Landing at Maralinga (YMRA)?
 

Continuing with the theme of remote SA strips, does anyone know if it's possible to land at the (very large and sealed) strip at Maralinga (YMRA) these days?

(Copy these co-ords into Google Earth to see what I mean.. S30.165 E131.625 )

The entire Maralinga range has supposedly been decontaminated, rehabilitated and 'given back' to the indigenous community (interesting Aus Geo article on it a few months back), however I'm not quite sure what the arrangement is for visiting the old Maralinga village, or landing on its strip.
Has anyone been there, landed there or flown over it recently?
Any info appreciated! IORRA

Ps. Continuing with the atomic test site theme, has anyone landed at Emu Junction (YEMJ) further north?

I think you may find it's in a prohibited area.

epirb, I thought it might have been tied up in the Woomera airspace too, but it doesn't seem to be (according to the ERC low chart and the DAH). It's definitely on Defence land, but I'm assuming it might be possible to get a permit to land there.. Seems a shame to waste such a large strip! :)

It is possible to land at Maralinga but I understand prior permission from the department of defence is required.

An occaisional reader of these forums knows the details - I'll see if I can get him to post the info.

UTR

I read an article in "Australian Geographic" a couple of weeks ago (benefit of trips to doctor) where they were talking of the area. I think I recall their was a caretaker at Maralinga. http://editorial.australiangeographi...spx?IssueID=45

Have a look @ this site
http://www.woomera.com.au/range/maralinga.htm

Maralinga is monitored by the Australian Federal Police on a continuous basis and you probably will not get a warm reception there unless you have pre arranged business there.

At least it was last time I had reason to go there.

Why would anyone monitor Maralinga on a continous basis? Nothing there anyway! Nothing secret about atom bombs either. Any schoolkid knows how they work.

What a crock.

The important question is, why would you want to go there anyway? Just so you can say you did? Plenty of nicer places to visit.

Z.:ok:

Permission required,

Flew in and out of there for a week last Nov.

Interesting place worth a visit.

M

Did you get to meet George?

PS this 120 second crap between posts is bull****.

Maralinga lies within the Maralinga Prohibited Are, not the Woomera Prohibited Area. As youngmic states, permission is required to land there, however, permission is not required to land at Emu. Maralinga is controlled by the Department of Industry and Science. If you want the contact number for permission to land there, PM me.

Wondering if anyone has been out there recently and has any operational tips for someone flying a C172 not equipped with HF?

I understand it is no longer a prohibited area provided you have permission (which can be organised by the guy who does the bus tour out there).

Has anyone flown in there and done one of these tours?

Was wondering what methods you would use for cancelling your SARTIME upon arrival (without mobile coverage/HF radio) and nominating a new SARTIME for your departure later in the day.

Are such remote locations not really feasible without HF?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Rent a sat phone for the trip.

PM me for the phone number of Robin, the caretaker: I visited there a few years ago, got a very warm reception. I drove there. They have just fitted a very nice, I was told, lighting system for the runway. This required a fed govt grant of some millions. Strip is regularly used by RFDS, which was the justification for the lights. I don't think it's listed in ERSA. From memory it's a nice long, ca. 2500m strip, concrete, running north-south. it's in excellent condition. No the AFP don't monitor it, except that the caretaker might call someone if a plane landed there unexpectedly. He also said that it used to be an alternative strip for the Space Shuttle and that just before every launch he got a call from NASA to check that it was OK. I asked him if I could land the jab there and he said it would be fine, I'd be very welcome. I think I could land the jab there just in the parking area. I highly recommend a visit there. The history is fascinating. Ground Zero for Taranaki is one of the most forbidding, eerie places I've been. The sites they getting ready for bombs when the program was stopped are also interesting. I have other advice I'd prefer to pass on in a PM.

further to my reply above, yes, it's a prohibited area but it's easy to get permission. Just call Robin and he'll advise. I haven't been to Emu and apparently the road between the two, (Connie Sue Highway?) is the most corrugated in Australia, so don't drive unless Robin confirms that he's graded it, which he planned to do, but it's a big job.

I know the strip at Maralinga is in good condition because I walked over a lot of it and drive my car at high speed (rather not say how fast) on it.

The 4WD enthusiasts site, "ExplorOz" provides a plethora of information and photos with regard to the region.
The ExplorOz Google result that is entitled "Maralinga Range Tour", provides reams of contact information under the "Preparation" heading.

Google search - ExplorOz Maralinga Airstrip

Maralinga is a strip where permission to land must be obtained prior to landing. Landing without permission will mean that your insurance will more than likely be invalid, and you can be charged with trespass.

