The Flight Crew Observer Program includes an approximate thirty-minute flight. It is designed for those who primarily wish to experience the sensations of military jet flight, without necessarily exploring the associated flight crew aspects.
Your time in the aircraft will be approximately thirty-five to forty minutes, including flight time of about twenty-five minutes. Times can vary slightly, according to weather and air traffic conditions. Our flight route may also vary for the same reasons.
Following safety training and flight briefing, you will be installed in the aircraft by your ground crew and pilot. Normal and emergency features of the cockpit shown to you during training will be reviewed, with attention paid to ingress and egress procedures.
Workload permitting, your pilot will keep you informed during engine start, taxi, and take-off procedures. We will climb initially to either two or three thousand feet, departing to the South via the city environs, en route to the lower reaches of Port Phillip Bay.
THE REGULAR COST OF THE OBSERVER FLIGHT IS $3,750.
During this cruise phase, you’ll be shown turns, climbs and descents, in a progressive manner, commencing gently, up to your levels of comfort.
In the manoeuvring phase, we’ll commence with a demonstration of varying ‘G’ forces, in a progressive manner, via medium and steep turns.
The recovery and landing phase back at Essendon will be completed using standard civilian procedures.
During the cruise phase, we will show you normal turns, climbs and descents. The immersive nature of the goldfish-bowl like environment that is uniquely ours will become apparent as we manoeuvre around any clouds present, and perhaps see some familiar places from our vantage point.
We will commence the manoeuvring phase with a progressive demonstration of varying ‘G’ forces via medium and steep turns. If you are comfortable, we will proceed to demonstrate some basic flight manoeuvres, commencing with gentle wingovers, which can if desired lead to a looping and rolling sequence as discussed during your briefing.
We can sometimes also demonstrate the standard military pitch and break procedure. This is used to land multiple aircraft safely and quickly if tactically required. It consists of a low-level flyover at high speed, followed by a steep turn over the landing strip into a landing circuit pattern. We will then configure the aircraft for landing and resume normal flight just before the landing point is reached.
The recovery and landing phase back at Essendon will be completed using standard civilian procedures. On arrival, a de-brief shall be conducted, and you will be presented with your Flight Crew patch and other items.
Your friends and relatives are welcome to be involved in your visit. There is a comfortable lounge for them to wait in whilst you are carrying out your pre-flight procedures and flying. They can also observe your departure and arrival from our hangar, under the care and supervision of our ground crew.
We request that children be closely controlled, and your safety training not be distracted in any manner.
We have fitted the aircraft with an advanced video system, and your flight can be recorded in HD. It will be complete with ATC and intercom soundtrack, and interior and exterior views, including you experiencing the various phases of the mission. Post-flight, the data is professionally edited into a 15-20-minute broadcast quality segment. It will be available to you for download within a few days of your flight.
The cost of $295 is additional to the Flight Crew Observer Flight and included in the Flight Crew Candidate Flight.
The Flight Crew Observer Program includes an approximate thirty-minute flight; this is designed for those who primarily wish to experience the sensations of military jet flight, without necessarily exploring the associated flight crew aspects.
