Canberra Noise Information Pack December 2011 Table of Contents Purpose 2 Overview 2 Canberra Airport 3 Hours of Operation/Noise Abatement Areas 3 Runway Configuration 3 Air Traffic 3 Track density plot for all aircraft first quarter 2011 4 Typical tracks for different wind conditions 5 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. 1
Purpose The purpose of this document is to provide information to the community on aircraft operations around Canberra. Overview Canberra Airport is situated approximately 7 kms to the east of the city. The Canberra area is affected by aircraft noise either from helicopters, fixed wing propeller or jet powered aircraft. Operations may occur at hospital helipads, Southcare Helicopter base (6.5km south of the airport) or from Canberra Airport. Helicopters and light aircraft often follow regular scenic routes via the Racecourse, Lake Ginninderra, Black Mountain or Coppins Crossing, Mount Taylor and Mount Mugga. There is a single environmental (noise) monitoring unit (EMU) located at Jerrabomberra, 9km south of the airport, Figure 1. Figure 1: Canberra Airport and location of Environmental Monitoring Unit at Jerrabomerra 2
Canberra Airport Hours of Operation/Noise Abatement Areas Air Traffic Control (ATC) services are provided during the hours of 6:00am to 11:00pm. There is no curfew at Canberra airport. However, a number of noise abatement procedures are used to reduce the impact of aircraft operations on the community. A noise abatement area applies to most areas of Canberra and Queanbeyan. Aircraft will normally be routed to avoid the noise abatement area, which covers most of Gungahlin, North Canberra, Belconnen, South Canberra, Woden, Tuggeranong and Queanbeyan, shown as two grey regions in Figure 3. Where it isn't practical for aircraft to remain clear of those areas, overflight of the noise abatement area is restricted to altitudes of 7,000 feet (above mean sea level) by jet aircraft, and 5,000 feet (above mean sea level) by propeller aircraft (over 5,700kg MTOW). A number of exceptions apply to the noise abatement areas such as aircraft emergencies, medical priorities and to avoid hazardous weather. Runway Configuration Canberra Airport has two runways, Figure 2. The main runway 17/35 is used for the majority of aircraft traffic. This runway also has a precision navigation aid, an Instrument Landing System (ILS), to enhance the safe operation of aircraft landing from the south. There is no ILS for aircraft arriving from the north. The shorter runway is 12/30 and is used mainly by propeller driven light aircraft. For noise abatement purposes the preferred direction of operation for aircraft using the main runway during daylight hours (7:00am 8:00pm local time) is in the 350 o direction. However, 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. Air Traffic During the 2010 calendar year Canberra had 68,252 movements. This includes jet aircraft and general aviation traffic. Australia's VIP fleet is based at Canberra, as well as several fixed-wing and helicopter flying schools. 3
Track density plot 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 Canberra. Figure 3 shows the quarterly track density plot for all aircraft operations for the period January March 2011. 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 of all aircraft, Jan March 2011 Source: First quarter 2011, Noise and Flight Path Monitoring System Report - Canberra Quarterly Report Jan March 2011 4
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 northerly (blowing from the north to the south) and in Figure 5 the wind is southerly (blowing from the south to the north). Typical tracks for northerly wind conditions Figure 4: Typical tracks in northerly wind conditions 24 hours of aircraft movements, 6 January 2011 Source: Airport Noise and Operations Management System (ANOMS) 5
Typical tracks for southerly wind conditions Figure 5: Typical tracks in southerly wind conditions 24 hours aircraft movements, 25 March, 2011 Source: Airport Noise and Operations Management System (ANOMS) 6
Community Engagement The Canberra Airport Community Aviation Consultation Group (CACG) is the forum for community engagement with airport management and other aviation industry stakeholders and was established in accordance with the initiative identified in the Federal Government s Aviation White Paper 2009. The purpose of the CACG is to ensure community views are heard by the airport and to provide members of the community with an opportunity to obtain information about airport operations. The CACG provides a forum to discuss a range of airport matters including aviation and non-aviation developments and planning or regulatory changes. The Canberra Airport CACG is run by an independent chair. Meetings are held three times a year with details published by the Airport. Airservices attends CACG meetings and representatives provide regular reports to the group. Other Resources Noise and Flight Path Monitoring System The Canberra Airport component of the Noise and Flight Path Monitoring System (NFPMS) has one permanently installed Environmental Monitoring Unit collecting noise data at Jerrabomberra. In addition to the permanent monitoring unit, there are portable units which may be connected to the system for measuring aircraft noise data at temporary locations from time to time. 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 Canberra Airport Community Aviation Consultation Group (CACG). Airservices publishes reports from the NFPMS on a quarterly basis on its website at http://www.airservicesaustralia.com/publications/reports-and-statistics/noise-reports/ 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 Canberra 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: http://www.airservicesaustralia.com/aviationenvironment/noise/webtrak/ 7
Canberra Airport s Website The airport s website contains information about the current activities at the airport including; Noise Maps, Community Aviation Consultation Group, and details of the airport s Master Plan http://www.canberraairport.com.au/ 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, which details the Government s aviation policy. http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/ 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). http://www.casa.gov.au/ 8