Dont be a knob and phone while enroute to request permission to land - do some pre flight planning and request in advance (they prefer six weeks notice). Nearest Avgas - YFRT, YNUB, YCDU.

Also be aware that Maralinga is only open for tourists between 1 April and 31 October. At this stage, all meals and accommodation are BYO (and this is dry country, so no alcohol). There may be some Dongas or a bunkhouse to rent in 2017, but you will find out when you make contact for landing permission.

Google Maralinga Tours, that will give you all the phone numbers you need.

How typically Australian, let's chuck up some fear.

How typically Australian. Hey we got an airport but ya can't use it without jumping through hoops. Even when you do there will be "terms and conditions". FFS what is this joint? It's nothing more than a derelict piece of Australian history and there is no good reason why itinerant aircraft should not be able to visit.

Aussie Bob - not 'chucking up some fear' but just some timely advice. I have it on very good authority that Maralinga are sick of people dropping in without permission or prior notice, and are strongly advising that they will be considering charges of trespass for those who turn up without permission.


I would like notice if a stranger wanted to pull up their car in my backyard and expected a cuppa tea and a feed - to me, it's the same, same...

I've flown into Maralinga. Its a typical "wartime" cookie cutter airstrip. Its about 2km long and 30m wide (single strip). Its very good condition asphalt, but its not rated, so the Government could never land heavy (ie King Air or business jets) there.

The runway is used for water collection for drinking water for the "township". Its completely bunded and runoff goes to a series of settling ponds. Therefore they are sensitive about what happens on the runway.

When I flew in, it was still managed by the department of science. The last caretakers were Leon & Diane Ashton, who occasionally now fill in at William Creek. I needed permission from the Area Administrator of Woomera plus the Dept of Science. Maralinga is "landlocked" in Maralinga Tjarutja tribe land. It is not possible to drive there without permission from the tribe. The main road maintenance was by the mailman who dragged an arrangement of old tyres each fortnightly trip to try and keep the road surface smooth. The road conditiona are variable.

Since then it has been handed back to the Maralinga Tjarutja tribe. Part of the contract is that they make the site available to tourists. However, they took many years to do this and for many years Maralinga was vacant with no caretaker. I believe it now has a caretaker again and is accessible.

Most of the buildings have been sold in successive "clean ups" over the years. There are only a couple of the original (heritage listed) prefab corrugated aluminium buildings that were shipped from England to establish the village. When we were there the caretakers stayed in what was the hospital. We stayed in "modern" mining camp style dongas.

Nearly all of Maralinga has a lower background radiation level than Adelaide. There is a small area that is not recommended for long term exposure. Maralinga overall is extraordinarily beautiful. Nothing like you would expect. Plains of long grass, groves of Quandong trees and lots of wildflowers. It has one of the only roads that Len Beadell make that was not straight. There is a kink in the road where it goes around Tietkins well. If you don't know about Tietkins - google him. If he had dug wells about 50km North, he would have struck the Great Artesian Basin and changed the history of inland Australia.

Do not expect ANY services at Maralinga. Power is diesel generated. Water is collected from the runway, put through settling ponds then stored in prefab aluminium paneled water towers with rubber bladders (which gives the water a rubber tainted flavour). There is no phone coverage, no local vehicles, nothing. And any accommodation & catering facilities will be at the grace of the Maralinga Tjajuta tribe.

The Maralinga Tjajuta tribe office in in Ceduna. I used to deal with them regularly. Sometimes they were good to deal with, prompt & helpful and other times a complete nightmare. Goodluck.

Since when is a King Air too heavy for anything? They get into dirt and grass strips which are not rated. Not sure why anything sealed could be an issue for a King Air?

No one who has been there would make such a bogan, ignorant statement.

Maralinga is not a certified, public airport. The runway is in excellent condition, but its a private airstip on somebody else's property. Landing there is the same as landing at a station strip. You just wouldn't do it without ringing first.

At its height, Malalinga was home to about 1500 people, including many of the worlds best scientists For six years straight, the UK spend 1/3 of its entire defence budget in the Woomera / Maralinga facilities.

The buildings have great history and great technical interest and the 2 remaining prefab corrugated aluminium buildings are heritage listed. Plus there are the roads made by Len Beadell and the wonderful rich history of Tietkins expedition. When I was there would could still see the corral & bed that Tietkins made and his wells are in nearly perfect condition.

There are concrete obelisks at the sites of each of the atomic explosions and you can still see some of the infrastructure in the ground. Plus two additional sites that there ready for tests but were never used.

Atomic testing no longer is seen as relevant. But its a reminder of an age when Australia still had world leading technical skills and was trying to discover new technologies.

