By Fanny Corderoy du Tiers

Our magnificent adventure at the 2001 IDPA International Fly-in around Australia last July began with a 25-hour (at least!) flight from Paris to London, then Bangkok and finally Sydney aboard a Qantas Airways Boeing 747-400. Joining Henri and me were three deaf French citizens, Philippe and Brigitte Sazarin and Eric Debieuvre, a deaf ultralight pilot. (They also flew with us on the return trip.)

At Bangkok Airport, we bought a new video camera so I could film Henri and others as well as take many digital photos during our travel in Australia. We arrived at Sydney Airport at 6 a.m. on July 11.

In the beginning there were three deaf private pilots--Henri from France, Kent Power, our Australian host, and Alec Naiman from the United States--and five passengers, Philippe, Brigitte, Eric, Kent's wife Morna, and me. At first we planned to rent just two airplanes to fly the eight of us, but a problem cropped up: we had three pilots who wanted to fly in the left seat every day. So we had to rent three planes in order to please all the pilots, who are hard-headed individuals with minds of their own.

Eric Debieuvre, Henri Corderoy du Tiers, Kent Power, Rodney Stanbury and Alec Naiman before takeoff at Canberra.

The fly-in was a historical first for Australia--the first ever flight around the country by an international group of deaf pilots, and it was recognized and permitted by the two main Australian aviation authorities: the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) and Air Services (Air Traffic Circulation Services). CASA and Air Services both announced afterward that they were pleased with the results.

On the morning of July 12, Dick Reynoldson and Olivier Grandjean of CASA and Tim Abberton from Air Services met with Henri, Kent and Alec, plus Rodney Stanbury, a deaf Australian pilot, in the CASA building at Bankstown Airport, Sydney. (Bankstown is known as Australia's busiest general aviation aerodrome, and has four runways.)

Olivier Grandjean of Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority welcomes the IDPA contingent at a meeting at CASA headquarters at Bankstown Airport, Sydney.

They gave the deaf pilots certificates of validation and a Letter of Agreement (LOA) spelling out the regulations for the flight around Australia. Both CASA and Air Services posted national NOTAMs declaring that "From 12-29 July 2001 four Cessna-type ACFT will operate in company using no radio procedures in VMC by day at controlled and non-controlled aerodromes in accordance with the following itinerary." (The pilots were not allowed to fly at night.)

The Letter of Agreement required the pilots to squawk 0045 on their airplanes' transponders during all the flights, so that Air Services could recognize the no-radio flight of three aircraft on its radars--important for the safety of the deaf pilots.

Dick Reynoldson of CASA (with Olivier Grandjean in the background) speaks to the assembled IDPA pilots at the meeting: Kent Power (third from right), Henri Corderoy du Tiers (second from right) and Rodney Stanbury (right).

From July 14 through 30 we traveled from eastern Australia to the central part of the country, then from south to north and back east and south. Our destinations were these: Sydney Bankstown (a GAAP, or General Aviation Aerodrome Procedure, airport) to Canberra (Class C), then Moorabbin/Melbourne (GAAP), Adelaide (GAAP), Coober Pedy (CTAF, or Common Traffic Advisory Frequency, where use of radio is not mandatory), Alice Springs (Class D), Ayers Rock (MBZ, or Mandatory Broadcast Zone), Alice Springs again, Mount Isa (MBZ), Longreach (CTAF), Blackall (CTAF), Charleville (CTAF), Caloundra (CTAF), Archerfield/Brisbane (GAAP), Coffer Harbour (Class D) and Bankstown/Sydney again.

Kent, Alec and Henri racked up almost 40 hours over 5,000 nautical miles in 17 days of flight. They rented three Cessna 182 Skylanes (Henri's was a C182RG, with retractable landing gear) from three separate FBOs in Bankstown.

Rodney flew a rented C172RG on the trip for three of those days.

The other pilots found the four-seat C182 to be an excellent airplane for long trips. Its engine is rated at 230 horsepower and its tanks can carry 95 gallons of fuel, allowing it to fly up to nine hours at 65 percent power at high altitude. It can fly at 155 knots at 6,000 feet. Its practical useful load with full fuel is one pilot, two passengers and several items of luggage.

