Is Essendon a friendly place for lighty to visit?
 

The Fork-tailed Dr Killer and I are looking to visit Melbourne in a couple of months.

Is Essendon a reasonable place to park a Bo for a week?

R:cool:

Parking is free, and if you come in after the tower shuts, no landing fees either.

Bevan..

Probably can't get much friendlier than that!

Unless of course they would like to lay on a limmo and a scantily dressed blonde escort!

R:cool:

YES
 

Yes, Very freindly and convenient.

pm if you need details,

I am sure you will get more replies.

CG?

Better than Moorabbin for convenience of visiting lighties and most other non-RPT acft in my view. And there's an ILS for the crappy wx - much better than the Moorabbin inst. app. procedures.

IIRC, parking is $10/day/tonne and not free unless things have changed for the better. There are nearby hire car places which will pick you up and a snack bar in the terminal...

R U sure it's "Free" @ Essendon after hours?

When the tower closes after hours, control is delegated to Melbourne Radar / Tullamarine. It doens't become a CTAF(R) like Moorabbin.

Note too, I see Moorabbin tower is opening at 9am these days. They get a sleep-in at the moment for some reason. Perhaps they are staying later because it's busy. When it's not smokey at the moment it's a hive of activity with everone desperate to catch up on their lessons. Last Friday was the busiest day I've been flying on for over a year. On the down side more beacons went off than ever before. The Dornier (Rescue 431) was seemingly tracking beacons all day.

Flew in there a few years back in a 210. Its a nice little airport, you can see they havent put too many $$ into it which it is a shame. Get a few orbits around the CBD on your way in, the tower there was very helpful. Rental car companies will even come to drop you off a set of wheels. All in all a good place to land. Driving in Melbourne, thats a whole new story!!

As far as I know 'no tower' == no tower charge. Do airservices charge for enroute VFR control services? (which is what a service provided by Melbourne Radar would be).

Bevan..

The landing fee isn't for the tower, it's an Essendon airport landing fee. From memory, around $23 for 700 kg's. Not sure on other weights. The airservices (tower) fee is around $7. All up a nice little $30 bill in the mail a month later.

It's not necessarily just an en-route charge as you're mixing with Tullamarine traffic only a few miles away. Need an ATC buff to fill us in on more detail.

The current Airservices landing fee for tower services is $10.49 per tonne, which equates to about $17.10 for a BE35. I think Essendon Airport Ltd (the Airport Operators) charge about $23 for their services, which covers parking. Usually there are hard stand tie down positions available, just ask Ground if unfamiliar.
Outside tower hours (after 10pm and before 6am weekdays, 7am Sat, and 8am Sun), there should be no AsA charge because there is no tower service provided. The airspace is still Class C to the ground, administered by Melbourne Approach. It's worth checking ERSA for procedures during this period.
VFR shouldn't attract any other fees.
Getting out of the airport is tricky if you don't have a swipe card. During business hours the Airport Safety Officer can usually assist. Otherwise egress can be gained through a turnstile gate at the northern corner of the terminal at the inner end of the finger. Just follow the instructions adjacent to the turnstile. The terminal building is locked both ways for non card holders between 6pm and 6am I think are the times.
The Operators are about to embark on a complete refurbishment of the airport lighting. All runway and VASIS will be replaced by state of the art LED equipment. To their credit this is a big project for a GA airport.
Hope you enjoy the experience, don't forget to ask for the city orbits.
CG

So you're gonna come in at 11pm when it shuts?

Thanx for the info. The fees and charges are not a significant issue for me (being a small part of the overall cost of the trip), just wanted to know if I lighties are welcome there and I can find somewhere to park.

Seems like the ideal place to land in Melb cause it has an ILS and is close to everything.

R:cool:

For access to the CBD, EN would have to be the best positioned airport in Australia. As long as you arrive outside the peak, you are less than 20 minutes from the heart of the CBD.

I flew into Essendon from Canberra yesterday via Albury and Eildon Weir. Put onto a right base for Rwy 35.

Melbourne city highrise out the left window makes that one of the most spectacular rt bases around (I haven't flown into NY).

Essendon seems like a top spot (if a little rundown). Tied down in front of the tower, refuelled, into a cab parked outside and in the city centre about 40 min after landing.

Dr:cool:

I can assure you that, from where I sit, there will be significant invesment at Essendon in the coming years!:ok:

.. and here's the masterplan. :ok:

http://www.essendonfields.com.au/index.aspx?id=208

They always look after me in my, errr... lighty!:ok:

Nice Bo' Doc. :ok:
Check your PMs.
CG

howdie champ,

myself and a bunch of mates did an interstate trip in a C210 flying into EN.

I rang the tower the day before to see if there was anything we needed to know and also indeed to find out if we were welcomed. The controller was very nice and at the end of the phone call said 'Welcome to Melbourne' :ok:

Upon arriving to EN it was very terrible weather, alot of heavy rain and associated cloud. We arrived in over the West Gate Bridge and he could see our landing light from miles away. "Alpha Bravo Charlie, just turn right slightly, that will set you up on downwind"...... A very helpful bunch.

Enjoy :ok:

I'm currently doing my PPL out of Essendon,and the ATC are a great bunch and extremley helpful be it on Taxi, departure or approach,there always there to offer wondeful assistance,luv your work. :ok: