Today the sun was finally shining and the wind a gentle Nor-easter, so time to check out the new 'East Sale airspace VFR Transit Lane ( Delta 353' ) Transitted both ways at 1500' for better visibility, safety etc. etc. Living in the surrounding area ,and being familiar with the roads , towns and water storages, I tried navigating using the VNC solely, but found it easy to stray off course and, with oncoming aircraft , potentially at the same altitude and with a closing speed of maybe 200 Kts ........well. So, as the corridor is only about 2 nm wide it is important to give full attention to maintaining that lateral separation, and keeping a proper lookout. Ozrunways certainly helped as the pics indicate. With hindsight, it may have been better to have had Westbound traffic AT 1500' and Eastbound traffic AT 1000,' giving better vertical separation. I am not implying that the route is unsafe, it isn't, providing everybody does the right thing. It is certainly a lot safer than transitting over that tiger country to North.The entire area is flat farming country with one small area of plantation timber ( last pic ) which should be easily avoided from 1500' if the engine fails. In summary, a positive move by RAAus and East Sale management to improve the safety of all VFR pilots ......Bob
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