On the WAC, the town of
Katherine looks like a sleepy little
outpost in the middle of nowhere.
Replace the WAC with a VNC or
an ERC, however, and the scene
livens up considerably.
All those red dotted lines and
labelled slabs of airspace mean
you’ve found the home of The
Royal Australian Air Force base
at Tindal, 8nm outside Katherine
and 154nm south-east of Darwin.
As you’ll see from the charts, its
numerous associated restricted
areas cover a vast expanse across
the region, which you’re going to
find hard to avoid if you’re heading
for popular safari destinations like
Darwin, Kununurra or Kakadu. In
fact Tindal is Australia’s largest area
of controlled airspace and home to
some of Australia’s most significant
defence installations.
Understandably, the RAAF like
to know who’s around and what
you’re up to, so you’re definitely
going to have to knock before you
enter. And just so you know what
they’re up to, you’ll find a riot of
NOTAMs in place on any given day
of the calendar laying out where and
when the military jets are up flying.
(In NAIPS, bring up Area 80,
YPTN [Tindal Aerodrome] and
TNX [Tindal Airspace]. It’s also
a good idea to check the Brisbane
FIR NOTAMs.) Make sure youlodge a flight plan and scrutinize
those NOTAMs like your life
depends on it.
Anyway, since we’re taking you
on a fabulous sunset cruise on
Katherine Gorge this evening, we
need to not only scoot through a
fair bit of their airspace, but we
need to land our little Cessna
on that big mother of a runway
at Tindal. Sorry to say it, but
preparation for today’s flying starts
well before today. Give yourself a
heads up on procedures before you
leave home by reading the good
oil in ERSA. CASA’s OnTrack
program on their website also has
a whole section devoted to Tindal
procedures, within the Darwin
entry. Expect to make your initial
inbound call at 50nm – just don’t
blast in unannounced, OK?Delving into the
Ter r itor y
I have always loved the feel of
the Northern Territory – our
destination for frontier touring,
whatever that means. It’s all a bit
wild; dress code is unfailingly
casual; it’s dusty as hell in most
parts, then it’s world-famously lush
and fertile in others. As for the
fishing – don’t start me. Even I can
catch something that bends the rod.
Rossy can’t believe it.
Population is around 230,000.
Laughable hey? Sounds more like
the head count at a busy Chinese
supermarket, but the residents
up here like fresh air and room to
move. You want to go days without
seeing another soul? Come on up -
they’ve got that covered. The speed
limit on the few highways that
actually have bitumen is higher than
the rest of Australia, just so that
you can cover the distances before
you die of old age.
This translates to pretty
slim pickings as far as en route
stopovers go. Over the years, we
have had wonderful stays at places
like Daly Waters, Mataranka,
Groote Eylandt and Jabiru up
north, but I was on a mission this
trip to find a new destination.
I figured thousands of tourists
over the years can’t be wrong, so
Katherine Gorge got the vote.PETER MERWOOD“The ancient landscape delivers drop-
dead stunning views at every turn”AUSTRALIAN FLYING March – April 201524 Destinations australianflying.com.au
PETER MERWOODSVEN PETERSTOP TO BOTTOM: Crocodile Rock? Fascinating to watch
... from a distance.
Dinner with a view on our sunset cruise on Katherine
Gorge.
I can never seem to bring myself to leave Adels Grove off
my itinerary. Such a gem of a stopover for touring pilots.
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destination hot spot, Katherine Gorge earns its
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