29 Darwin - Ayers Rock

21. Feb 2007

I checked out of the hotel late in morning in Darwin. Got to the airport and tried to find a General Aviation terminal, but none seem to exist. I came upon a Cessna workshop, and asked if they could let me through to the plane. So they called security, but I was told that I had to clear with customs first. So it was a mile long walk with my bags to the main terminal.
 

I had come up with a plan of action. The weather on the route to Papua New Guinea looked dreadful, so I thought I would take off VFR to the east, and as soon as was out of the control zone, I would turn off the transponder and divert to the south – due to weather.
 

But since I had to get a clearance with customs anyway, I asked again, if it could be correct, that I could not get the plane into Australia? The lady behind the counter got hold of her boss, a very forthcoming man, who was prepared to help me. In 20 minutes he had his staff writing me a clearance to Alice Springs – and on to Adelaide. Just like that! Great!!
 

So after another 20 minutes wait for a security officer to take me to the plane, I was ready to depart. I filed a VFR flight plan over the radio to take me to Ayers Rock Airport, a 6.5 hour flight due south.
 

I was a long flight all right, but the weather was nice. Out of Darwin I had to slalom quite a lot to stay clear of the clouds, but it was possible. I climbed to 9500 feet.
 

I was a spectacular landscape I flew over – and very desolate. A couple of hours  north of Ayers Rock, it turned dark. I regretted that I had not left earlier. It can be very unhealthy to fly a single engine plane at night over a completely obscured landscape. Should I have to make an emergency landing, there was no safe place to do it. I would be a matter of descending…and hope that I liked what I saw below and in front of me on the ground. If I did not like it...all I would be able to do, would be to turn off the landing lights!
 

I did not talk to anyone for about 4 hours, but about 100 miles from Ayers Rock, I got onto Melbourne Center.
 

Twenty miles out of Ayers rock Airport I called up on the radio, but there was no other traffic on the frequency. I descended towards the airport and got ready to activate the lights on the runway. It was dark, and I tried several times to activate the lights – without any success. I got somewhat uncertain, because below – where the airport was supposed to be, was nothing, I could not see a single light or any indication of an airport.
 

At the same time as I tried to get the lights on, I was very worried about keeping altitude, and not get any closer to the ground than 1000 feet. After all, this place is world renowned for some rocks poking up in the middle of the desert. I called Melbourne and asked them to check, that the airport was open – and to check the code for the lighting. It was confirmed that the airport was open 24 hours, and a fellow pilot out there had the code: Keep transmitting for 3 seconds and 1 second off. Repeat 3 times.
 

Ups, that were something I had not checked out. I had assumed, that the lighting system worked, as it does in USA. And very unfortunately does the Jeppesen  not give the code – only the frequency for activation.
 

Now the lights came on, and I could come in for a safe landing. I was very happy to be on the ground.

As it turned out, a few people on the ground actually had heard me overhead and someone on the ground had activated the lights about the same time I got the right magic code.

I had booked a hotel over the satellite phone in the air, and after a short time I was picked up, and taken to the hotel  in the Ayers Rock Resort.