In Australia, according to the rules for non-radio VFR flights, all no-radio pilots must fly below 5,000 feet MSL. Most airports are equipped with an ADF beacon. There are few VOR stations as compared with the United States and Europe. All the pilots used GPS receivers for navigation.

Landing at several towered airports was a real challenge. Clearances for landing and takeoff were were signaled visually with green and red flashes from the tower.

During the trip, the pilots shared duties and responsibilities. For example, Henri obtained weather forecasts and NOTAMs, Alec contacted the towers for permissions for takeoffs and landings, and Kent took care of the general itinerary. The three pilots rotated the job of preparing navigation plans for each flight, taking on the role of flight leader while the other two pilots followed behind.

Pilots Kent Power, Australia; Alec Naiman, United States; Henri Corderoy du Tiers, France, and Rodney Stanbury, Australia.

The trip was fantastic for the pilots, but for the passengers, the story was sometimes a bit different. While the pilots busily whiled away the hours before takeoff preparing for the flight, we passengers had to wait and wait, which bored us (especially me) sometimes. But once we were aloft, it was very exciting.

Australia is the globe's biggest island. Its surface area is about four-fifths of that of the continental United States. We saw long beaches, vast deserts, mountains, hill country--many different landscapes. Though it was winter in Australia, it was not as cold as I thought it would be, and it was warmer in the north, for that is closer to Indonesia and the equator. The weather was for the most part nice. Only three out of the 17 days were rainy, including our last hop back to Sydney. Most important, we thank God for a safe trip.

On the ground, we visited zoos in Adelaide and Brisbane and saw local animals such as koalas, kangaroos, camels, ostrich, crocodiles, etc. We held a koala in our arms--it was very soft and tenderly sweet! We also patted some kangaroos as they were so cute. In the restaurants Henri and some friends ate kangaroo, camel, ostrich and crocodile. I tried only a very small bit of crocodile--it tasted like a mixture of chicken and fish, yuckkkk!

IDPA C182s piloted by Alec Naiman (in front) and Kent Power near the coast of south Australia between Melbourne and Adelaide. Photo at right: The gorgeous Australian sky provided a breathtaking backdrop for the 17-day, 5,000-mile trip across the island continent. Here is Kent Power's C182 during the flight from Canberra to Melbourne.

The most interesting part of the trip came at Coober Pedy in south central Australia) where there are more than 500,000 five-foot-diameter holes in the ground, thanks to opal mining, and and plenty of cave homes. It is very dangerous to walk around that area, for you could fall into one of those 500,000 holes! We also marveled at the famed huge "Uluru" at Ayers Rock.

Henri Corderoy du Tiers in the left seat of his C182RG looking down upon Mt. Olga near Uluru (Ayers Rock) in the heart of Australia.

We enjoyed meeting deaf Australians in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and most Australians are very friendly, kind and helpful. Australian food is excellent and fresh, and their wines are very good. It is a beautiful country with real hospitality, and traveling in a single-engine aircraft is a wonderful way to discover it.

The big welcome at Brisbane: The IDPAers are, front row from left, Alec Naiman, Kent Power and Henri Corderoy du Tiers; back row, Philippe Sazarin, Eric Debieuvre, an Aussie, Brigitte Sazarin, Fanny Corderoy du Tiers, an Aussie, Morna Power and three Aussies.

We want to thank Australian leaders such as Rodney Stanbury and his wife, Kathleen, both deaf pilots and guides, as well as, Paul O'Malley, a hearing pilot, and his deaf wife, Helen, both of whom were of great assistance in Sydney.

Australian deaf pilot Rodney Stanbury with his rented Cessna 172RG at Parafield Airport, Adelaide. He flew with the international group for two days.

We also want to thank Peter Brennan, a deaf leader in Melbourne; Phil McConnell, manager of Moorabbin Airport in Melbourne; Sean Cowie, a deaf student pilot in Brisbane; Kim Pickering, Shane and Natalie Mundy of Brisbane, and many other Aussies.

Without Kent Power's fine planning and the Australian aeronautical authorities' excellent cooperation, this beautiful and historic flying trip would not have been possible.

Your editor would like to add his thanks to Fanny and Henri Corderoy du Tiers for her excellent article and to Fanny and Philippe Sazarin for their splendid photographs.