Scenics Within Sydney Area?

[xXmuffin0manXx]

Some of you may remember me from a few years ago when I was in high school and posting here for advice. Since then I've managed to earn my PPL. Currently, I'm in the early processes of working my way towards a CPL, whilst managing part-time work (to fund the lessons :() and university (.

Now it so happens that a friend (female :}) has asked me to take her up for a flight during our holidays to see what it is like. On most occassions, it would have probably just involved tagging along for cross-country hour building or some aeros. BUT, I happen to like this friend so I want to make it a really unforgettable(?) experience.

This is where I hope Pprune can help me again! Are there any good places near Sydney that would be nice? A friend I knew ran the idea of Sydney Harbour as a suggestion, but I'm not exactly sure of the procedures. Would anyone be able to give any information on that?

Thanks in advance.

PS: Please don't read my previous posts from 2009. They are really cringeworthy :cool:

[Mark1234]

Beware of trying too hard (and I don't mean flying...) but:

The harbour scenic is pretty red-letter stuff; however you might find it a bit 'busy' if you're relatively inexperienced, and you'll spend a lot of time paying attention to the pilot stuff, not her. Ditto victor one down the coast.. Procedures fairly simple - see Ersa / sydney basin vfr guide (on the casa website if I recall correctly..)

My favourite flying 'date' involved finding somewhere interesting / with a decent restaurant/winery, and 'just dropping in' (apparently spontaneously) for lunch. Unfortunately all my location suggestions are in victoria, not nsw.

All that said, I've also done very well on the aeros trip too ;)

[seneca208]

slightly unrelated, but I'd agree with taking her somewhere where you can actually do something, like have lunch etc. She will think its pretty awesome and you will feel like the boss. :E

[b_sta]

Victor 1/Harbour Scenic (get the Sydney visual pilot guide for procedures)
Cessnock for lunch/wineries
Moruya for the beach
Dubbo for the zoo

I guess the latter three aren't Sydney, as such, but still easily doable for day trips.

[Avgas172]

I concur with Moruya for a very scenic trip, beach destination & a good feed right on the beach.

MORUYA, South Coast NSW (http://www.southcoast.com.au/moruya/index.html)

Took the kids there for a run when I was in Cowra, easy day trip (thats the advantage of owning your own 172) and great for your crosswind recency to impress the lady .... there is also a cross strip for the faint hearted. :E

[system.of.a.down]

fly victor 1 then down to wollongong airport which has a cafe/restaurant with a good feed for lunch.

and as for the harbour scenic, the procedures are in the ERSA - Sydney/(Kingsford Smith) INTL

[Tonym3]

The other suggestions are the best of them but to broaden the possible options:

Katoomba is a short hop and the views over the Grose, Megalong and Jamieson Valleys are nice on a good day and better in the latish afternoon or early morning. Could do a bit of a loop over Warragamba or out to Lithgow if you wanted to lengthen the flying bit. You would need to arrange a cab to pick you up from the strip to take you either to Katoomba or Blackheath. Blackheath antique shops can do it for the women - never really get that myself but...

Mudgee a bit further on is a $15 cab ride into town where you can find ok food.

If Dubbo is an option, then Parkes is too but the dish, whilst a great visit in my opinion, is a fair way out of town. Not sure what a cab would cost there.

Show her you're a fair dinkum pilot and fly into Canberra with the big boys and take her to the Art Gallery. You'll be bored as buggery but she'll think you're a snag.

Beach at Port Macquarie? Small wreck visible along the 500ft run along Stockton.

[Ultralights]

if you really feeling lucky, try Tumut, nice flight over southern Highlands, and a nice little B&B aboout 2 km from the airport, and they will pick you up.

[xXmuffin0manXx]

Thanks for the replies! Great stuff.

[Howard Hughes]

Show her you're a fair dinkum pilot and fly into Canberra with the big boys and take her to the Art Gallery. You'll be bored as buggery but she'll think you're a snag.
If you were a fair dinkum bloke, you'd take her to the War Memorial!;)

PS: Women prefer 'caring understanding nineties types'...(think about it):E

[muffman]

Keep in mind if you want to do a harbour scenic with your PPL you'll require a radar CTA approval if you don't already have one.

Cessnock is not a bad option for a quick day trip. The cafe in the information centre located at the airport has some really nice food at discounted prices for pilots. There is also a couple of vineyards with wine tasting within walking distance. De Bortolli is about a 15 min walk if you turn left at the airport gates. Go up via the central coast and cut inland near Aeropelican to keep it scenic. Come back via the Hawkesbury.

Wollongong is an option too. Always a scenic place to fly into (albeit a bit rough if it's windy) and has a good cafe at the airport. I used to get a clearance (if avail) to depart via Picnic Point through Sydney's class C which makes the trip down really quick, and then come back up the coast, victor 1 and enter at the heads for a harbour scenic then track along the Parramatta river towards Prospect to return to BK. Only risk with this flight is your flight time/cost depends a lot on getting the clearances you hope for.

Someone else mentioned Katoomba - just be aware it's a bit of a rough old strip with some nasty terrain around....

[osmosis]

I once picked up a bride and bridegroom-to-be from Bankstown and flew coastal at 500 ft as far as Nobbys Beach at Newcastle to their wedding. As we sauntered up the coast over the sea, the bride-to-be was transfixed out her port window the whole trip. According to her husband she kept speaking of that flight even throughout their honeymoon and at how she enjoyed the trip.

One for me is Katoomba, simply stunning. I once flew my mother over her farmland where she had lived her entire life but had never seen it from the air before.

[jecuk]

Nothing much beats orbits east of the bridge then victor 1. Never failed to impress in my opinion.

[On Track]

What is a "radar CTA approval"?

We didn't have that stuff when I did my ab initio training at YSCB, nor when I frequently did Sydney scenics in the 1990s.

[muffman]

CAO 40.0
3 Conditions on private pilot licences
3.2 The holder of a private pilot licence must not fly an aircraft as pilot in command in controlled airspace that is:
(a) a control area; or
(b) a control zone for which there is a radar service; or
(c) a control zone for which there is no radar service;
unless:
(e) the holder has received training in the aeronautical knowledge needed to safely fly an aircraft in the kind of airspace concerned; and
(f) an authorised flight instructor, or CASA, is satisfied that the holder can safely fly an aircraft in the kind of airspace concerned; and
(g) the instructor, or CASA, has made an entry to that effect in the holder’s personal log book.