""Should someone planning the same trip tonight be entitled to flight plan, and expect, clearance coastal?""
Go in with that attitude and you won't get anywhere, in fact, even using the word "entitled" will get you a big NO.
You are not just asking for whatever you are asking, this is what you are up against. From the RAAF Web site.
"It is Air Force's intent that RAAF Base Williamtown remain as the nation’s main fighter pilot training base, and it will house most of the planned F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Lightning aircraft."
So, you have the brightest and the best, training the brightest and the best and wanting the best training area which they currently have - sea, Bombing and gunnery ranges with all the inherent safety rules required, low flying, Army, Navy assets for joint training and probably 100 other things I have't thought of. As such you are up against far more than just ATC procedures. Also, the CAS is one of them and always will be.
The Government does not spend $12 billion to then limit how they train because some recreational flyers want to fly in a straight line instead of having to go via another route - I know that is a short, blunt and rude way of putting it but that is how others will see it within.
So, "Find a way for the RAAF to maintain control, not lose face or power and not hinder training but allow what you want - and that giving an inch won't be taken a mile" and you might actually get somewhere. Until then, you will spend another 30 years doing what you have been doing which seems to be getting nowhere.
Last edited by 500N; 7th Jun 2014 at 07:09.