calling all thermaleers, and those who hope to be one day, here's the info you need to stop yourself becoming roadkill on the highway in the sky.

1. When you're climbing out, controlled airspace starts at 8500' ASL everywhere in the lower Hunter. It's Class E airspace, so of course all those Boeing drivers will be looking keenly out the window. Did you feel a bump? No, I didn't either.

2. Williamtown Airport airspace is everywhere north of the Hunter River. The area from Stockton to Maitland (up the river), then north to Clarencetown, east to Limeburners Ck and then curving round to Anna Bay and back down to Stockton, is controlled down to the deck. Out of business hours, the tower isn't manned and this area stops being CTR (controlled airspace) and becomes an MBZ (Mandatory Broadcast Zone), meaning we can fly there if we are carrying a VHF airband radio, declare our presence as we enter the area and monitor the MBZ frequency all the time we're in there, responding to any calls from conflicting aircraft with suitably incomprehensible acronyms and bursts of guttural static. Except Williamtown takes RPTs (regular passenger transports), so we still have to keep away. Incidentally, the tower has quite good radars.

3. North of Williamtown CTR are a whole bunch of training areas for the RAAFies. You will occasionally see F-18s anywhere from the Barringtons to the sea and beyond. We can fly there but not when the areas are activated (by NOTAM - Notice to Airmen ie ring Willy tower, or by VHF radio call). More of a practical concern is the light aircraft lane through all these training areas. It follows the railway line all the way from Maitland to north of Gloucester where the training areas finish. You can see light aircraft here anytime, especially weekends, so if you're thermalling over the railway line, remember to smile at the passersby.

4. Everywhere else in the lower Valley, ie south of the Hunter River and west of Maitland, is fine for us all the way up to 8500'. There are a number of airports to watch out for - Belmont, Cessnock, Rutherford - but these are all CTAFs (Common Traffic Advisory Frequency airports) and we can fly there. Even so, you would be smart not to hang around the ends of the strips watching the pretty airplanes fly by - treat them like a blue hole - fly round or through them but don't hang around them. Having a runway pointed at you is very much like having a rifle pointed at you, except the fast metal goes both ways along the runway. There's a navaid (navigation aid) just south of Maitland which guides a fair bit of through traffic past too, so don't hang over the top of it watching the world go by. Light aircraft strips are at Cooranbong, Wallsend and south of Maitland.

Enjoy!

Dr D

hotcha guys,

while on the topic, I should mention Scone Airport. Although a CTAF, it takes RPTs and we have to keep our distance. It's the big sealed airstrip a few km northwest of Scone town. They have a good airshow there most years but that's as close as we're allowed to take our kites. Wittingham Airstrip is by the highway and railway line a few km south of Singleton - it used to take RPTs but since Yanda Air folded, mostly has parachutists.

Anyone wanting further detail on airspace in the lower Valley, see your HGFA ops manual and the Williamtown VTC (visual terminal chart, or airspace map) I brought to the last club meeting (end September) and which someone in the club will probably bring back to the next one. Pass it round, have a look. If any questions, ask during the meeting.

story for you: I ran into Ian Fife the other day, one of the original ski kiters - in the late 60's and early 70's they used a small flat kite like the one hanging up in the AirBorne ceiling to tow up behind waterski boats - the forerunner of the free-flying hang glider. He'd just towed up to 1000' or so and released the tow rope off Mungo Brush on the Myall lakes when suddenly the kite was bucking all over the sky, there was a great rushing and buffetting of air and then (immediately afterwards) a gynormous roar. He regained control and glided down to land as usual, where his mates told him what had just missed him at 400kts closing speed. Half an hour later, two RAAF choppers landed next to their boat and out hopped some blue-suiters with braid on their shoulders. In those days the Air Force didn't care about public relations and the blue-suiters were fairly blunt in their suggestions of where the skiers could take their kite and what they could do with it there (incidentally, this would have been anatomically difficult). They also suggested that the ski kiters learn something about airspace. Apparently the pilot of the Sabre was still shitting himself half an hour after the near miss. After that the skiers went back to towing off Lake Macquarie.

Al.