Bacchus Marsh Airfield is located south
of
Bacchus Marsh
Bacchus Marsh (Wathawurrung: ''Pullerbopulloke'') is an urban centre and suburban locality in Victoria, Australia located approximately north west of the state capital Melbourne and west of Melton, Victoria, Melton at a near equidistance to th ...
,
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.
The airfield is owned by the
Shire of Moorabool
The Shire of Moorabool is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the western part of the state. It covers an area of and, in June 2018, had a population of 34,158. It includes the towns of Ballan, Bacchus Marsh, Balliang, ...
,
but is operated by the Bacchus Marsh Airfield Management (BMAM).
BMAM comprises representatives of the shire, airfield hangar owners, airfield users group, (the Geelong Gliding Club, Victorian Motorless Flight Group and the Beaufort Gliding Club), and TVSA Pilot Training
TVSA Pilot Training
/ref> (a power flying school).
The airfield with an elevation of above sea level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...
, consists of two sealed cross strips with wide grass verges on either side (alignments 01/19 , and 09/27 ).
Gliding
Bacchus Marsh airfield (YBSS) is the largest gliding site in the southern hemisphere, and double the size of other gliding facilities in Australia. The site offers a variety of soaring conditions. Thermal conditions enable soaring for most of the year, and are sufficiently reliable to enable cross country flying from September to April. Late in the afternoon though, lift can be damped with sea breeze
A sea breeze or onshore breeze is any wind that blows from a large body of water toward or onto a landmass; it develops due to differences in air pressure created by the differing heat capacities of water and dry land. As such, sea breezes ar ...
fronts moving in from the south east. The higher terrain to the north and north west can lead to the development of wave and ridge lift especially during the winter months. Frontal lift is also frequently seen at the site.
The airfield is located in the rolling volcanic plains of western Victoria. The topography to the east and south consists of flat farming land extending to Port Phillip Bay
Port Phillip (Kulin: ''Narm-Narm'') or Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped enclosed bay on the central coast of southern Victoria, Australia. The bay opens into the Bass Strait via a short, narrow channel known as The Rip, and is completel ...
and Bass Strait
Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The strait provides the most direct waterwa ...
respectively. To the north the terrain dips initially into the Werribee River
The Werribee River is a perennial river of the Port Phillip catchment that is located on the Werribee Plain, expansive lowland plain southwest of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The headwaters of a tributary, the Lerderderg ...
valley, with the Bacchus Marsh township, before rising to the Blackwood Ranges; the foothills to the Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...
. To the west the land is used mainly for agricultural purposes. An escarpment; the Brisbane Ranges
The Brisbane Ranges National Park is a national park in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia, The national park is situated approximately west of Melbourne near the town of and is managed by Parks Victoria. The park covers par ...
, results in the terrain altitude increasing abruptly by , but is quite suitable for cross country flying at all skill levels.
Due to the proximity to Melbourne Airport
Melbourne Airport , colloquially known as Tullamarine Airport, is the primary airport serving the city of Melbourne, and the second busiest airport in Australia. It opened in 1970 to replace the nearby Essendon Airport. Melbourne Airport is t ...
, soaring at the site operates under a restricted ceiling of above sea level immediately above the site, however this ceiling steps to a few kilometres to the west and progressively thereafter to . To the south the ceiling again steps up progressively. Operations to the east are limited by the decreasing height of the ceiling, and to the north by a combination of the mountain ranges and air traffic ceilings.
See also
* List of airports in Victoria
References
External links
Gliding Online Competition flights from Bacchus Marsh
{{Airports in Victoria (Australia)
Airports in Victoria (Australia)
Gliderports in Australia
Bacchus Marsh