Post by flycookie on Sept 4, 2009 10:59:01 GMT 12
By "Pearce Air Force Base" I assume the so-called journo means RAAF Pearce.
Read on, from 'The West Australian.'
au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/opinion/post/-/blog/geoffreythomas/post/7/comment/1/
Airport curfew would be a disaster for WA
By Geoffrey Thomas
September 1st, 2009, 10:40 am
"Perth we have a problem." Military airspace demands and a booming resource sector have created enormous problems at Perth for Airservices Australia (ASA), the nation's air traffic control provider.
Between 2002 and 2005 there were 40 instances of breakdowns in separation or coordination of aircraft by air traffic controllers. Those breakdowns prompted Australia's safety watchdog the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) to review airspace with Airservices, which resulted in the two-year WA Route Review Project (WARRP).
WARRP was implemented in November last year with a number of new air routes over the hills. Some will argue there was also a breakdown in communication on WARRP.
Mundaring Shire president Helen Dullard last week told The West Australian that ASA admitted consultation over route changes had been poor. But she was sceptical whether that could be changed even if more consultation was done.
"They acknowledge now that the information they put out to the committees was very technical and probably went right over their heads," she said.
ASA however has defended its air route consultation, saying that it followed a model already employed nationally for airspace reviews.
It appears that there is nothing that can be done to alter the new routes and that fact has prompted calls from hills residents for Pearce Air Force Base and Perth Airport to be moved or a curfew introduced.
It is not likely that the government will agree to move Pearce Air Force base, and moving Perth Airport would be a $10 billion plus project - so totally unrealistic.
A curfew would be an economic disaster for WA, an operational nightmare for airlines and would increase airfares.
As one of the world's most isolated cities, WA is heavily dependent on air travel with 9.7 million people using the airport last year. Passengers are only one aspect, with several thousand tonnes of cargo moving through the airport each week - mostly at night, including all Perth's mail and express for delivery that morning.
The resource industry is dependent on an around-the-clock airport with flights leaving from 5am.
From an operational point of view, a curfew would be a significant challenge.
Many overseas and eastern states flights arrive around midnight and sometimes headwinds and weather slow the aircraft with no realistic diversionary airport.
For Sydney, aircraft can divert to Brisbane or Melbourne which have the on ground infrastructure to handle 300 plus angry passengers. Perth has only Learmonth or Kalgoorlie.
Passengers would also miss many connection opportunities for flights across the globe.
So from an operational perspective, airlines would have to consider a midnight curfew actually starting from 10pm for arrivals in case of adverse weather.
A curfew would likely see a significant curtailment of the super cheap fares as many airlines, such as AirAsiaX and Tiger Airways, currently use the lack of a curfew to operate aircraft that would otherwise be idle for a return trip to Perth and offer cheap fares to lure people to the "red eye."
The "red eye" has been a part of air travel to the WA since the 1950s.
But there are options to at least ease late-night noise problems. Late night takeoffs of the older and nosier cargo aircraft such as DC-8s should be restricted as well as a late night curfew on Russian transports.
However, the worst regular noise offenders have been withdrawn from service.
The Boeing 727-200F, ended operations last year and the 35-year old Boeing 737-200s were silenced forever with the recent grounding of OzJet.
While some may call it "techno babble" the fact is there are many initiatives in the pipeline that will help reduce the noise impact by allowing aircraft to use only idle power when descending and fly more precise and shorter flight paths to and from the airport.
There are also aircraft coming, such as the 787, for which the noise footprint will be confined to the airport boundary.
And aircraft such as the giant A380, rather than increasing noise, actually reduces it significantly compared to the 747.
Noise from today's aircraft affects only a fraction of the area of early jets.
For instance, the noise from the first 707s in the early 1960s affected an area of 87.2 square kilometres, whereas the Boeing 777 affects only 1.6 square kilometres at a noise level of 90EPNdb.
Read on, from 'The West Australian.'
au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/opinion/post/-/blog/geoffreythomas/post/7/comment/1/
Airport curfew would be a disaster for WA
By Geoffrey Thomas
September 1st, 2009, 10:40 am
"Perth we have a problem." Military airspace demands and a booming resource sector have created enormous problems at Perth for Airservices Australia (ASA), the nation's air traffic control provider.
Between 2002 and 2005 there were 40 instances of breakdowns in separation or coordination of aircraft by air traffic controllers. Those breakdowns prompted Australia's safety watchdog the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) to review airspace with Airservices, which resulted in the two-year WA Route Review Project (WARRP).
WARRP was implemented in November last year with a number of new air routes over the hills. Some will argue there was also a breakdown in communication on WARRP.
Mundaring Shire president Helen Dullard last week told The West Australian that ASA admitted consultation over route changes had been poor. But she was sceptical whether that could be changed even if more consultation was done.
"They acknowledge now that the information they put out to the committees was very technical and probably went right over their heads," she said.
ASA however has defended its air route consultation, saying that it followed a model already employed nationally for airspace reviews.
It appears that there is nothing that can be done to alter the new routes and that fact has prompted calls from hills residents for Pearce Air Force Base and Perth Airport to be moved or a curfew introduced.
It is not likely that the government will agree to move Pearce Air Force base, and moving Perth Airport would be a $10 billion plus project - so totally unrealistic.
A curfew would be an economic disaster for WA, an operational nightmare for airlines and would increase airfares.
As one of the world's most isolated cities, WA is heavily dependent on air travel with 9.7 million people using the airport last year. Passengers are only one aspect, with several thousand tonnes of cargo moving through the airport each week - mostly at night, including all Perth's mail and express for delivery that morning.
The resource industry is dependent on an around-the-clock airport with flights leaving from 5am.
From an operational point of view, a curfew would be a significant challenge.
Many overseas and eastern states flights arrive around midnight and sometimes headwinds and weather slow the aircraft with no realistic diversionary airport.
For Sydney, aircraft can divert to Brisbane or Melbourne which have the on ground infrastructure to handle 300 plus angry passengers. Perth has only Learmonth or Kalgoorlie.
Passengers would also miss many connection opportunities for flights across the globe.
So from an operational perspective, airlines would have to consider a midnight curfew actually starting from 10pm for arrivals in case of adverse weather.
A curfew would likely see a significant curtailment of the super cheap fares as many airlines, such as AirAsiaX and Tiger Airways, currently use the lack of a curfew to operate aircraft that would otherwise be idle for a return trip to Perth and offer cheap fares to lure people to the "red eye."
The "red eye" has been a part of air travel to the WA since the 1950s.
But there are options to at least ease late-night noise problems. Late night takeoffs of the older and nosier cargo aircraft such as DC-8s should be restricted as well as a late night curfew on Russian transports.
However, the worst regular noise offenders have been withdrawn from service.
The Boeing 727-200F, ended operations last year and the 35-year old Boeing 737-200s were silenced forever with the recent grounding of OzJet.
While some may call it "techno babble" the fact is there are many initiatives in the pipeline that will help reduce the noise impact by allowing aircraft to use only idle power when descending and fly more precise and shorter flight paths to and from the airport.
There are also aircraft coming, such as the 787, for which the noise footprint will be confined to the airport boundary.
And aircraft such as the giant A380, rather than increasing noise, actually reduces it significantly compared to the 747.
Noise from today's aircraft affects only a fraction of the area of early jets.
For instance, the noise from the first 707s in the early 1960s affected an area of 87.2 square kilometres, whereas the Boeing 777 affects only 1.6 square kilometres at a noise level of 90EPNdb.
