Where the winds blow

[bddbism]

Being stuck under rain and wind for the last 3 weeks has me wondering, Where is the nastiest weather to fly in in aus?

Is it the wild winds of the west? The tropical torrential downpours? The squall lines of the south? the fast forming fogs?

[PLovett]

In my experience (general aviation only) it is the squall lines of the south. Stuff up north can mostly be flown around as it rarely holds hands with the next one. Winds can normally be handled even if it is bleedin' uncomfortable but what you get in the south can be nasty. Turbulence forcing you up, icing forcing you down, sudden wind changes, rapidly changing conditions. Nasty stuff.

[rutan around]

I agree with all PLovett wrote and would just add it also SEEMS easier away from the S.E. parts of Australia because you have much more freedom to dodge and weave , climb and descend at will due to the lack of other traffic/controlled airspace.

[Squawk7700]

Melbourne, just north of Melbourne, plus Bass Strait, to Flinders island and the top end of Tasmania. Fog, ice, snow hail , sunshine and rain and all in the one day :ok:

[Vincent Chase]

Agree with the above although not according to the "up north" heroes. Spent 2 1/2 years ~900 hours flying IFR in VIC, TAS and southern NSW and SA in unpressurised non de iced pistons and couldn't even get a look in with any WA or NT entry level twin jobs because I didn't have "wet season experience".

[Squawk7700]

Weather aside, the smoke haze of the Northern Territory can be quite challenging to navigate.

[Vincent Chase]

My attitude now has changed significantly since then. With a stupid username like that, I would have to wonder how your attitude is?

[ForkTailedDrKiller]

Weather aside, the smoke haze of the NorthernTerritory can be quite challenging to navigate.Huh? !!!

Not since the Sony Pixis GPS came on the market in 1991 !


http://www.sony.co.jp/SonyInfo/News/ServiceArea/GPS/image/IPS360.jpg

Dr :8

[PLovett]

Melbourne, just north of Melbourne, plus Bass Strait, to Flinders island and the top end of Tasmania. Fog, ice, snow hail , sunshine and rain and all in the one day

And thats on a good day................:}

[RENURPP]

Flying in the North has never been easier.
Smoke haze due to fires has reduced significantly pre the 90's. Back then the bush fire council used to light up the whole Territory. 100's of hours flying around dropping incendiaries. Breathing was hard most days.
Every dog has a GPS.
A large percentage of the runways are now sealed and the weather is generally benign. A couple of weeks of monsoon at worst.

I agree south east Aus has the worst Australian weather by a long stretch. sW

[Squawk7700]

Maybe when I said hard to navigate I should have said hard to see anything that resembles a horizon at times. Thank god for auto-pilot.

You are showing your age there Dr., based on the fact that you can remember that.

[22k]

Agreed on southern Aus, especially the fast moving cold fronts across bass straight. Severe turb, icing and embedded cb's are not fun. Cloud down to the deck and you have no where to go, no way of seeing and avoiding (no wx radar here). Nasty stuff in winter and spring.

[dubbleyew eight]

most of australia is so flat that you can fly blind above 8,000ft and never hit terrain.

what immediately came to mind on reading the question was the sucker hole around eildon weir in victoria.
terrain, controlled airspace and hills have seen more pilots suckered to their deaths over the years under or in cloud in that area than probably any other area in australia.

[Homesick-Angel]

Seen a few GAM's guys intelligently call it quits trying to make it back over the gap into YMEN when those fronts push through... Thinking about the overhead hand clap of the Aero C's might have something to do with it!

Id agree with SE Aus. You can fly 50NM in any direction on the right day and have totally different conditions. i.e Southside/Northside of the basin, out west with a cold front, sea breezes where its a 30 knot northerly at circuit height and a 20 knot southerly below that.. Fog, smog, smoke, haze, ice, cloud, snow, mountains... Awesome!

[neoxman]

At least the interesting weather down here in Victoria makes MECIR training a lot more relevant :ok:.

Although naturally I found all the bad days to book my flights up to CPL and all the sunny days so far for my MECIR :mad:.