Environmental Assessment of Interim Procedure Alternative to KEELS SID Runway 03 Perth Airport October 2010 ARMS 208275
DISCLAIMER This report contains a summary of data collected from external and internal sources and Airservices Australia cannot warrant their accuracy of the data input derived from external sources. Airservices Australia does not accept any liability for any reliance placed on any data in this report by any third party and Airservices Australia accepts no liability for any interpretation of this data by third parties Approved By: Endorsed By: Reviewed by: Prepared by: POSITION General Manager Safety & Environment Manager Environment & Climate Change Environment Initiatives & Services Manager Environment & Climate Change Senior Environment Specialist Environment Initiatives & Services DATE 18 October 2010 15 October 2010 15 October 2010 15 October 2010 Airservices Australia Head Office 25 Constitution Avenue Canberra City ACT 2601 Australia GPO Box 367 Canberra ACT 2601 Phone 02 6268 4111 Fax 02 6268 5683 October 2010
Contents 1 Introduction... 1 2 Methodology... 3 3 Analysis... 3 3.1 Overflown Areas...3 3.2 Traffic Levels and Noise Abatement Procedures...5 3.3 Aircraft Types...8 3.4 Altitudes...9 3.5 Noise Levels...13 3.6 Exposure of Newly Overflown Areas to Other Aircraft Operations...13 3.6.1 Jet Arrivals...16 3.6.2 Jet Departures...17 3.6.3 Jet Overflights...17 3.6.4 Propeller Aircraft...19 3.7 Emissions...20 4 Findings... 21 5 Conclusion... 21 6 Recommendation... 21 Figures Figure 1 Built up areas overflown by KEELS departures...1 Figure 2 Area overflown by proposal...2 Figure 3 Overflown Areas...4 Figure 4 Overflown Built-up Areas...4 Figure 5 KEELS 1/5/2009 30/4/2010...10 Figure 6 Beechboro 1/5/2009 30/4/2010...11 Figure 7 Mirrabooka 1/5/2009 30/4/2010...11 Figure 8 Warwick 1/5/2009 30/4/2010...12 Figure 9 Waterman 1/5/2009 30/4/2010...12 Figure 10 Jet operations above newly overflown area April 2010...14 Figure 11 Non-jet operations above newly overflown area April 2010...15 Figure 12 Jet arrivals above newly overflown area April 2010...16 Figure 13 Night time jet arrivals above newly overflown area April 2010...17 Figure 14 Jet overflights above newly overflown area April 2010...18 Figure 15 Propeller overflights above newly overflown area April 2010...19 Figure 16 Night time propeller overflights above newly overflown area April 2010...20 Tables Table 1 KEELS SID # Departures 1/5/09 to 30/4/10...5 Table 2 KEELS SID # Departures by Runway and Month...6 Table 3 KEELS SID Time of Day Runway 03 1/5/09 to 30/4/10...6 Table 4 KEELS SID Time of Day Runway 03 by Destination 1/5/09 to 30/4/10...7 Table 5 KEELS SID Time of Night Runway 03 by Destination (adjusted) 1/5/09 to 30/4/10...7 Table 6 KEELS SID Number of nights per year with KEELS SID departures...8 Table 7 KEELS SID # Departures of Aircraft Types by Runway 1/5/09 to 30/4/10..8 Table 8 Noise levels - Beechboro...13 October 2010
1 Introduction Jets departing to the west (South Africa and Mauritius), to Dubai and to Christmas and Cocos Islands are issued the KEELS Standard Instrument Departure (SID), which overflies the areas of Beechboro, Mirrabooka, Balga, Girrawheen, Warwick and Marmion as shown in Figure 1. While there are non-residential areas to the north, and a small proportion of these flights track further north before turning west, the opportunities to do that are limited by the Pearce military airspace to the north. The SID is designed to keep departing jets clear of the military airspace (R155). Figure 1 Built up areas overflown by KEELS departures Airservices Australia is developing a SID for use when the military areas are not active which will provide some relief to the area overflown by the KEELS SID. While not all the flights will be able to be issued the alternative SID, a large proportion of KEELS traffic departs at night or early morning, when the Pearce restricted areas are often not in use. October 2010 Page 1
