Sydney Scenic Flight on Clear Winters Night

Once upon a time the holder of a Private Pilot Licence (PPL) was allowed to fly during the day a Cessna 172 or equivalent down the Parramatta River and overfly the world renowned Sydney harbour Bridge.   These days it appears only Helicopters and Seaplanes get to do this as they are allowed to fly R405A/B which has a class Charlie lower limit of 500 feet.   The landing or departure paths of the jets flying into or from Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (YSSY) means the chance of getting a clearance to fly the “over the bridge” track is virtually zero.

Sydney airspace does have the published Harbour Scenic procedures.  Here,  after receiving an ATC clearance you are allowed at 1,500 feet to make a couple of orbits east of the Harbour Bridge but to remain north of the CBD.  Once or twice per year I get a chance to do this, and while the views are spectacular, it is getting a bit ho hum!

In due course I discovered that things can be a lot more flexible at night – especially after 11pm which is the curfew for the passenger jets.   The first port of call in planning for this flight is to ring ATC.  They were very helpful in advising what to do – so amicable was the chat I could not resist mentioning “I have heard that a touch and go may be possible etc.”. ATC pleasantly advised this was not possible.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

The next step is to choose a date.  Best visibility conditions are a cloudless night along with light westerly winds which are reasonably normal conditions for a Sydney night during winter .  A full moon also adds to the experience.  The date was set.  The aircraft for the flight was a 180HP Cessna 172 M model, VH-JZJ which should provide great views due to its high wing.  I had lined up a trio of friends, which included a Qantas Freight B767 Captain, who was going to right seat me.  The main pre-flight preparation task was to lodge a flight plan: Bankstown-Parramatta-Ryde Bridge-Harbour Bridge-Rose Bay-Manly-Chatswood- Harbour Bridge-Rose Bay-Manly-Chatswood-Harbour Bridge-Kingsford Smith-Bankstown at 2,500 feet to meet LSALT requirements.  ATC also requested that I phone them before engine start.

Just after 11pm, we were taxiing for a Bankstown 29C take-off.  At that time of night Bankstown is on CTAF procedures, however you can still communicate with ATC and receive an appropriate clearance on the ground.   After take-off Mark my right seater asked if I would like him to handle the radio.  So throughout the flight I had a chance to listen to the radio exchanges between a couple of professionals.  This involved a few tweaks to the filed flight plan.  One tweak, was to track direct from Bankstown to the Harbour Bridge.  As an unplanned diversion this presented little difficulty as the bridge could be seen “plain as night”. 

The two Harbour Bridge-Rose Bay-Manly-Chatswood circuits were flown as per plan.  I might add the sights were spectacular as demonstrated by the photos.  The outline of Rose Bay was clearly visible, courtesy of the moon.  Manly Wharf with its bright lights was easily spotted.  Likewise the Chatswood CBD, along with a couple of en-route TV towers.  Any concerns about navigating in the dark under ATC control quickly evaporated.

The experience of my right seater came to the fore for the flight to Sydney International and back to Bankstown.  We were advised that there would be a delay due to an aero medical King Air landing on runway 34L.  Yes we were happy to wait, and yes, we were more than happy to orbit over the CBD effectively using Centerpoint Tower as the reference point while waiting for onwards clearance.  I am reasonably confident over the radio, but having the experience of Mark sorting this out, made what was already a flight to remember that much more enjoyable. 

Eventually, we were cleared to Kingsford Smith, and told to turn right for Bankstown before the very obvious international terminal.  I remember looking down  at the lights of runway 07/25 with 16R/34L also clearly visible at 2,500 feet, thinking if I experienced the dreaded single engine failure at night scenario I had quite a few emergency landing options.  After all this, it was back to Bankstown, for an adrenaline assisted routine landing - cancel SARWATCH, tie down the aircraft and getting back home sometime near 2am feeling thoroughly tired but exhilerated.

I am looking forward to doing this again!