aber lest selbst:
All ended well but the AAAA rally at Echuca gave Kerry and Kim Skyring some forced landing practice.
Like so many other years the Friday before the national fly-in saw VH-KAL, my J5B Auster, pointing its nose south, keen to join its mates at the national fly-in. The adventure began with an early morning flight down the coast from Hervey Bay to Caloundra where Tiger Moth instructor Wayne Sandford-Smith was booked for my biennial flight review. “I want to practice forced landings” I told Smithy. Did I know something? With the BFR completed, my sister Linda, who hadn’t heard about the legendary luxury of Auster aircraft, joined as passenger for the trip. We departed Caloundra at 1300 for a 3 hour leg to our first stop at Moree. The route took us over the Brisbane River valley to Toowoomba and then across the Darling Downs tracking for Moree with the Gipsy running smoothly and the weather fine. Just over two hours into the flight the tiny town of Yelarbon is where it should be off the port wing and I’m looking forward to a beer in Moree. A minute later the Gipsy stopped suddenly and, I was convinced, terminally. There was significant shaking and just a little power available but it was clear Moree would not be our destination on this day. So it was checks, radio call and start looking for a paddock. We were at 3,500 feet with trees ahead but a left turn brought two possible fields into sight, one unimproved and the other ploughed with stubble. The drought has left even ploughed fields as hard as concrete so rather than risk logs and stump holes I went for the stubble and lined up along the furrows. Over the fence with 50 knots and full flap was followed by a touch down with a rough but short roll and no damage. Good paddock planes these Austers. There was no visible external damage to the engine but oil was dripping from the exhaust and there were only two compressions.
Three weeks later I was back in Vienna but LAME Rob Scott, my daughter Kim and friends Hilton McCleod and Grahame Smith arrived at the paddock with tools and a replacement engine. On pulling the heads from VH-KAL they found the exhaust valve on NO. 4 had broken, holed a piston and damaged two cylinders. After a careful check for metal they replaced all four cylinders, and heads, installed new rings and exhaust valves. After just one and a half days work Kim flew KAL out of the paddock and back to Sunbury. Heartfelt thanks to Grahame and Hilton, Kim and Rob.
Following in father’s wheel tracks?
My daughter Kim and her partner Rob Scott did make it to Echuca, flying up from Penfield in their Auster J1B. On the return journey on Sunday afternoon, descending to stay clear of Melbourne airspace, the Gipsy began coughing and running rough. They suspected carburettor ice and with the “bushranger” country west of Romsey ahead of them decided to head for clearer country. What looked like a private strip was spotted near Kilmore and the Auster put down without problem. It turned out to be the first landing on a strip under construction. On landing the engine immediately decided to start running smoothly again. A few days later Rob gave it a good check over and it was flown back to Penfield. Kim called CASA to warn them they would receive incident reports involving off-field landings by two Austers both flown by pilots named K. Skyring. They were amused.