As an interim measure, it is proposed to issue departures a series of headings which will take them further north before they turn to the west. They will follow the existing SID for the first 5 nm. This assessment considers those interim measures. Figure 2 shows an indicative track that jets will follow under this proposal (dotted green line) beyond 5 nm, however, as aircraft will commence their turn to the west and track direct KEELS (which is 135 nm from Perth) after they reach 8,000 feet on climb, the actual track over the ground will be very variable. Figure 2 Area overflown by proposal Under this proposal, aircraft will track on runway heading to the waypoint MIDLA at 5 nm, as do the departures following the SID, then they will be given a heading to the north-west which will take them approximately along the green dotted line, which is clear of residential areas, until they reach 8,000 feet. This will occur for most flights between Jandabup and Carabooda, and they are likely to overfly built up areas under the yellow wavy-lined zone indicated in Figures 2, 3 and 4. These flights are estimated to be between 8,000 and 10,000 feet over these areas. October 2010 Page 2
While this proposed new route will be used by all flights to South Africa and Mauritius during the periods when the Pearce military areas are not active, it will only be followed by some of the flights to Dubai, Christmas Island and Cocos Island. Flights use Flexible Tracking over the Indian Ocean, which means the optimal route according to the actual wind conditions is used. In the case of flights to Dubai, it means that they only plan to track via KEELS about 50% of the time. If the military areas are inactive, they continue in a northerly or north-westerly direction to intercept their optimal route, and will not overfly the coast between Jandabup and Carabooda. Flight to Christmas and Cocos Islands will also continue in a north-westerly direction, and not track to KEELS if they are able to traverse the military areas. 2 Methodology To determine the impact of the proposal, this assessment considers aircraft numbers likely to use the route, the spread of tracks, the altitudes at which they will operate and their associated noise levels in areas that will be overflown. Then the assessment considers all other aircraft activity in the area to determine if the change is likely to be significant, as defined by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act), or not significant. In addition this assessment calculates the potential increase in aircraft emissions that result from extra track miles that the proposal involves. 3 Analysis 3.1 Overflown Areas Figure 3 shows the areas likely to be subject to the increase in overflights from the proposed change in more detail, including Jindalee, Butler, Ridgewood, Merriwa, Mindarie, Clarkson, Carrama and Banksia Grove. The areas of Beechboro, Mirrabooka, Balga, Girrawheen, Warwick and Marmion will benefit from a reduction in traffic using the KEELS SID. October 2010 Page 3
Figure 3 Overflown Areas Figure 4 shows the built up areas in more detail. Figure 4 Overflown Built-up Areas October 2010 Page 4
The environmental impact on these areas will be determined by Traffic levels Aircraft types Altitudes Spread of tracks Noise levels Other aircraft activity 3.2 Traffic Levels and Noise Abatement Procedures The number of departures to South Africa, Mauritius, Dubai, and Christmas and Cocos Islands using the KEELS SID in a 12 month period from 1 May 2009 to 30 April 2010 is shown in Table 1. Only those departing from Runway 03 are subject to this proposal. Although the number of flights to Christmas and Cocos Islands is small during the 12 months analysed (approximately one per week), since then Virgin Blue has commenced scheduled flights to those destinations, and there are now 4 scheduled services every week. Aircraft operations at Perth Airport are subject to Noise Abatement Procedures, including a system of preferred runways. The preferred runway for departures is Runway 21. This means Runway 21 will be nominated for use by ATC except when the meteorological conditions preclude it. The nominated runway cannot have any more than 5 knots of downwind, and no downwind at all when wet. Runway 03 will be nominated for departures when there are northerly winds greater than 5 knots (at the airport). Runway 03 06 21 24 Total South Africa 98 211 1 310 Mauritius 22 1 43 66 Dubai 248 465 713 Cocos Island 6 5 1 12 Christmas Island 14 1 22 4 41 Total 388 2 746 6 1142 Table 1 KEELS SID # Departures 1/5/09 to 30/4/10 The use of Runway 03 for departures is higher in the months April through September, particularly in May, as Table 2 shows, so this proposal will have highest impact during those months. October 2010 Page 5
