Point Cook did the job for a long time and it's no better than Sale Wx wise.
Good on you Arm. Point Cook did do the job for a long time. I remember instructors use to threaten all kinds of crime to avoid a posting there because the job wasn't as glamorous as Macchis in Pearce, the weather was pretty crap and the areas were constrained for the high number of airframes needed to fulfil the RAAF run BFTS mission.
Having said all that, I believe the shift away from Point Cook also related to the giant wheel turning to the "we should only use one type for basic and advanced flying training" position, as it does every three decades or so. Unfortunately the plan didn't work for the same reasons it never works, and as an added disaster the turbo-prop protagonists managed to foist a basic trainer into the advanced flying training role!
(Now we suffer international derision with our publically funded, premier military formation display team whispering around in an unimpressive buzz box! I say bring back a jet!)
In operating the PC9, originally envisaged as a CT4 replacement, I suppose the RAAF could have chosen Point Cook as the training base, but instead they kept Pearce. My guess is that decision was made due to better facilities, airspace and weather over west? And because more instructors wanted to go to Pearce, not Point Cook!
Read my earlier post on why Sale won't work. Combining the 2 existing schools in one base will add something like 40,000 more hours per year to an already busy base. Besides, last time I was there, the military ATC had manning problems and regular tower closures! It is a fact, Sale airspace will be seriously constrained by bringing in one additional school, let alone two.
Even geography works against Sale with mountains on one side and a cold sea on the other! You know our modern sky gods simply hate flying small aeroplanes over mountains and water?
