Departure
100%
vs 95% ▲ 5
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
RAAF Base Edinburgh is a major Royal Australian Air Force base in South Australia, some 25 to 28 kilometres north of Adelaide, home to No 92 Wing's P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft and a range of other Air Force and Army units. It is a strategically important, tightly controlled military airfield rather than a civil aerodrome, so any visiting simulator pilot should treat it as a restricted-access military field with a long, ILS-equipped main runway.
RAAF Base Edinburgh (ICAO: YPED) is a Royal Australian Air Force airbase located at Edinburgh, north of Adelaide in South Australia. It is one of Australia's defence 'super bases', hosting over 3,500 personnel from the Air Force and Army, and is best known to aviation observers as the home of No 92 Wing's Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. For a simulator pilot the field is notable for its long, hard-surfaced main runway with an ILS approach, its military character, and its role at the centre of Australia's maritime surveillance and electronic warfare operations.
The base lies in South Australia, roughly 25 to 28 kilometres north of the centre of Adelaide, in the area between the suburbs of Salisbury to the south and Smithfield to the north, with the town of Elizabeth to the east. As a major military airfield it sits within controlled airspace served by Adelaide Approach, and pilots operating in the vicinity should expect to be worked by Adelaide APP prior to any transit near the base.
RAAF Base Edinburgh has two physical runways. The main runway, 18/36, is 8,408 feet long with a hard surface, lit, and equipped with an ILS on runway 18. The secondary runway, 04/22, is 6,419 feet long with an unpaved surface and is also lit. Field elevation is 56 feet.
Adelaide Approach is available on 128.6 MHz, with the same frequency, 128.6 MHz, also used for Flight Watch (FSS). The base ATIS broadcasts on 31.63 MHz. The common tower/CTAF frequency is 118.3 MHz, and Ground is on 134.1 MHz. The main runway, 18, is served by an ILS.
No published civil joining or circuit procedures for general aviation traffic are available for this base, reflecting its status as an active military airfield rather than a field open to routine civil VFR circuit flying. Noise abatement for the base is managed under a dedicated Aircraft Noise Management Plan covering surrounding communities, but specific circuit heights or joining instructions are not published for outside pilots.
RAAF Base Edinburgh was constructed from 1953 and officially opened on 22 March 1954 by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, as a support base for weapons development linked to the joint UK-Australian Weapons Research Establishment at Woomera and Maralinga. The site had earlier hosted a small Edinburgh Airfield and elements based at RAAF Base Mallala, and lay alongside the wartime Salisbury explosives factory, in open country between the villages of Salisbury and Smithfield, with the new town of Elizabeth being established nearby at about the same time. Support for weapons testing wound down through the 1960s, and in 1968 No. 11 Squadron relocated to Edinburgh with Orion aircraft, followed in the late 1970s by No. 10 Squadron, leading to the formation of the maritime patrol No. 92 Wing and establishing Edinburgh as Australia's principal maritime reconnaissance base. From 1964 to 2008 the base was also home to Air Force recruit training, and it has hosted the Institute of Aviation Medicine and the Aircraft Research and Development Unit. In 1997 much of the surrounding Defence land was sold to form the Edinburgh Parks industrial estate, and the suburb was renamed Edinburgh after the base. Redevelopment stages in 2003 and August 2012 added new facilities and a new air traffic control tower, and brought No. 462 and No. 87 Squadrons to the base. In November 2017 it was announced that Edinburgh would be upgraded to operate the P-8A Poseidon, including a strengthened and extended runway, lengthened by 275 metres. The base held an air show in November 2019, and in 2024 construction began on a Deep Maintenance and Modification Facility to support the P-8A Poseidon and E-7A Wedgetail fleets.
RAAF Base Edinburgh remains an active and strategically important military airbase, home to No 92 Wing's P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, the Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton remotely piloted aircraft operated by No. 9 Squadron, the Jindalee Operational Radar Network Coordination Centre, the RAAF Air Warfare Centre and the Australian Battlespace Surveillance Centre. It also hosts Army units including the 1st Armoured Regiment and, from 2025, the 16th Regiment Royal Australian Artillery with its ground-based air defence systems. As a working military installation, access is restricted and prior permission is required for any visiting aircraft; there is no routine civil general aviation activity at the field.