Runway R03 R06 R21 R24 Total # % # % # % # % May 2009 62 69% 28 31% 90 June 2009 43 52% 40 48% 83 July 2009 40 45% 49 55% 89 August 2009 34 38% 56 62% 90 Septmeber 2009 37 40% 56 60% 93 October 2009 26 26% 73 73% 1 1% 100 November 2009 29 29% 70 71% 99 December 2009 16 16% 86 84% 102 Janurary 2010 24 23% 80 77% 104 February 2010 16 19% 68 80% 1 85 March 2010 26 26% 2 2% 69 68% 4 101 April 2010 35 33% 71 67% 106 Total 388 34% 2 0% 746 65% 6 1% 1142 Table 2 KEELS SID # Departures by Runway and Month The time of day of departures is critical to this assessment, both because of the higher level of noise sensitivity between 10 pm and 7 am, and because Pearce military airspace is more likely to be available to civilian traffic at those times. As Table 3 shows, 87% of departures from Runway 03 are at night (between 10 pm and 7 am). The times of the movements are their departure times from the airport, and they overfly the residential areas within about 6 minutes of that time. R03 Night % 22:00-22:59 79 20% 23:00-23:59 4 1% 00:00-00:59 67 17% 01:00-01:59 17 4% 02:00-02:59 6 2% 03:00-03:59 0 0% 04:00-04:59 1 0% 05:00-05:59 3 1% 06:00-06:59 159 41% Night Total 336 87% Day 07:00-07:59 12 3% 08:00-08:59 2 1% 09:00-09:59 2 1% 10:00-10:59 1 0% 11:00-11:59 29 7% 12:00-12:59 4 1% 13:00-13:59 2 1% Day Total 52 13% Total 388 Table 3 KEELS SID Time of Day Runway 03 1/5/09 to 30/4/10 Table 4 shows that 78% of departures to South Africa and Mauritius are during the night period, as are 97% of departures to Dubai, whereas only 5% of Cocos/Christmas Island flights depart during those hours. October 2010 Page 6
FAJS/FIMP OMDB YPCC/YPXM Total Night % % % 22:00-22:59 0 0% 79 32% 0 0% 23:00-23:59 4 3% 0 0% 0 0% 00:00-00:59 67 56% 0 0% 0 0% 01:00-01:59 17 14% 0 0% 0 0% 02:00-02:59 5 4% 1 0% 0 0% 03:00-03:59 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 04:00-04:59 1 1% 0 0% 0 0% 05:00-05:59 0 0% 3 1% 0 0% 06:00-06:59 0 0% 158 64% 1 5% Night Total 94 78% 241 97% 1 5% 336 Day 07:00-07:59 0 0% 5 2% 7 35% 08:00-08:59 0 0% 1 0% 1 5% 09:00-09:59 0 0% 1 0% 1 5% 10:00-10:59 0 0% 0 0% 1 5% 11:00-11:59 23 19% 0 0% 6 30% 12:00-12:59 3 3% 0 0% 1 5% 13:00-13:59 0 0% 0 0% 2 10% Day Total 26 22% 7 3% 19 95% 52 Total 120 248 20 388 Table 4 KEELS SID Time of Day Runway 03 by Destination 1/5/09 to 30/4/10 As only about half the flights to Dubai and Cocos/Christmas Islands will require tracking via KEELS, the night figures in Table 5 have been adjusted to reflect the numbers of flights expected to overfly the newly affected areas between Jandabup and Carabooda. The 4 scheduled flights per week to Cocos/Christmas Islands by Virgin Blue have not been added to these figures as they will not occur during the night period. Table 5 shows there would have been 216 additional jet departures over the newly affected area in the 12 month period May 2009 to April 2010 if this proposed route had been in place. Similarly, there would have been 216 less flights over the area from Beechboro to Waterman. FAJS/FIMP OMDB YPCC/YPXM Total Night % % % 22:00-22:59 0 0% 40 19% 0 0% 23:00-23:59 4 2% 0 0% 0 0% 00:00-00:59 67 31% 0 0% 0 0% 01:00-01:59 17 8% 0 0% 0 0% 02:00-02:59 5 2% 1 0% 0 0% 03:00-03:59 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 04:00-04:59 1 0% 0 0% 0 0% 05:00-05:59 0 0% 2 1% 0 0% 06:00-06:59 0 0% 79 37% 0 0% Night Total 94 44% 122 56% 0 0% 216 Table 5 KEELS SID Time of Night Runway 03 by Destination (adjusted) 1/5/09 to 30/4/10 216 flights in a 12 month period is an average of less than one per day, or an average of 4 per week. However, they are not uniformly distributed, with flights occurring on 184 nights, and no flights on 181 nights. Table 6 shows the spread of flights. The first column shows October 2010 Page 7
the number of nights that KEELS SID departures overflew Beechboro in the 12 month period, and the second column shows the number of nights that KEELS SID departures would have overflown the newly affected area if the proposal had been in place. This second column has fewer flights because half the flights to Dubai would have tracked north of the newly affected area to intercept favourable winds. # night KEELS departures/year 336 216 # flights/night 1 81 60 2 68 41 3 21 18 4 14 5 # nights with 1 or more flights 184 124 Table 6 KEELS SID Number of nights per year with KEELS SID departures 3.3 Aircraft Types Jets using the KEELS SID are predominantly Airbus A340s (61%) and B777s (33%) as shown in Table 7. Runway 03 06 21 24 Total ` A320 1 4 1 6 1% A330 1% A332 2 5 7 1% A340 61% A342 36 70 1 107 9% A343 54 1 76 131 11% A345 125 158 283 25% A346 49 122 171 15% B737 2% B733 2 1 2 2 7 1% B738 6 6 1 13 1% B747 0% B744 1 2 3 0% B777 33% B77L 71 212 283 25% B77W 28 70 98 9% CL60 2 4 6 1% DC86 3 3 0% E190 6 7 1 14 1% GLF5 2 1 3 0% H25B 1 3 4 0% WW24 2 1 3 0% Total 388 2 746 6 1142 Table 7 KEELS SID # Departures of Aircraft Types by Runway 1/5/09 to 30/4/10 October 2010 Page 8
