Crosswinds as I track south

This morning I woke up to check the forecast as I have a flight planned to Geraldton, however the forecast was showing wind of 18 knots with gusts up to 30 knots!

Of course, that was a little too strong for NCO to handle, so I made the plan to turn Carnarvon, my refuel stop into an overnight instead.

Today’s flight was shorter, which as a bit of a blessing in disguise as I only noticed whilst packing up the aircraft at the end of the day how fatigued I was, and after doing a lot of flying over the past few days, a shorter leg was definitely the smarter choice. There was some weather to consider today, as low cloud over the coast prompted me to cut inland more, and see the beautiful red ground beneath me! I flew at about 3000 feet initially, which made for some gorgeous sightseeing, then climbed up to a much more reasonable 8500 feet, on the hunt for some favourable winds. I’ve found that higher cruising altitudes have generally provided me with great tailwinds and are significantly calmer, however this was not the case today, and although the forecast suggested I would have about a 10 knot tailwind, I actually found myself flying through quite turbulent conditions with a headwind! Unfortunately, it was so turbulent that my Pringles can (from Georgie and the Aviatrix Australia team - listen to the Podcast for context) ended up rolling off the spare seat and spilling- however I was flying and didn’t notice until about 15 minutes later!

Thus I descended to 6500 feet (met by a 15 knot headwind) before eventually settling at 4500 feet where I found the most favourable conditions. It was still quite bumpy, and I passed the time over the three hour leg by continuously checking the forecast at Carnarvon. With the crosswind being strong, yet still good enough to land, I touched down nicely at the airport there.

It’s wonderful to be back on the coast with the gorgeous ocean air, and I’m looking forward to continuing onwards to Perth in the coming days!