Jabiru J230 24-5142 Victor 1 - Sydney Harbour Scenic Tour

By Jon Gooding 09/12/2009

Ever wanted to fly the NSW coast and Sydney Heads to the Harbour Bridge and Opera House?

Well on a recent trip to Sydney the Inbound Aviation J230 spent a few nights at Camden Airfield NSW and on the trip home Matt Stowe and I took the opportunity to fly "Victor 1" to view Sydney Harbour! Victor 1 (120.8 MHz) is the coastal track at below 500ft from Sydney Heads to Cronulla beach flying under the international jets entering and departing Sydney Airport. At times you are flying below cliff top levels and over the ocean so life jackets are essential.

We combined this beautiful coastal flight with an entry into Class C Airspace via (135.1 MHz) and took the Sydney Harbour Scenic tour at 1000ft. This flight requires clearance and has set procedures to follow which are listed on the Sydney VTC, the ERSA and the Sydney General Flying guide, the guide is a detailed "must have" document produced by Air Services Australia.

I would have to say Victor 1 would be one of the most spectacular flight paths on offer in Australia and definitely well worth the planning and preparation.

Of general interest about a trip to Sydney. The summer afternoon flight from Ballarat took just under 4 hours non-stop over flying Shepparton, Yarrawonga, Tumut, Holbrook, Goulbourn, Mittagong and into Picton for approach to Camden Airport GAAP CTR.We then caught a taxi (ph 131017 Premier Taxi Cabs or ring & book with Raj 0425 216 675) from Camden Airport to the Campbell Town train station, where the trains run every 30 minutes into the Sydney CBD. The train took another 1.5 hours via the Sydney airport loop and was a good way to relax after a day of aviation and anticipated stress flying into Camden.

Camden airfield is noted to have over 30,000 aircraft movements a year or 80 plus per day, however we arrived a quiet time with only a helicopter arriving while we where in the circuit. Concentration on flying, looking for other aircraft, our location and navigation to the next marker point, being at the correct height and following procedures were all part of trip.

We also met Ray Tolhurst from Composite Aero Components in Camden and had a chat about aircraft design Ray designed and built the "Sting Ray" in 1988 and was involved with the very start of recreational aviation in Australia along with the instrumental Ron Wheeler and his 'Scout" in 1976. It's a privilege to chat to a passionate pioneer of our sport and from the original group of people who created the world's first ultra light legislation A "Scout" can be seen at the Holbrook Ultra light museum and is well worth a stop on the way to or from Sydney.

The flight home with a small tail wind via the harbour took 5.5 hours with additional highlights being the sea cliff bridge near Scarborough, a hang glider at 4500 ft near Goulbourn, plus a stop and bite to eat at Yarrawonga, Victoria.