Departure
92%
vs 95% ▼ 3
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
RAAF Base East Sale is a Royal Australian Air Force training aerodrome near Sale in Victoria's Gippsland region, home to the Central Flying School and the Roulettes aerobatic display team. Its long, lit runways and full instrument approach make it an interesting military destination for simulator pilots exploring regional Victoria.
RAAF Base East Sale is a Royal Australian Air Force military airfield and training school located at East Sale in Victoria's Gippsland region, close to the regional city of Sale. It has been the RAAF's primary flying training base since the Second World War, hosting units such as the Central Flying School, No. 32 Squadron, No. 30 (City of Sale) Squadron, the Officers' Training School and the School of Air Traffic Control, as well as the famous Roulettes aerobatic display team. For the simulator pilot it offers a busy military training environment with long runways, an ILS approach and a rich wartime heritage.
The base lies in Victoria's Gippsland region, about 220 kilometres south-east of Melbourne and roughly six kilometres from the city of Sale. As an active RAAF base it sits within controlled airspace associated with military flying operations, with Sale Approach, Tower and Ground providing air traffic services and Melbourne Centre handling the wider en-route flight information function.
East Sale has two paired hard runways. Runway 04/22 is 7,972 feet long with a lit asphalt/hard surface, and runway 09/27 is 7,311 feet long, also hard-surfaced and lit, with an instrument landing system serving runway 27.
Air traffic services are provided by Sale Approach on 123.3 MHz, Sale Tower on 118.3 MHz (also used as the common traffic advisory frequency), and Sale Ground on 134.1 MHz, with Sale Clearance Delivery on 133.6 MHz. An ATIS broadcast is available, and Melbourne Centre provides flight information service on 124 MHz. The field has an instrument landing system associated with runway 27.
RAAF Base East Sale opened as a training base on 22 April 1943, initially home to No. 1 Operational Training Unit flying Bristol Beaufort light bombers, relocated from airfields at West Sale and Bairnsdale. The unit trained aircrew and also carried out convoy protection and maritime surveillance work, with more than 3,000 aircrew trained at the base by the end of the Second World War; other wartime types operated there included Lockheed Hudsons, Airspeed Oxfords and Fairey Battles, and future Prime Minister Gough Whitlam trained as a navigator on Hudsons at the base. In 1947 the RAAF Central Flying School relocated to East Sale from RAAF Base Point Cook, and by 1953 it had received its first De Havilland Vampire jets. In 1962 four Vampires from the Central Flying School formed the 'Red Sales' aerobatic team, but all four aircraft crashed in formation during a practice on 15 August that year, killing six Central Flying School staff. A second team, the Telstars, formed six months later flying Vampires and later Aermacchi MB-326 Macchis, before disbanding in May 1968. In 1970, to mark the RAAF's fiftieth anniversary, the current Roulettes aerobatic display team was formed, initially flying Macchis. The first two of 67 Pilatus PC-9/A aircraft arrived in 1987 and the type became the Central Flying School's primary trainer until December 2019. No. 32 Squadron, a former wartime bomber and reconnaissance unit, was reactivated at East Sale in 1989 flying Hawker Siddeley HS 748s before converting to Beechcraft King Air 350s by 2004. Ab-initio flying training was contracted out in 1992, before basic flight training returned to East Sale from 2019 with new Pilatus PC-21 aircraft, the last of 49 being delivered in December 2019.
East Sale remains the RAAF's primary flying training base, operating continuously in that role since 1943 and housing approximately 700 personnel. Resident units include the Central Flying School and its Roulettes aerobatic team, No. 1 and No. 2 Flying Training Schools, the Air Mission Training School, the Officers' Training School, the School of Air Traffic Control, No. 32 Squadron flying King Air 350 aircraft, and No. 30 (City of Sale) Squadron providing airbase operations support. The base also hosts No. 409 Squadron of the Australian Air Force Cadets. As an active military establishment, access to the airfield requires prior permission.