Welcome to the first Australian event specifically designed for helicopter flight.  Take your favourite rotary wing aircraft from Victoria's RAAF Base East Sale (YMES), or from the nearby Bairnsdale Airport, and fly resupply transit flights to the oil rigs located in the Bass Strait East CTAF area.  Recover to the airfield or spend the night ranged on one of the permanent rigs.

As a special welcome to the Victorian region, this event will incorporate a helicopter race from RAAF Base East Sale to Essendon Airport, a 115nm journey.

Event Purpose

This event is designed specifically for helicopter flight, both civilian and military.  The Event Director is the Australian Events Coordinator, Darren Smith.

Event Profile

Pilots will be required to register for this event using the IVAO Slot System.  Registrations must be made no later than 2230Z 15 April 2004.

The pilot profile to be flown is as follows:

• Begin on the ground at YMES or YBNS
• Pilots will be allocated a list of three rigs to visit.  Pilots must land on that rig and remain there for five minutes to simulate the unloading of a passenger.  Once the three rigs have been visited, pilots will return to YMES obtaining the correct approvals for transit into military airspace.
• Once all aircraft have returned to YMES, the approach controller will vector all aircraft to holding points at positions 20nm north and south of YMES, where aircraft must hold before the race to Essendon.
• Once all aircraft are correctly in their holding patterns, the race to YMEN will begin.

Melbourne Centre (YMML_CTR) will be active and Flightwatch requirements as dictated in the En Route Supplement Australia (ERSA) are to be adhered to.  Melbourne Centre will be available for SARWATCH, as East Sale Military Control will not be required to monitor civilian SARWATCH.

Pilots taking part in this event are expected to be familiar with CTAF procedures and be comfortable with flying helicopters in both VMC and IMC.

NOTAMs for participating aerodromes will be published here.

ATC

Controllers are required to download the aerodrome charts and ERSA segment for the aerodrome they are controlling.  Links to ERSA and DAP are listed below.  Airservices Australia do not provide free downloads of their enroute charts at this point in time so controllers and pilots will not be required to hold these charts.

The following aerodromes must be manned for the success of this event. 

Notes on Australian FIR organisation

• No ATS is provided at Bairnsdale.
• CTAF Comms are required while in the Bass Strait East CTAF, and will be monitored by the Event Director.  Participants not conducting the correct CTAF communications will be directed to leave the event by the Event Director.
• YMES is a military airfield, and accordingly, prior permission is required to enter the airspace, or to conduct an instrument approach at YMES.  Civilian aircraft require clearance to transit the East Sale Control Zone to YBNS.
• Melbourne Flightwatch fills the duties of an IVAO Flight Service Station controller.

Controllers may open other positions not listed here once these positions have been filled.

Controllers wishing to nominate for positions listed above must email the AU-EC by 2230Z on 14 April 04 with the following details to enable entry into the slot system:

• Position nominating for
• IVAO CID
• Current Rank
• Current Controller Hours
• Last Event Controlled, Position, Duration
• Home Control Position (where you control most often)
• Controller software being used (PC or IvAc)

Controllers will be expected to be proficient in English and have a familiarity with the new Australian Airspace system.  A knowledge of CTAF operations will be an advantage.  An email containing the appropriate sector file will be sent to the controller upon verification.

Downloads

Pilots are encouraged to download the real world departure and approach plates (DAPs) and en route information (ERSA) for aerodromes they wish to visit.  The links to these are shown below.

Suggested scenery for the event is as follows: (Pilots may use MSFS defaults or enhanced sceneries)

• Australian Mesh (36 MB file from Virtual VFR Flying Club, go to this page for smaller files)
• Australian LandClass (From Virtual VFR Flying Club)
• RAAF East Sale Enhanced Scenery (1.7 MB from Virtual VFR Flying Club)
• Melbourne and Surrounds Enhanced Scenery (2.4 MB file from Virtual VFR Flying Club)
• Bass Strait Oil Rigs (from FSFreeware.com)
• Bass Strait Oil Rigs Fix (required, from FSFreeware.com)

En route planning

Pilots are requested, where possible, to flight plan using the Preferred Routes as shown in the ERSA.  Preferred routes can be downloaded here.  Flight plans must include the following for this event:

• Route: ES {VC BSE CTAF} ES EN, or BNS {VC BSE CTAF} ES EN
• RMK/AUE02

Participation by military aircraft and controllers

Military rotary aircraft may be used during this event.  Military fixed wing aircraft will be required to maintain 30nm separation from the event area at all times.

Useful Links

Queries

Queries can be directed to the Australian Events Coordinator.