Properly constructed atomic bombs consume the radioactive material and don't leave significant contamination. Ever been to Hiroshima? Its now a beautiful dynamic city where really nice, polite, healthy people live.

Maralinga's major problem was that toward the end of its life, some clown in the UK defense department wanted to know what would happen if they blew up a store of radioactive material with TNT. That combined with the UK's exit without cleaning up is what caused the trouble.

The first two atomic bombs in Australia were not set off in Maralinga. They were exploded at "EMU" about 250km west of Coober Pedy. You never hear about any contamination there. I've been there many times. There are obelisks to mark "Totem 1 " & "Totem 2", but no radioactive warning signs. Its nopt the bomb detonations that made Maralinga unsafe and like most government issues fueled by interest groups that reacted based on imagery without first hand knowledge, it all got overblown.

You missed the government reference. Any aircraft that is supposed to have a rated runway can only land there at the pilots sole discretion and responsibility. It a bit like you deciding to land in a paddock. Anything goes wrong and all roads lead only to you. Find a government pilot that will take that responsibility with a politician on board.

One of the frustrations that the Dept of science had (before the handback to the Maralinga Tjatjuta tribe) contended with is that politicians never went there. They didn't go there because they couldn't land a jet there. The runway hasn't had strength rating tests done in decades. I was at Woomera one day when a Hercules went through the pavement of one of its outlying airports that was closed about 15 years prior. Maralinga has not been an active airport for a lot longer, although better maintained.

Maybe if the politicians who decided on its future had actually ever gone, we might have had a better outcome.

Nobbsy, Leon & Di, Robin...They've always been friendly at Maralinga. Ring 08 8670 4089 and get permission to land. Be nice back and ask if he'd like anything brought out to him (fresh milk, the paper, bog roll, whatever). The strip is as mentioned previously, plenty long enough and good condition just look out for camels! If approaching from Coober Pedy way, you can still get mobile reception until past abeam Challenger gold mine. Give old mate an updated eta and he'll hunt the camels off for you. It's an interesting place to visit, enjoy!

I've driven on the airstrip at EMU many times. Its gravel that is in extremely good condition. I know a guy who has landed on it. I wanted to, but never got to it.

EMU is inside the Woomera Prohibited Area and requires permission. The airforce put in local radar a few years ago and you will be identified.

Up until about 2011 Woomera was run by the Dept of Defence. Then it changed and is now run by the Airforce. The Dept of Defence was amenable to non-defence activities occurring in the prohibited area. The Airforce is not. Woomera is nor run by a committee instead of a sole Area Administrator. I wouldn't even bother about asking about landing there. The risk assessments & insurance required will kill you.

You can drive to EMU. Its a very rough road 250km west of Cober Pedy. In a car you care about, I'd consider it as a 2 day round trip from Coober Pedy. We used to do it in 1 day, but we have a perfect record of breaking something each trip. EMU is within Maralinga Tjartjuta tribe land. You need permission to drive there as well as permission from the AirForce to drive within the Prohibited Area. Its a moderately common 4WD touring route.

Nobbsy retired before I was going to Maralinga. Leon & Diane now live in Quorn. I last saw them at William Creek where they help out occasionally. I believe there is a new Maralinga Tjarjuta tribe appointed caretaker now.

Nothing ignorant or bogan about it Akro. It is a derelict atomic test facility and a part of Australia's history. Are you suggesting it is still in use? I am well aware of the beauty of the Australian desert. That is beside the point. I am also aware it is aboriginal land.

But it is fine to drive a car there? How very Australian. It is a shame that all these airstrips across Australia are "out of bounds". Yep public liability and all that. Awesome.

It's a R-3, not Prohibited. Pine Gap is the only P area in Australia.

Not anymore, and hasn't been for a couple of years. It's only Restricted Airspace.

Two different meanings of Prohibited.

Woomera is a declared prohibited area by act of Parliament. Its a specific term relating to the land area rather than the aviation term. There are a number of "Prohibited Areas" around the world. Woomera is the largest in the world. In fact it is larger than all the prohibited areas in the USA added together. It has significant international demand for this reason.

The Airforce via is control over the WPA (Woomera Prohibited Area) controls the restricted airspace. Soon after we handed back our facility there, the airforce installed ground based radar with the intention of monitoring airspace incursion. Don't do it.

I'm really enjoying the content of your posts, OA. Just working up a plan from Coober Pedy to Emu Junction and Maralinga...

This is the legislation to which you refer: Woomera Prohibited Area Rule 2014: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2014C01246

Creampuff.

This act is new since we were there. In my era it was something like a 1932 defence act.

I used to be able to call the ARO at home the night before and get landing permission. But all that has changed. I'm not sure it would be possible at all now. I have even heard that Airforce is discouraging non airforce related people staying at the Eldo hotel.