3.4 Altitudes Altitudes of the flight tracks in this report reference Perth Airport elevation, 67 feet (20m). Aircraft noise assessments need to consider the height of aircraft above ground level, but there is no high terrain in the overflown areas, so the height above airport elevation shown in the track plots is close to the height above ground level. Where the tracks change from: pink to green - aircraft are at 3,000 feet green to dark blue - aircraft are at 4,000 feet dark blue to yellow - aircraft are at 5,000 yellow to purple - aircraft are at 6,000 feet purple to light blue - aircraft are at 7,000 feet. October 2010 Page 9
Figure 5 shows an overview of the altitudes while Figures 6, 7, 8 and 9 show more detail of specific areas. Figure 5 KEELS 1/5/2009 30/4/2010 October 2010 Page 10
Figure 6 shows departures on the KEELS SID are between 2,000 feet and 4,000 feet over Beechboro area. Figure 6 Beechboro 1/5/2009 30/4/2010 Figure 7 shows most departures on the KEELS SID are between 3,000 feet and 5,000 feet over Mirrabooka area. Figure 7 Mirrabooka 1/5/2009 30/4/2010 October 2010 Page 11
Figure 8 shows most departures on the KEELS SID are between 3,000 feet and 6,000 feet over Warwick area. Figure 8 Warwick 1/5/2009 30/4/2010 Figure 9 shows most departures on the KEELS SID are between 4,000 feet and 7,000 feet over Waterman area. Here tracks are more widely spread. Figure 9 Waterman 1/5/2009 30/4/2010 October 2010 Page 12
Under this proposal, aircraft are estimated to be between 8,000 and 10,000 feet above the areas that will be newly overflown by these flights. 3.5 Noise Levels While there are no permanent noise monitors positioned to collect data relevant to this assessment, a portable monitor was placed at Beechboro to collect data for a 14 day period in April 2010. Table 8 shows the actual noise levels measured for five KEELS SID departures during this period. All the aircraft are below 3,000 feet when overflying the Beechboro monitor. Date Time Destination Flight Aircraft LAeq LASmax Height Number Type db(a) db(a) (feet) 11-Apr-10 11:45 Johannesburg SAA283 A346 68.6 75.3 2,957 13-Apr-10 00:12 Johannesburg SAA281 A342 74.3 80.3 1,842 14-Apr-10 00:21 Johannesburg SAA281 A342 73.5 79.2 1,986 14-Apr-10 01:48 Mauritius MAU943 A343 70.7 76.5 2,809 15-Apr-10 00:03 Johannesburg SAA281 A346 72.2 77.0 Table 8 Noise levels - Beechboro 2,282 The aircraft will be considerably higher (between 8,000 and 10,000 feet) above the newly overflown areas than they are above Beechboro (below 3,000 feet), due to the extra distance they travel before reaching those areas, and modelling shows noise levels are expected to be between 40 and 60dB(A). The level of 60 db(a) is a measure of disturbance because an external single event noise level of 60 db(a) equates to the sleep disturbance level of 50 db(a) specified in AS2021. (An external single event noise will be attenuated by approximately 10 db(a) by the fabric of a house with open windows.) 3.6 Exposure of Newly Overflown Areas to Other Aircraft Operations Figure 3 shows the areas likely to be subject to the increase in overflights from the proposed change in more detail, including Jindalee, Butler, Ridgewood, Merriwa, Mindarie, Clarkson, Carrama and Banksia Grove. The following figures show how much air traffic below 10,000 feet those areas are currently exposed to, during the month of April 2010. Traffic above 10,000 feet is not available from Airservices Australia s Noise and Flight Path Monitoring System. The newly overflown area is shaded grey in the following figures. October 2010 Page 13
Figure 10 Jet operations above newly overflown area April 2010 Jet traffic comprises arrivals to Runway 21 from the west, departures from to Runways 03 and 21 to the northwest, and military overflights using Pearce airport. October 2010 Page 14
Figure 11 Non-jet operations above newly overflown area April 2010 Non-jet traffic mostly comprises arrivals to Jandakot Airport from the north and military overflights using Pearce airport. October 2010 Page 15
