15 November 2014: Flight in VH-ICE Cirrus SR22 GTS Gen 5, Jandakot-Geraldton-Dongara-Jandakot

COPYRIGHT NOTICE: All photographs, text and videos displayed on this website are copyright protected and may not be used, sold, copied or reproduced without express written permission of the photographer. If you wish to obtain or use a photo, please email AviationWA@gmail.com. 

Copyright 2014 – David Eyre

Oncologist Dr Andrew Dean owns a 2014 model Cirrus SR 22 GTS Generation 5, VH-ICE, which he uses on his clinic runs to regional towns throughout Western Australia. Dr Dean invited me along for a flight in his Cirrus to Geraldton, Dongara and back to Jandakot.

The SR22 uses a Garmin G1000 glass cockpit, which includes an on-screen checklist, moving map display, terrain display and other features. The aircraft also has Bluetooth, enabling those aboard to listen to music from their phones on the noise-cancelling headsets or make mobile phone calls.

After starting the engine, we taxied out to runway 06L, and took off at 9:02am.

After takeoff, we turned left and headed west towards Fremantle, maintaining an altitude of 2,500 feet. We turned north and flew over over Mosman Park before heading east.

On our way towards Kings Park and the Perth city centre, we passed south of the large grassed park (near HBF Stadium) – from 1929 to 1933, this was formerly West Subiaco Aerodrome.

Reaching the city, we completed two left-hand orbits for some aerial photography, although there was a fair amount of turbulence, which made it difficult to hold the camera steady!

We had an excellent view of the city and the construction of a river inlet for Elizabeth Quay. In front of the city was Langley Park, and the western end of this (between Victoria Avenue and Hill Street) was the site of Perth’s first airport, from late 1919 to January 1924.

We headed west to the coast and turned north at City Beach, with a view of Rottnest Island in the distance. With the beautiful clear turquoise and blue waters of the Indian Ocean on our left and the sprawling northern suburbs of Perth on our right, we continued north along the coast. We passed over the coastal towns of Yanchep, Two Rocks, Guilderton, Seabird, Ledge Point, Lancelin, and Wedge Island. Due to the turbulence at lower level, we climbed to 4,500 feet.

We made a slight detour inland to overfly the yellow sands and unusual limestone formations at The Pinnacles, although from that height they looked like small dots on the sand.

After heading northwest over the coast just north of Cervantes, we turned north again. Nearing Jurien Bay, we were alerted to some skydiving operations in progress, but couldn’t see anything, so we deviated our course further off the coast to give them a wide berth.

Admiring the white sandy beaches and the crystal clear turquoise waters, we passed Green Head, Leeman, Port Denison and Dongara and began our descent to Geraldton. The Garmin G1000 alerts you to the Top of Descent point and illustrates it on the screen. The turbulence was quite strong as we descended, and we landed on Geraldton’s runway 03 at 10:25am, 1 hour 23 minutes since we left Jandakot – it would have been quicker if we hadn’t taken the scenic detours, but they were worth it.

Andrew had arranged to take a couple of friends up for a quick flight over Geraldton, so I went landside and wandered along the fence near the hangars on a relatively fruitless search for aircraft to photograph. RFDS PC-12 VH-OWB and Network Aviation Fokker 100 VH-NHM arrived  whilst we were there. There were only three aircraft parked on the tarmac – VH-TDZ Cessna 150M, VH-TYM Cessna 210M Centurion II, and VH-AFY Piper PA-31-325 Navajo C/R of Shine Air. There were a few other Shine Air aircraft in a hangar.

From 1941 to 1945, Geraldton was the base for the Avro Anson aircraft (also known as ‘Aggies’) of No. 4 Service Flying Training School, RAAF, and some 5,000 service personnel were trained there. In the new terminal, there were some Anson components displayed, and outside there is also a large sundial memorial, which is a full-scale reproduction of the starboard wing of an Avro Anson. There is also a World War One vintage Le Rhone rotary engine of unknown origin on display. The old Brearley Terminal was undergoing some kind of construction work.

Andrew returned in the Cirrus. He fired up the engine and we took off  at 11:58am, heading south to coastal fishing town of Dongara.

The approach to landing on Dongara Airfield’s runway 18 took us over the town at low-level. The town was unusually busy, with a fete underway for the annual Blessing of the Fleet celebrations.  We landed at 12:07pm, nine minutes after departing Geraldton. Just after shutting down, we saw a long contrail at high altitude – this was 9V-SQI Boeing 777-212ER of Singapore Airlines, operating flight SQ213 from Singapore to Perth, at an altitude of 39,000 feet.

After lunch, we boarded VH-ICE again and took off from Dongara’s runway 18 at 2:20pm, climbing to 9,500 feet. We monitored blood oxygen levels and pulse rate using a special finger-clip gadget. Andrew had flight planned to track direct over RAAF Base Pearce, and then turn right to head south west to Observation City at Scarborough on the coast, before heading south to Kwinana and Jandakot. However, just before reaching RAAF Base Gingin, we were instructed by Air Traffic Control to instead take a coastal route to Jandakot. We reached the coast just south of Two Rocks at 3:07pm and turned south along the coast, flying west of Yanchep, Mindarie Keys, Hillarys Boat Harbour, Fremantle Port and then headed inland from the Kwinana Power Station towards Jandakot.

We landed on Jandakot Airport’s runway 24R at 3:27pm, after a flight time of 1 hour 17 minutes from Dongara.

The author would like to thank Dr Andrew Dean for a fantastic flight.