Canberra is abundant with open spaces for everyones enjoyment.
Virtually every suburb has an open field where kids can kick the
footy or where once upon a time cricket would have been played on a
regular basis...........alas the drought and general population
demographics have seen some of these areas become the forgotten
ovals. The pitch is now dry.....the grass is a hodge podge of mown
weeds........The local hoons have carved their tyre tracks into the
mix and the kids stay indoors and play "footy" online via the
gaming console of the month......maybe you might see one of the
older locals walking the outer perimeter as I did the morning I
placed the cache.........its these forgotten ovals that have helped
people like you and me.....they have given us another area for us
to place that cache.....and presto here is a new one!! Please,
please use the local foilage to return the cache to it's safe
place.
The cache is generally kid friendly as it is at an oval, so
there is lots of running space. The cache/oval is located near a
drainage creek which does have water flow - so care should be taken
with inquisitive littlies - hence the danger attribute.
**** FTF
Honours To Mercuryprawnhead (after some confusion!!)
****
On MTB note:
History of the flight of VH-LSN
Mikoyan & Gurevich MiG 15UTI,
Canberra, ACT 13 March 1993
On 13 March 1993, the MiG 15UTI VH-LSN with the pilot and one
passenger on board took off from Canberra Airport for a city
sight-seeing tour and a flight to one of the local training areas.
Prior to receiving taxi clearance, the pilot was given ATIS
information and was cleared for a standard city route at 4,000 ft.
The aircraft then taxied for runway 12 at 1605:30 EST.
After receiving a take-off clearance, the aircraft was observed to
enter runway 12 and commence the take-off roll. No abnormalities
were observed by eye witnesses. After becoming airborne, the
aircraft levelled briefly at about 15 ft AGL and the landing gear
was retracted. The aircraft then entered a left climbing turn and
levelled again at about 1,200 ft AGL.
At 1611:25 the pilot reported that he was downwind for runway 12
and requested a clearance to land due to a minor unserviceability.
The pilot then reported that he was at 3,000 ft AMSL and requested
minimum delay. He was advised of a B737 on left base for runway 35
and was asked to report sighting the aircraft. At 1612:25 the pilot
stated that he would take runway 12 and when he was advised by the
aerodrome controller that he would be number two, he stated that he
had the B737 in sight and that he would land on runway 35. At
1613:55 the pilot requested a wind check. No further transmissions
from the pilot were recorded. During the latter part of the flight
the aircraft was in a shallow descent and had descended to about
500 ft AGL when it was observed to enter a nose-down attitude of
about 30°.
Shortly afterwards a fire and smoke plume were observed by tower
personnel and the crash alarm was activated. Two units of the
Canberra Airport rescue fire fighting service were dispatched to
the scene.
Impact occurred about 2 minutes and 30 seconds after the pilot
advised that he had a problem.
Two witnesses who had observed the aircraft during its downwind
leg, saw what they believed were fuel vapours or smoke trailing
behind the aircraft prior to the nose dropping. Both also stated
that they saw flames coming from the vicinity of the aircraft speed
brakes. An amateur video tape recording taken of the aircraft
during the accident flight also shows a short smoke trail behind
the aircraft about 20 seconds before the nose-down pitch
occurred.
The crash site was located 300 m west and 200 m north of the
intersection of the Monaro Highway and Hindmarsh Drive about 4 km
south-west of Canberra Airport. The pilot and passenger were
fatally injured and the aircraft was destroyed by impact, explosion
and fire.
The accident occurred at 1614 EST during the hours of daylight at
latitude 35°22' south and longitude 149°09' east.