YTTI

Troughtn Island, or YTTI, was a place i always wanted to visit. I don't know why i did to be honest, but the idea of landing on a small strip in the middle of nowhere. Literally all the island has is a 980m coral strip (with PAPI!) and a few donga's/a hangar. There was also a ute that was missing its doors. Good times.


http://www.shorelandsgroup.com.au/images/troughton2.jpg - That may be a better idea of the place.


I flew out there to take a few guys fixing the meteorology station out there. Troughton is run by the Shorelands group, and i believe its used as an alternate for all the big offshore oil rigs out in the Timor Sea. Truscott is the main airport nearby, only around 30nm away.


There was about 25kts wind, virtually all crosswind. Max for the C402 is 20kts, so it was definately an interesting landing. In my eyes it was a good landing, but im sure my passengers were convinced otherwise haha. With lots of drift, on a short strip such as this, all i wanted to do was get the plane down on the threshold with the into wing low. Bit of a cruncher, but i pulled up in around 600m and in my eyes thats what mattered. Flight to and from was uneventful, just all over water, lots of cloud and rain, but no real weather as such.


Anyway to make this charter even better, the moment we landed we were offered a coffee, which was well needed and 'deserved.' Maybe not deserved, but very much appreciated. Then we were made big chicken salad rolls, and all sat around chatting for a long time. Signed the visitor book and saw that a lot of my colleagues have also had this pleasure!


All in all, was a great charter, one of the few that makes me so happy for my experiences working in general aviation.

The coral strip, looking south, towards the Australian Mainland.