Launceston, generally a class D airport.
Mix of traffic - helicopters, light aircraft, jets.
Virgin and Jetstar both fly in here on a daily basis.
Probably one of our biggest issues is the weather.
The climate and the terrain -
they're the two things that I'd say
make a mix for, sometimes in aviation, not the best.
VFR operations into Launceston,
because of the nature of the control zone,
it sort of comes up to the city and the sea port at the top there.
So it's a good place to delineate between
being inside and outside controlled airspace.
If you're coming in from the north,
the normal points we see aircraft coming in are from Devonport,
down the highway, so West Gap and Trevallyn Dam,
again, sort of easy places to pick up navigating visually.
Tamar River - an easy way to navigate down.
Targa Gap - not as easy,
but again, it's a gap in the ranges,
so pretty easy to fly down through there.
Keep in mind that there are jet operations in and out.
Wake turbulence is something to take into account.
As I said, because the jet traffic is generally operating
in the same areas that we'd probably expect to see the VFR traffic come in
that's something to take into account.
And we might have to sometimes delay aircraft for the wake turbulence.
We have surveillance.
So, again, we have a screen up in the tower
which allows us to see the aircraft.
It's not a radar, but it is a form of surveillance,
so if you've got a transponder, turn that on and we can see you
and it helps us provide surveillance.
Melbourne Centre also get the same feed,
so if you're unsure of where you are, you need assistance...
Coverage is pretty good.
Melbourne would be able to spot most aircraft,
given some constraints of the topography, but otherwise...
It's always my advice - have your transponder and turn it on.
MAN: The most common way of arriving in Tasmania that I've noted
seems to be a trip down over Flinders Island.
A trip across Bass Strait, of course, is an over-water crossing
where the pilots should be familiar with the procedure outlined
in the En Route Supplement.
When pilots leave overhead Flinders Island and track to Launceston,
their track brings them direct over Waterhouse Island,
then to Scottsdale and then to the VFR reporting point called Targa Gap,
which is out to the north-east of Launceston Airport.
Targa Gap is a fairly easy VFR reporting point to spot
because it's between two mountains - Mount Barrow and Mount Arthur.
There's no town per se at Targa Gap,
so it's best identified via the farmland
and via the proximity of the two mountains,
one on the right and one on the left.
Targa Gap can have marginal VFR conditions
when the cloud base is below 2,500 feet
or even, without local knowledge, below 3,500 feet.
I would recommend to pilots coming in via Targa Gap
that they familiarise themselves with Scottsdale,
and if they can't see through the gap,
or the heads of both mountains are in the cloud,
they divert over to their right, parallelling the coast,
and come in via Lilydale, which is a VFR reporting point
that's a lot more open in areas of low cloud and easy to spot,
and a better way to come into Launceston if the cloud base is low.
Tamar River's another option.
Generally, if you can't get in via Lilydale,
conditions are fairly marginal
and you would then follow the coast along to George Town Airport.
The only two things to note coming that way
is the danger area at Stony Head,
which is a military range activated by NOTAM,
and George Town Airport, although marked as a small airport,
it has its own common traffic advisory frequency.
George Town is the home to
a lot of private aeroplane owners from Launceston.
There's quite a large hangar complex there
and a large number of aircraft based at George Town.
There's also a recreational aviation school at George Town
and George Town can be quite a busy little aerodrome.
Good little airport to stop in to as well -
it's a good sealed, all-weather runway
that would provide an alternate if the weather was really bad.
Once you've left George Town, which is a good alternate aerodrome,
and tracked down the Tamar River,
there's a couple of high radio masts at Kelso that should be avoided.
They're marked on the VTC as well as on the World Aeronautical Chart.
And they're quite a high, narrow, thin tower - quite difficult to see.
There is some lights on the top of them, it should be noted.
And then if you track down the Tamar River,
clearance into Launceston is fairly easy to get at 1,500
and it's possible to get into Launceston at 1,000 feet.
Coming down the Tamar River,
the first thing you'll see before Launceston Airport
is Tamar Island and then Launceston city.
Launceston city is actually at sea level,
whereas the airport is at 500 feet above sea level.
And if you can get to Launceston city at 1,000 feet,
you can generally get into Launceston quite safely
subject to an air traffic control clearance.
Tango November Mike is approaching Tamar Island.
George Town, Devonport, Port Sorell, there's a training area there.
Up and down the Tamar, there is quite a bit of activity,
and with a bit of altitude,
you'll have your RPT approaching and departing from that area.
North-east of the airstrip at Launceston
there's a place called Youngtown,
which is on the edge of the built-up area of Launceston,
where it sort of starts.
The Tasmanian Fire Service have two helipads there.
If you see the river come up and bend just before the CBD of Launceston,
they call it the Glebe - it's marked on the VTC.
And there's quite a bit of activity out there -
there's a helicopter operation that does a lot of joy-flights
and photography and things like that.
ROBERT SHARMAN: There is a lot of high mountains around,
and in marginal weather, a trip down to Hobart VFR
can be a little bit marginal.
You can take off with 1,500 feet of clearance,
but you won't get to Hobart at 1,500.
And there's several passes in the Midlands Highway.
It would be advisable to carefully study the weather
and have an alternate, or be prepared to come back to Launceston
in marginal VFR conditions.
Getting out to the north isn't nearly so bad
because straight after becoming airborne from Launceston,
you track out over Launceston city and again follow the Tamar River out
when all other VFR routes are out.
Going to Devonport, the direct track takes you out through West Gap,
which is quite high country,
and, again, that can be blocked by low cloud.
But going to Devonport by following the Tamar River up
then turning left at the mouth of the Tamar River
or somewhere just before the mouth of the Tamar River
is a relatively easy affair with a low cloud base,
once again, keeping in mind the tall radio towers at Kelso.
At Launceston, helicopters use
the same approach points as fixed-wing aircraft.
Request an airways clearance to track direct to Launceston.
At these approach points, you'd contact air traffic control.
Personally, I do it a little bit earlier because in a helicopter,
you're usually a lower priority
because we're a slower-moving aircraft
and you've got a lot of RPT going in and out.
ATC: Track direct to the field and report Launceston city.