Who can recognise this location?

[Peter Agatsiotis]

This will test most members

[Nigel C]

GA area Sydney just east of the Universal Aviation building along Ross Smith Ave?

[Peter Agatsiotis]

I did say 'most'! Spot on Nigel.

This was Dec 1979 and from memory Ross Smith Ave was a 'dead end' or could have been altered by this time.

No Long term car park, heliport and very few hangars.

There was a gate which anyone could just walk through and wander round.

Mostly grass with a sort of tarmac area.

Bizjets normally parked near the CASA/AirServices building or were hangared in the bizjet hangar still in use (can't remember the hangar no.)

[Noel White]

The GA area of Sydney (KSA) Airport prior to about 1990's.

Up to that time the GA area was not part of the restricted area (non ASIC) of the airport. It was classified as a prohibited area where a person with lawful authority could enter.

Lawful authority was a person such as a pilot or passenger etc., who had a need and could demonstrate a requirement to be on that part of the airport. The same applied to any other airport so classified.

The wire fence designated the boundary of the area and there was a small opening in the fence to allow access.

The other boundaries were the hangars and the open drain that ran along side of Lords Road pass the Ansett bus maintenance area.

When this fence was replaced with the full security fence, a self closing gate was installed with a pin operated lock. The pin combination was changed on the first Sunday of the month and number advised to those who required access.

It has been 12 years so not sure what has been happening since.

[Nigel C]

December 1979? A score of years before my time around this airport! The bend in the road (I presumed it would follow the fence around) was about all that looked familiar, as the powerlines are well and truly gone. The trees in that area have grown somewhat in the last 31 years too!

There's only one pedestrian turnstile in the GA area now, located next to the Air Ambo's, operated by an ASIC activated proxy sensor. It used to have a pin pad on it, and in the late 90's the code could be sought at Security Gate 4 (which is still at Vickers Ave and 6th St) upon producing a pilot's licence.

[Peter Agatsiotis]

Yes Noel I was 'incorect' to say anybody could wander round but I never had any trouble.

I remember that prior to this picture I flew on Advance Airlines KingAir 200 from the Flight Facilities terminal on a day trip to Toowoomba (just over 2 hours each way)

This image is from a slide dated Jan'80. I have just purchased a negative/slide scanner (inspired by Anthony T's thread) so going through all my negatives now and saving the photos.

Quality is not the best (the photos look okay) but that was more operator than the camera. So far have scanned about 30 sets of negs and still looking for the rest of my slide collection which is very small.

[Grahame Hutchison]

Peter, i had a similar shot to this one in my "A Different View Of Sydney" thread last year. That fence was all the security they had back then.

Go to http://yssyforum.net/board/showthread.php?t=3644&highlight=sydney+1980&page=11 and scroll down to the Navajo Panther.

[Peter Agatsiotis]

That's pretty close to where I was Grahame. Bit different now.

Do you recall the Pearl Air 707-430 9Q-CRT; I think that was the largest a/c to park in that area at the time (1977). Anyone have a photo/slide to share please?

[Peter Lea]

Peter,

This is the only record I have of 9Q-CRT at Sydney. I scanned this from an old photo recently.

Cheers
Peter Lea

[Peter Agatsiotis]

That's the one, beauty - thanks Peter. Can't remember why I didn't take a photo!

[Robert Zweck]

Back in 1972 I used to fly a C172 from Bankstown into Mascot and this is where we parked.

This was my standard joyride, we would then walk down to the Ansett or TAA terminal for a cuppa, do a bit of spotting and then go down to Wollongong and home via Camden.

Security wasn't really a problem, but I remember ATC starting to tighten up on airways clearances, etc and being told to fly a very tight circuit as there was a B727 or DC-9 about to land on the other runway.

I took lots of slides in that park, I should dig them out

Will never forget the day taxying out and suddenly finding an Ansett DC-9 taxying towards me at a great rate of knots....head on.......I avoided a collision and he was in the wrong. It was VH-CZH and I am not sure that he ever saw me.