Albany

The trip down to Albany, which is located approx. 400 km south of Perth, is perhaps the best navigation flight that we can do here. Besides being the furthest point from our base that we can go to, the one thing different about this visit is that we have to do a stopover at the Albany aerodrome to refuel. And if you arrange your flight to depart with some of my fellow coursemates, it becomes a road trip,being able to talk cock and take pictures in the arrival terminal while we rest.

Albany Aerodrome

Albany Terminal

Typically the trip there takes about 2 hours, saving at least 4-5 hours from a road trip. There's not much to see along the route there, except for the Stirling Ranges, a range of mountains and hills stretching 60km wide west to east, with the highest peak being Bluff Knoll (i'm not bluffing you) at 1095m above mean sea level.

Closer to the city of Albany, towards the coastal side, there is the Western Power Wind Farm, where err, wind is farmed, and is the largest and newest such facility in Australia. Great southerly winds, drive the 12 turbines and generate about 3/4 of the city's electrical usage.

Of course, since Albany is at the most southern tip of Western Australia, facing the Southern Ocean, the coastal part of Albany has quite a view. But i'm informed that there are alot more places to see while on the ground at Albany, such as The Gap, the Two People's Bay and etc.

cant really see much of the city from here

We (Me, "Kilo Hotel" and "Sierra Hotel"), were the second group from our company visiting Albany that day. The previous group had left 1/2 hour before us. After refuelling our aircraft, of course thanks to the kind old man from BP Aviation, we parked our aircrafts in this open space near the terminal, locked up our aircrafts and began our photo-taking session. Landings and takeoffs in Albany were not coordinated by any Air Traffic Controllers, which made it all the more fun.

our formation

"Sierra Hotel" taking off while i was at the holding point