Arrival into Canberra
After passing overhead Goulburn, Matt then made a track towards the Lake Bathurst VFR reporting point, still at 6500ft which was OCTA (Outside Controlled Airspace) as it was just at the lower limit of the CTA step, and once approaching it, received clearance from Canberra Approach to enter and descend for a visual approach towards Runway 35.
Canberra was very familiar to me, having flown in there multiple times during the course of my flight training, and even the controllers whom I’ve met before sounded familiar as we were headed in. Matt then maneuvered for finals on Runway 35 and changed over to Tower frequency, who then cleared us in for a Touch-And-Go, then onwards clearance to depart again heading for Yass.
Matt made a nice smooth landing onto 35, and after reconfiguring the aircraft, we were airborne again, maintaining runway heading, and once transferred to Canberra Departures, made our track towards Yass and climbing up to 7500ft for the flight back to Sydney.
WIN TV Studio Canberra
Gungahlin
Gungahlin
Enroute back
Our track back to Bankstown was slightly different from the way to Canberra. From Yass (West of Canberra), we then tracked north to Crookwell, a town West of Goulburn. From Crookwell, we tracked onto Bindook, as many of you know, is a common location where incoming flights would meet for their track into Sydney, thankfully those big scary planes were several thousands of feet above us. From Bindook, it was back across Camden’s airspace and over to Bankstown’s VFR Reporting Point 2RN, with the flashy light.
Yass
Crookwell
Unlike the highlands where we had towns and highways to observe and occasionally poke fun at, the track from Yass to Crookwell to Bindook has bugger all, just hills and mountains and one horse towns. Still, once he had the aircraft trimmed, it was just a relaxing time to once again, enjoy the passing scenery (Or lackthereof), have a munch of a museli bar or two that I brought onboard, and also talk about all facets of life once again. We passed overhead Crookwell (Now I’m just curious, who actually wants to move out there? There’s like nothing there, and yes I have driven through that town several times!) we continued our track to Bindook, also tracking to there by the Bindook VOR, which as the flight progressed, the scenery became a little more impressive with gorges and cliff faces that make up Nattai and Burragorang State Recreation Area.
