Day 3 for Double Trouble in the Outback Air Race 2001

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Alice Springs to Oodnadatta

Day 3 was the first actual air-race day, taking us from Alice Springs to Oodnadatta.

Before departure interviews were conducted by the local media and we received a blessing of the air race by the pastor of the Royal Flying Doctor Service outside the hangar of the Royal Flying Doctor Service base. Here we witnessed the departure of an actually RFDS flight:

The Race marshals were actually the first ones to get going

The nominated way points were a hill-top called Mount Ooraminna and the southern-most tip of Fogarty's Claypan. Jens was doing the flying and Dirk acted as navigator and we nominated a time interval of 1 hour, 27 minutes and 43 seconds to cover 190 nautical miles ( 219 miles, 352 km), taking the forecast wind into account.

We were teamed off against Mallesons Stephens Jaques Test Eagles.

Having nominated the third fasted time, we were third cab off the rank, getting airborne within sight of the Whitsunday's Wookies team in a Cessna 337 on the tangerine ladder.

Careful manipulation of the controls and meticulous study of the electronics gear on board guided us toward the first way point. Then equally careful juggling of power settings and judicious heading changes kept us on course. We thought we actually crossed the second way point within one second of the nominated time. But this needed to be confirmed by the race committee.

En-route we passed over Hamilton Creek

Shortly thereafter we arrived in Oodnadatta for the second time and refuelled along with other teams

We were then taken into custody by the local authorities, who eventually dropped us at our luxurious bunkhouse accommodation at the centre of this bustling metropolis

All pedestrians, as advertised by the traffic signs were indeed sighted exactly as depicted:

Dinner was held in a local community centre with the local law enforcement officers throwing the steaks on the barbecue. We were all required to wear something pink to this, and was followed by the judge issuing fines to several teams for:

late registration for the air-race.
trying to get a bed from the Oodnadatta nurse at the local hospital.

And Double Trouble received a 100 Doc Dollar fine for accepting, for safekeeping purposes, the room key of two (female) committee members on the night before and not being present at the exact time that they wanted to return to their room.

Awards were handed out to the

Team with the longest name: Mallesons Stephens Jaques Test Eagles
Team with the best name change: Three Stooges to The Cunning Stunts

And Double Trouble received an award for being the most confusing team.

Finally the results of the pair-offs were announced. Much to our surprise we won against the Mallesons Stephens Jaques Test Eagles.

The results were further refined to the teams in each ladder that had the most accurate times. In the Tangerine ladder, the winner were the Whitsunday's Wookies. In the Turquoise ladder, again, much to our surprise, Double Trouble had recorded the most accurate time. For this each team was issued with a hard hat adorned with an appropriately coloured ladder. One of each team must at all times, be in possession of said hard hat (including showers, visits to the toilet or resting in bed). Failure to be in possession of the hat will be penalised by fines.

The results were further analysed to figure out which team of the two ladders was more accurate on today's leg. The leg was awarded to that team. Again, Double Trouble came to the fore. The leg, which also must be in possession of one team member at all times and is expected to be returned to the committee filled with money 24 hours later.

Here we can be seen with the Tangerine ladder winners, the Whitsunday's Wookies.

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