Lake Eyre flights

Wrightsair from william creek will give you the max time over the lake as it is 10 mins flying time from the strip to the lake.

Hi Lindsay,

We did a flight with Wrights Air from William Creek in 09 - fantastic experience. We booked for the first flight of the day when the light is at a low angle, the colours are more intense and there is also a chance of less turbulence then. Also we chose the flight that takes in the Painted Hills (as distinct from the Painted Desert) and the southern part of the lake. We thought that the Painted Hills section was much more interesting than the lake although that was good to see too.

Cheers,

Val

Like John & Val...would highly recommend the Painted Hills option...

G'day Lindsay,
Six in our group took the Wrights Air twin engine plane on the 1 hour flight last year .
We strolled over from the caravan park - no parking problems at this airport. Walked past the young bloke at the gate and asked where the pilot was, of course it was him. Really nice kid 3rd generation pilot and very experienced. You will enjoy the flight, the reflection in the water makes it difficult to know where the horizon is.

Cheers,
Bill

Hi Lindsay. We did the flight last year out of Maree.
The operators i spoke to did flights from both Maree and William Creek.
The swapped planes between the 2 towns depending on where the bookings were.
There are many different length flights to choose from from short to quite long.
They were working out a 5 hour flight for us from Maree up to Birdsville and back down the western side.
There are lots of planes flying at once,we could see the plane in front and we knew the planes behind us.
They have a set route at a set speed so i feel it would be difficult to short cut you on time.
It is very organized and absolutely terrific.
We ended up doing the hour and a half and loved every minute of it.

Thanks for the replies. I think Wrightsair sounds good and we will definitely book ahead. The morning flight sounds pretty good too, no turbulence does appeal to me.

Hi Lindsay,
As other have mentioned, flights are available from either William Creek or Marree. I personally am involved in helicopter flights from Marree, but I will give you as unbiased opinion as I can. The fixed wing flights from either Marree or WC are pretty much the same, yes WC is close to the Lake, but it also further away if like most you are coming from the South or East and as last proved with all the local rains, that the tracks can and do close for some time. This makes Marree a safer bet due to the shorter distance off road. In relation to the helicopter/plane thing, we are more expensive than the planes, this is due to the cost of the helicopter and much higher maintenance fees. But when it comes to viewing, we are unrivalled. With 270 degrees of glass you do get the best possible view of the Lake. Also as helicopters are smoother than planes, we do not suffer the kind of turbulence that our fixed wing brothers and sisters suffer from and this is one of the reasons we are busy doing flights.

Lindsay and anyone else planning on going to see the Lake make sure that you fly over it, regardless of which aircraft of location you use, it really is a sight to see. In relation to your shonky operators, I have been involved in flights up there for the last 4 years and have not come across a shonky one yet. They would simply not last as word of mouth is our greatest seller.

If would like any further information about the area, flights, track conditions or Lake level, I would be happy to provide you the relevant links.
Cheers and happy travels Steve

PS I am a defender driver and a helicopter pilot, some may also say a bit mad!