As part of my Commercial Pilot training, I decided to use a beautiful sunny and windless day to build some more command hours. I’d been flying to some familiar places recently, the Hunter Valley, Mudgee, places which I knew well and could almost get to without referring to a map (disclaimer: not that I ever would of course)! In light of this, my missus told me to “get out of my comfort zone” and “challenge myself” and “get out of the house“, so I decided to try a brand new airfield a bit further away.
I picked Moruya, down the South Coast close to Batemans Bay. The route I planned was Bankstown to Camden, over Wollongong (below) to Kiama where I was prepared to request a clearance from Nowra to transit the GA VFR lane.
However after calling Melbourne Centre to request the status Nowra was in fact deactivated so I was able to continue direct to Ulladulla at 4500′ and take in the beautiful Southern Coast from a bit higher up.
From there I continued down the coast over Huskisson, Jervis Bay, before reaching Batemans Bay which was my 10nm inbound reporting point for Moruya. It’s nice and easy to find Moruya airport on the coast so once identified I descended on the dead side to fly a left circuit for the nice long (and wide) runway 18.
Here’s a quick video of the trip, with a good example of me drifting left off the centreline just before touchdown. Something I will work on in the next flight.
Moruya is a lovely airport, and the terminal building has a Hertz car hire counter if you have time and wanted to explore the local area. It’s fairly busy though with a lot of parachuting activity, a rescue chopper base and Rex regional terminal, so keep that in mind as you approach the airfield. You may have to wait a short while whilst the canopies drop or keep an eye out for other, faster, aircraft.
It’s also right on the coast, so if you have time I’d suggest taking a packed lunch and a thermos of tea to enjoy down on the beach before flying home – that’s what I’ll be doing!
Aircraft hire was through Red Baron Sydney (http://www.redbaron.com.au), and as always please use this information purely for fun, and not in any way for education or instruction. If you’re planning a trip to Moruya (which I recommend to anyone), please chat to a qualified aviation professional first.