Flight Review Down Under

Moorabbin Airport, Melbourne (Photo: Andrew J. Cosgriff)

Francesco (left) gave me a hard time on my first Australian Flight Review in 11 years, challenging me on vintage navigation techniques. Last time I visited Melbourne, my base was Point Cook across the bay - and I remember the thrill of doing a touch-and-go at Moorabbin, the main airport for light GA traffic in the area, with no less than five runways.

This time Moorabbin Flying Services were my host, and the instructor sent me this task on e-mail to plan the night before:

"MB-EN-DCN-YLEG-WON-GMH-MB".

That is Moorabbin (MB), Essendon (EN) for a landing, then out via Doncaster Shopping Town (DSN), Leongatha (YLEG) for a landing, Wonthaggi (WON) as a way point, then back into Moorabbin (MB) via the approach point GMH.

To solve the puzzle I used the tools listed below, with some assistance from the Melbourne Visual Pilot Guide and AirNav Pro on my iPad.

We departed YMMB in beautiful summer weather and went directly to YLEG for two landings before a diversion and return to base. I celebrated my review with a burger at the beach and a visit to the RAAF Museum at Point Cook before heading to the northern hemisphere.

The basics you need to fly in Australia:

• SPECPL (Special Pilot License, intended to allow pilots holidaying in Australia to validate their overseas license and fly short term. Issued by CASA)
• AVID (Aviation Identification, show that the holder has a current security check, valid for up to 5 years. To fly solo from security controlled airports you need an ASIC issued by CASA)
• ERSA (The En-route Supplement Australia, a joint Military/Airservices publication that contains information vital for planning a flight and for the pilot in flight. It contains pictorial presentations of all licensed airports. The ERSA is updated four times a year)  
• Visual Terminal Chart (1:250.000)
• VNC (Visual Navigation Chart, 1:500.000)
• AUS PCA (Planning Chart Australia)