Its a real pity because not only is the area interesting, but there used to be significant commercial (ie revenue generating) activity there that the airforce has stopped. Even the QLD university space programme has stopped going there.

If you want to go somewhere welcoming outback, I'd try Mt Ive Station (Joy & Len Newton) or good old uncle Trev at William Creek. He's done wonders with the place.

That 2014 Rule is just the latest version of a very long line of subordinate legislation, made under the Defence Act 1903, prescribing and dealing with access to the Woomera Prohibited Area.

I'm quite ashamed that I didn't know that the first two mainland tests weren't at Maralinga. And I just assumed that the contamination problem was caused by the detonations rather than someone's 'good idea at the time'. (I can, in a way, understand why it might have been perceived as a 'good idea' to 'blow up' the nuclear materials store: There would not have been much data available to Australia and England about the effects of extraneous explosions on stored nuclear materials.)

A related bit of Australian history is that it's first 'spy agency' was formed as a consequence of the Americans spying on Australia to try to find out whether the Russians were spying on the nuclear tests without Australia and England knowing.

Another fascinating bit of Australia's contribution to matters nuclear and nuclear weapons is to be found (as you would no doubt well know, OA) at Arkaroola.

I've heard very good things about Mr Wright and Trevor Town. :ok:

OldAkro - may I correct you on a couple of minor points?

At the time of the Govertnment handback to the Maralinga Tjarutja people (about 4 years ago? Maybe 5) there were approximately 14 aircraft at the airstrip, of varying sizes and types. 90 per cent of them were funded by the Gubmint. Not quite sure how this fits in with the theory that the Gubmint wouldn't / couldn't land an aircraft there. I saw everything from Lears to Citation to a piston single.

Nobbsy is alive and well and still working at Maralinga, now as a tour guide. When I spoke to him last Wednesday, he had every intention of being at Maralinga in 2017, and looking forward to welcoming all visitors.

Aussie Bob - amongst my many and varied acquaintances, I am privileged to know an insurance lawyer. Her advice to me was - if you put in a claim to an insurance company, they will look for any out. Land at a strip that requires permission to land and you can't prove you have permission before the incident occurred that you are contacting your insurers about? Good luck, my friend. Good luck.

I have been advised by someone close to the source that Maralinga are getting pretty bloody sick of ignorant pilots dropping in without getting permission beforehand, and have had a chat with the boys in khaki to see how they can lay charges for trespass on any aircraft that turns up without prior permission.

To me, this is like a stranger turning up on my back lawn, setting up camp, and expecting me to provide tea and bikkies....

when did it become so hard to do the right thing? When did the belief come in that a pilots licence meant you could do what you want, when you want, and not show any courtesy? I reckon my grumpy old instructor called it 'airmanship'.

Being picky I know, but the first nuclear weapon test in Australia would be Montebello islands, would it not?

Correct, porch monkey.
I understand that the fallout from those tests contaminated areas of mainland Oz as far away as Rockhampton.
That could go some way toward explaining the peculiarities of some residents of that particular city. :E

Can't explain it. But I was a bystander to some agry bargy between the Airforce and the Dept of Science. The Airforce either had the runway ratings and wouldn't release them, or were the appropriate authority to conduct them and wouldn't. Can't recall. The Dept of Science at the time was looking for a lever to force the Airforce to be forthcoming. Maybe they did. I know the public service had extreme frustration in the year or so leading up to handback that they were unable to get the minister there because of the runway rating issue preventing him landing in whatever aircraft was available.

We were pursuing a project at the time that would have used the runway for a non aviation use pretty much full time for couple of years and had a handful of people based there. It fell over and was conducted in the US instead, partly due to the uncertainty surrounding the handback and the complexity of dealing with the 3 bodies concerned.

The upside is that we got to spend time with Leon & Diane and see the area, which is the antithesis of what I had imagined and breathtakingly beautiful. And Diane makes the best Quandong jam I've ever tried. I've spent a lot of time trying to find something half as good.

I can provide some more info on Defence Policy on use of airfields. It is true that a military aircraft will not land on any airfield unless it has been certified or if not, has been surveyed by a qualified person, as determined by Defence Airfield Engineers. For the majority of airfields, they are certified, however, somewhere like Maralinga is obviously not. Should a Defence Airfield Engineer go out to the field, conduct a survey and determine that it is indeed suitable for an aircraft like an Air Force King Air, then it will be approved for use. As this process is not made public, it is why for a long time, you would have not seen an Air Force King Air land there and then suddenly you do. As for release of this information, its not my bag....I will say however that we do not have many Airfield Engineers and they work on a priority basis. Maybe an explanation.