Why Cootamundra was so popular for Private Jets ?

[TRS123]

Figure just out have shown at least 113 private international flights have landed since April last year. In the article below it calls out the small inland town of Cootamundra as one of the busiest. Im curious to know why Cootamundra was so popular? Any idea of why and who was flying into there?

"Other NSW destinations included Cootamundra in the Riverina, with 20 private flights landing throughout the year"

Pandemic no barrier to private jet arrivals in Australia

The busiest airport for arrivals was Bunbury Airport in Western Australia, with 22 flights – all from the US and all this month.

www.smh.com.au

 

[DC3]

Figure just out have shown at least 113 private international flights have landed since April last year. In the article below it calls out the small inland town of Cootamundra as one of the busiest. Im curious to know why Cootamundra was so popular? Any idea of why and who was flying into there?

"Other NSW destinations included Cootamundra in the Riverina, with 20 private flights landing throughout the year"

Pandemic no barrier to private jet arrivals in Australia

The busiest airport for arrivals was Bunbury Airport in Western Australia, with 22 flights – all from the US and all this month.

www.smh.com.au

Cootamundra. Still a big source of cannabis?

 

[chelzmalee]

Ease of use, lack of BS/less flights means more privacy? Also close to CBR?

 

[Vic]

Bradman's birthplace...

What stands out more is Cleve with 12 flights. Coota at least is near Canberra. If people are going to Eyre peninsula, surely Port Lincoln or somewhere closer to coffin bay.

 

[TRS123]

If I was to guess, I remember being told that Rupert Murdoch had a farm down that way so maybe he was the Private Jet owner flying in?

 

[OZDUCK]

I don't really trust these reports. As I said on another thread Bunbury Airport is not capable of even handling a Lear Jet let alone a 'big' private charter. It was possible that some flights flew into Busselton but definitely not Bunbury. I believe that someone has really got their airport codes mixed up.

According to Wikipedia the runway at Cootamundra is 4,613 feet and the take off distance for a Learjet 35A is 4,972 feet. Other sources say tit requires a -

• Balanced Field Length: 6300 ft

 

[Vic]

I don't really trust these reports. As I said on another thread Bunbury Airport is not capable of even handling a Lear Jet let alone a 'big' private charter. It was possible that some flights flew into Busselton but definitely not Bunbury. I believe that someone has really got their airport codes mixed up.

According to Wikipedia the runway at Cootamundra is 4,613 feet and the take off distance for a Learjet 35A is 4,972 feet. Other sources say tit requires a -

• Balanced Field Length: 6300 ft

We're not talking about a 'big' private charter however. We're talking about Citations, G650, G550. A learjet 35A isn't flying from New Orleans to Coota. The take off distance doesn't seem to be an issue for any of these aircraft, when we remember that take off weight is an important variable, I'll bet $50 that the take off distance quoted in wikipedia is at MTOW. I"m pretty sure MTOW isn't required for a short pop over to SYD... for example. So they can land, and they could depart unladen.

But the weight is where this seems dodgy, airservices australia says the main runway is
Not AVBL to ACFT ABV 5,700KG

And just about all those aircraft seem to be above 5700 kg... empty