3.6.1 Jet Arrivals Jet arrivals are generally between 5,500 feet and 7,000 feet in altitude. In April 2010 there were 3,665 jet arrivals at Perth Airport, and 19 of these overflew the shaded area, as shown in Figure 12, less than 1 per day on average. There was a maximum of 2 on any single day. Figure 12 Jet arrivals above newly overflown area April 2010 16 of those flights occurred at night (10 pm to 7 am) as shown in Figure 13, an average of less than one per day, and there was a maximum of 2 on any single night. October 2010 Page 16
3.6.2 Jet Departures Figure 13 Night time jet arrivals above newly overflown area April 2010 Jet departures are all above 10,000 feet in altitude over the shaded area. The Noise and Flight Path Management System only displays tracks up to 10,000 feet, so there are no statistics or pictorial representation available for these flights. At this altitude, no intrusive noise impact is expected from these flights. 3.6.3 Jet Overflights Jet overflights (did not land at or depart from Perth Airport) predominantly ranged between 2,000 feet and 6,000 feet in altitude. In April 2010 there were 231 jet overflights in the vicinity of Perth Airport, and 55 of these overflew the shaded area, as shown in Figure 14, October 2010 Page 17
approximately 2 per day on average. There was a maximum of 9 on any single day, and none between 10 pm and 7 am. Figure 14 Jet overflights above newly overflown area April 2010 October 2010 Page 18
3.6.4 Propeller Aircraft The shaded area is overflown by propeller arrivals and departures and predominantly by Jandakot and Pearce operations, shown in red, green and blue in Figure 10. Propeller operations ranged between 1,000 and 10,000 feet in altitude. In April 2010 there were 6,502 propeller flights (arrivals, departures and overflights in the vicinity of Perth Airport), and 317 of these overflew the shaded area, as shown in Figure 15. This is an average of approximately 10 per day. Of these, 2 were arrivals and departures to Perth or Jandakot, and 8 per day were Pearce operations, ranging in height from 2,000 to 10,000 feet. There was a maximum of 28 on any single day, 25 of which were Pearce operations. Figure 15 Propeller overflights above newly overflown area April 2010 October 2010 Page 19
17 of those flights occurred at night (10 pm to 7 am) as shown in Figure 16, an average of less than one per day, and there was a maximum of 2 on any single night. Figure 16 Night time propeller overflights above newly overflown area April 2010 3.7 Emissions The KEELS SID track measures 141 nm from the airport to the KEELS waypoint. Many flights track direct to KEELS once west of the coast, saving approximately 2 nm. Aircraft following the proposed route will fly an additional 4 to 6 nm over the KEELS SID, and 6 to 8 nm more than the direct track to KEELS. On average this is an additional 6 nm per flight. October 2010 Page 20
This represents additional distance of 1,296 nm over the course of a year. This equates to 14,256 kg of fuel, or 45,048 kg of CO2. This is less than 50% of the CO2 created by one flight to South Africa. 4 Findings Areas likely to be subject to the increase in overflights from the proposed change include Jindalee, Butler, Ridgewood, Merriwa, Mindarie, Clarkson, Carrama and Banksia Grove. The departure tracks would be widely spread over this area. No single location will experience all the flights enumerated in this analysis. The areas of Beechboro, Mirrabooka, Balga, Girrawheen, Warwick and Marmion will benefit from a reduction in traffic using the KEELS SID. Although numbers of aircraft using the new procedure will be small, the improvement will be important because they generally operate at night and are below 3,000 feet when overflying some of these areas. The noise impact of the proposal on the newly overflown areas may be noticeable due to low ambient night time noise levels. Modelling shows that maximum noise levels are expected to be below 60 db(a) in the newly overflown areas, which equates to the sleep disturbance level of 50 db(a) specified in AS2021. 5 Conclusion The proposal is not likely to have a significant impact as defined by the EPBC Act, as maximum noise levels are expected to be below 60 db(a) and due to the low numbers of flights involved. 6 Recommendation Although the additional numbers of flights above the newly overflown areas are not of a magnitude likely to be significant as defined by the EPBC Act, it is recommended that the local community is advised of the fact that more aircraft will be overflying the area during the night, and the reasons for this change. There should be ongoing monitoring of the impact through noise complaints to identify any unexpected adverse impact. October 2010 Page 21