W
MAIN IMAGE: Destinations
like Adels Grove are so worth
the effort to call in to.
ABOVE: With views like this,
it makes driving seem like
a really bad idea, hey?Shelley Ross signs off with her all-time
favourite ly-in destinations.
Well, this is a bit of a moment.
I’m sitting here at my keyboard,
penning my final story for
Australian Flying. After 19
years writing for this wonderful
magazine, it’s time to pull up
stumps. I reckon you’ve all been
subjected to the rants, the raves,
the tears and the beers for long
enough. Lord knows you get less
time for murder.
So, let’s finish on a high. A
couple of issues ago, I brought
you the story of our three-day
training trip with WardAir and
Curtis Aviation. Four instructors
took 15 students and private
pilots in seven aircraft through
eight controlled airspace zones
between Sydney and Brisbane.
We were pretty blown away
with the feedback, so WardAir
CFI, Catherine Fitzsimons and I
decided to offer another one, this
time going south to Melbourne.
It seems the prospect of
refresher training in CTA
procedures gets people’s attention,
so a dozen pilots signed up
pronto, including, wait for it ...
my number one wingman, Rossy,
with his newly minted PPL. He
was up for the training, plus he
was keen to see what I spend an
increasing amount of my working
life doing. He hired the venerable
Curtis Warrior PBS, ordered
all his maps and diligently went
about his f light planning. And no,
we were not in the same aircraft,
which is why we’re still happilymarried. About the only thing
I’ve ever tried to teach him to do
is ski, years ago – a memorable
expedition that swerved
dangerously close to the divorce
courts. Can you imagine f lying
lessons? Don’t even go there.The best laid plans
For our CTA South trip, here’s
what we planned: Camden –
Bathurst – Canberra– Albury- Euroa – Essendon – Moorabbin
- Latrobe Valley – East Sale –
Nowra – Camden.
The first day’s itinerary, landing
at both Canberra and Albury
made for great CTA practice for
everybody. However, we woke up
in the tiny regional town of Euroa
on day two to the worst forecast
imaginable: low cloud, blowing a
gale. The whole of Victoria was
about to get swept across to NZ
by midday if the forecast wind was
to be believed.
But who believes an Australian
aviation forecast? We grabbed our
7-kg bags and headed out to the
airstrip to see for ourselves what the
morning would offer us. There were
places to go and people to meet,
after all. After pre-f lighting, we
brushed a year of grime off a couple
of old tables in an open hangar and
laid out our maps, opened up our
technology and Catherine started
the morning briefing.
The next few hours in that old
hangar would be later regarded by
every soul on the trip as the most
valuable and educational few hours
of training they could remember.
Catherine encouraged everyone
to scrutinize and understand
every line of the forecasts, the
actual weather reports and the
NOTAMs (all of them, including
those pesky Head Office ones
where, alarmingly, pretty vital
information can lay buried way
down the page). Questions
were answered, long-standing
confusions sorted. Plans A, Baustralianflying.com.au 19
July – August 2018 AUSTRALIAN FLYING