Cairns Noise Information Pack. December 2011

Transcription

1 Cairns Noise Information Pack December 2011 Table of Contents Purpose 2 Overview 2 Cairns Airport 3 Hours of Operation 3 Runway Configuration 3 Air Traffic 3 Track Density Plot for all aircraft operations 4 Typical tracks for different wind conditions 5 & 6 Community Engagement 7 Other Resources 7 & 8 Disclaimer The information contained in this document is for information purposes only. While Airservices Australia has taken reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy of this information, Airservices Australia makes no warranty or representation that it is current, accurate or complete. Copyright This work is copyright. You may download, display, print and reproduce this work in unaltered form (retaining this notice) only for your non-commercial, personal use or non-commercial use within your organisation. You may not otherwise reproduce, transmit, publish or communicate this work or any part of it by any means. Commercial use of any part of this work (including use, reproduction, transmission, publication or communication for a commercial purpose, or as part of providing a commercial service) is strictly prohibited. Apart from any other use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, all other rights are reserved.

2 Purpose The purpose of this document is to provide information to the community on aircraft operations around Cairns. Overview Cairns Airport is situated on the coastal flats approximately 5 kms north of the CBD. The airport is surrounded by high terrain from the south-east through the west to the north west, with Lumley Hill (height 1120ft) 1km due west of the main runway. The Cairns area is affected by aircraft noise, either from helicopters, fixed wing propeller or jet powered aircraft. Operations may occur at coastal or hospital helipads, from float planes or from Cairns Airport. Parachute operations may occur in the vicinity of Edmonton. There are three permanent environmental (noise) monitoring units (EMUs) located at Yorkeys Knob, Holloways Beach and Cairns North. Figure 1: Location of Gold Coast Airport 2

3 Cairns Airport Hours of Operation There is no curfew at Cairns airport but noise abatement measures apply. These include: Turbojets will be routed clear of populous areas until seawards of the coastline or established on their final approach course to land. To assist with noise reduction on final approach, pilots are requested to delay flap deployment until as late as is operationally practicable. Circuit training by jet aircraft (and other aircraft exceeding 5700kg maximum takeoff weight) is not permitted between 10.00pm and 7.00am local time No aircraft is permitted to conduct engine runups (unless associated with the normal preparation of flight) between 11.00pm and 6.00am local time without permission from the Cairns Port Authority. Operators and pilots of jet aircraft are requested to cooperate in limiting the use of reverse thrust when landing between the hours of 11.00pm and 6.00am local time. Runway Configuration Cairns aerodrome is serviced by 2 runways: Runway 15/33 (3196 metres) and Runway 12/30 (925 metres). The main runway, 15/33, has precision navigation aids at both ends enhancing the safe operation of aircraft landing from either the north or south. Cairns airport hosts a full range of traffic from light through to heavy jets. Cairns does not have a secondary aerodrome situated nearby and therefore also accommodates general aviation and helicopter flying training. Runway selection is determined by Air Traffic Control (ATC) based on the wind and weather conditions at the time of the operation. As the wind changes, the duty runway direction may change. This is because aircraft primarily take off and land into the wind for safety and performance reasons. This results in different areas around the airport being over flown by aircraft. This includes helicopter operations where pilots generally make their approach to or departure from the helipad into the prevailing wind. Figure 2: Cairns airport runway configuration Air Traffic During the 2010 calendar year there were a total of 84,528 movements, of which approximately 7% were heavy aircraft, 25% were medium and the rest were small fixed wing or helicopters. 3

4 Track Density Plot for All Aircraft Operations Track density plots display the pattern of aircraft flight tracks passing over a region during a specific period and are a good reference for areas often over flown by aircraft. They show the most-used flight corridors, however this does not mean that aircraft do not fly over other areas of Cairns. Figure 3 shows the quarterly track density plot for all aircraft operations for the period April June The grey circles show the location of each noise monitoring terminal unit (Note: the number shown is the designated identifier for each terminal). The colour coding from green to red represents the range of 2 overflights per day to 20 or more per day over the three month period. As noted above, the absence of a coloured track over any given area does not necessarily mean that aircraft have not flown over that area. Rather, it means that on average less than 2 flights per day have flown over that area during the period. Figure 3: Track density plot for all aircraft operations for April June 2011 Source: Noise and Flight Path Monitoring System Cairns Quarterly Report Jan March

5 Typical tracks for different wind conditions The next two figures illustrate typical aircraft tracks in specific wind conditions. In Figure 4 the wind is a southerly (blowing from the south to the north) and in Figure 5 the wind is a northerly (blowing from the north to the south). Typical Aircraft Tracks for Southerly Wind Conditions Figure 4: Typical movements in southerly wind conditions 13 January 2011 Source: Airport Noise Operations Management System (ANOMS) 5

6 Typical Aircraft Tracks for Northerly Wind Conditions Figure 5: Typical movements in northerly wind conditions 22 April 2011 Source: Airport Noise Operations Management System (ANOMS) 6

7 Community Engagement The Airport Environmental Consultative Committee (AECC) meets every three months and provides a forum for consultation between the airport, airline, local community, local government and other stakeholders on environmental issues. The AECC is the main way in which the community s views can be voiced to the airport and to provide members of the community with an opportunity to obtain information about airport operations. Airservices representatives attend the AECC and provide regular reports to the committee. Other Resources Noise and flight Path Monitoring System The Cairns Airport component of the Noise and Flight Path Monitoring System (NFPMS) has three permanently installed Environmental Monitoring Units collecting noise data at Yorkeys Nob, Holloways Beach and Cairns North. The monitoring locations are regularly reviewed for their suitability in addressing the impact of aircraft noise on the local community. The reviews consider suggestions for future monitoring locations from the Airport Community Aviation Consultation Group (CACG) Airservices publishes reports from the NFPMS on a quarterly basis on its website at WebTrak Airservices provides an internet service called WebTrak which enables aircraft movements to be observed in near real time (there is a delay of 40 minutes) at eight airports around Australia including Cairns Airport. Information is available for the past 3 months. WebTrak provides information about individual aircraft such as aircraft type, altitude, destination and noise levels, and presents this information on a map. WebTrak is available on the Airservices Australia website at: 7

8 Cairns Airport Website The airport s website contains information of the current activities at the airport including; noise maps, Cairns Airport Environment Consultative Committee, and details on the airport s Master Plan Department of Infrastructure and Transport Website Information on aircraft noise regulations, Airports curfews, insulation programs, fact sheets and Aviation s role in reducing carbon emissions is available from this website. This site also has a link to the Federal Government s Aviation White Paper. This details the Government s aviation policy. Civil Aviation Safety Authority website This site provides information on aircraft airworthiness and certification, airspace regulation and issues of aviation safety (for example the rules concerning low flying aircraft). 8