Sydney Harbour

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="045085a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Golf Mike Bravo going around...</B></FONT><B>    </B><B> |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Golf Mike Bravo going around..."><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Golf Mike Bravo going around..."><U><B><IMG SRC="03b0e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="up" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>   </B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="14"><B>     </B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="14"><B>  </B><A HREF="id215.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="White Island"><U><B><IMG SRC="0300e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="next" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="046d2e83.jpg"> <div> <IMG SRC="8e3a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>Sydney Harbour</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id215.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="White Island"><U>White Island</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#CCCCE4" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>Sydney Harbour</I></div> <bR> <div> Tuesday 10th October 2006</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="8e2c2770.jpg" border=0 width="450" height="375" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="10" VSPACE="0">Right now I'm in Australia on holiday, and today I met up with David Humble for a trip 'round the harbour'. Of course this had to be done with a difference: This is Sydney Harbour, in New South Wales, and the trip is in a Piper Arrow III, VH-JRY, belonging to <A HREF="http://www.schofields-flying-club.com.au/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.schofields-flying-club.com.au"><U>Schofield's Flying Club</U></A>.</div> <bR> <div> David I've known for a number of years through the <A HREF="http://www.cixvfrclub.org.uk" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.cixvfrclub.org.uk"><U>Cix VFR Club</U></A>, an online flying club for Microsoft Flight Sim, although we'd not previously met in person. In the early days of the club, David had shown us around Sydney courtesy of the simualtor and VATSIM, and today's plan was to do something very similar.</div> <bR> <div> We'd arranged to meet up at Bankstown railway station, a $5, 40-minute train ride from Sydney's Central station, and from there David drove us to the airport. The plane was booked for 3:30, but when we arrived, it was still out with an instructor and student. So while we were waiting, David filed our flight plan, and we had a poke around the place.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="8e440f00.jpg" border=0 width="320" height="240" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="10" VSPACE="10"></div> <div> Australia has adopted a number of restrictive "security" measures since 9/11, including the requirement for all pilots to be vetted and issued with an ID tag, and for all aircraft to be disabled while on the ground. This mostly takes the form of padlocking a bracket to the throttle control, preventing movement.</div> <bR> <div> When the plane eventually arrived, it needed fuel, and the bowser was called. Again, while waiting, the preflight was completed. Then finally, fuelled, oiled and checked, we climbed aboard and prepared to set off. Bankstown has three parallel runways, oriented 11-29, and we were allocated the centre runway, and cleared for a left turn after departure, not above 1500ft. </div> <bR> <div> One of the first things you notice is that there are very few options in case of an engine failure, and the first part of the flight is at a comparitively low level, over a lagely residential part of the city. This is in fact a VFR corridor, and it takes us north through Paramatta. We then head West to the coast, and call up Sydney approach for clearance to enter the CTR.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="8e540f00.jpg" border=0 width="320" height="240" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">  <IMG SRC="8e640f00.jpg" border=0 width="320" height="240" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">  <IMG SRC="8e740f00.jpg" border=0 width="320" height="240" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> They give us a squawk code, and for a while that's all we hear from them, We're already over the coast by the time we get instructions -- proceed South to Manly, a VRP, and hold to the North, while some commercial departures leave Sydney International. After several trips round the hold, we're cleared to enter the harbour at 1500ft, remaining North of the South shore and East of the bridge. There's a Cessna twin doing the same thing as us, and they're cleared at 2000ft. A couple of orbits round the harbour, and ATC inform us there are some more departures, and would we all like to go back to the hold at Manly?</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="8e840f00.jpg" border=0 width="320" height="240" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">  <IMG SRC="8e940f00.jpg" border=0 width="320" height="240" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">  <IMG SRC="8ea40f00.jpg" border=0 width="320" height="240" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="8eb40f00.jpg" border=0 width="320" height="240" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="10" VSPACE="0">The twin goes back into the hold to return for another tour of the harbour at 1500ft. Since it's getting late and the sun is starting to get low in the sky, we decide to push on with our planned route. We inform ATC and are cleared out of the zone to follow the coast South at not above 500ft. We have a good view of the Southern Sydney beaches, including Bondi (although the low sun angle meant that the photos didn't come out!) When the CTR rises above us, we can climb, and eventually turn right and head West. Now we discover another disadvantage of a late afternoon flight -- the sun is low enough on the horizon to make forward vision practically impossible. We can only navigate by looking through the side windows and flying a series of shallow 'S' turns. Things improve once we turn North, and soon enough the three runways of Bankstown come into view. We're cleared to join right base for 11 centre and we're back on the ground.</div> <bR> <div> There's just time to pose for photographs before getting the train back to Sydney, where a pleasant evening was had telling flying stories over drinks and a snack..</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div>  </div> </td> </tr></table></body>