On arrival at Coolangatta the aircraft was refuelled and the pilot attended the Briefing Office, where he was provided with copies of the relevant weather forecasts for the remaining part of the flight. These forecasts indicated a strong westsouthwesterly airflow over northern New South Wales, with considerable low level cloud to the west of the mountains but only scattered stratocumulus or cumulus up to 6000 feet to the east and over the coast. The freezing level was expected to be between 4000 and 7000 feet above mean sea level, and moderate icing was forecast in cloud above that level. A SIGMET (forecast of significant weather which may affect aircraft safety) was current, indicating occasional severe turbulence existed below 12,000 feet to the east of the mountains.
Leaving aside the possibility of aircraft defects on departure from Cooly, and given the forecast above, the obvious prudent way for the PIC to conduct this flight NVFR would have been to flight plan as he did (if that was the only option available to him), then request a clearance direct through the Williamstown zone at Taree, and if it was not forthcoming - land at Taree and overnight.
HOW do you wait NVFR, away from a navaid and without a proper holding procedure, then resume track within the required tolerances?
Andrewr, I don't think this is the right forum to give you a briefing on the use of navaids in instrument flying. The PIC in this case held a Class 3 IF rating - as such, a couple of orbits should have been well within his capabilities.
Dr