Gold Coast Noise Information pack June 2012 Table of Contents Purpose 2 Overview 2 Hours of Operation/Curfews 3 Runway Configuration 3 Air Traffic 4 Track Density Plot 4 Typical tracks for Wind Conditions - Southerly 5 Northerly 6 Training Circuit Operations 7 Community Engagement 8 Other Resources 8 & 9 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 in the Gold Coast area. Overview Gold Coast Airport is located at the southern end of the Gold Coast just west of the Gold Coast Highway adjacent to Bilinga Beach, only 3km from Kirra, Figure 1. The Gold Coast/Coolangatta area is affected by aircraft noise, either from helicopters, fixed wing propeller or jet powered aircraft. Helicopter operations may occur at tourist or hospital helipads, or from airports at Gold Coast and Southport (Mason Field which is 30km north of Gold Coast Airport). Float plane activity occasionally occurs on the Tweed River. There is a general aviation flight path that follows the coastline. There is also a Western Visual Flight Rules (VFR) Route approximately 6km to the west of the airport. Use of the Western VFR Route is subject to weather conditions over the mountain ranges. There are two environmental (noise) monitoring units (EMUs) located at Tugun and Banora Point. Figure 1: Location of Gold Coast Airport 2
Hours of Operation/Curfews Although Gold Coast Airport is operational 24 hours of the day, there is a night curfew in place which restricts operations in and out of Gold Coast Airport during the hours of 11:00pm to 6:00am. The details of the curfew are available from the Department of Infrastructure and Transport website, http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/aviation/ environmental/curfews/ Air Traffic Control (ATC) services are provided for flights between the hours of 6.00am to 11.00pm. Runway Configuration Gold Coast Airport has two runways, Figure 2. The main runway, 14/32 is used for the majority of aircraft traffic. A smaller runway 17/35 is used mainly by light aircraft. For noise abatement purposes the preferred direction for operations at Gold Coast Airport is 140 (arrivals from the north and departures to the south). However, runway selection is determined by 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. There is no Instrument Landing System (ILS) at Gold Coast Airport although there are other navigation aids to assist aircraft landing during poor weather conditions. In cases of extreme weather, aircraft requiring an ILS will divert to Brisbane Airport (100km to the North). Outside the hours of ATC service pilots of small, permitted aircraft (http:// www.infrastructure.gov.au/ Figure 2: Gold Coast Airport runways aviation/environmental/curfews/) will select the most suitable runway for the aircraft operation and will consider what navigation aids are available, the weather conditions and noise impact. 3
Air Traffic During the 2010 calendar year Gold Coast Airport had 107,030 movements. This includes jet aircraft and some circuit training operations involving both fixed wing aircraft and helicopters. 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 indicating 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 the Gold Coast. Figure 3 shows the quarterly track density plot for all aircraft operations for the period January March 2011. The grey circles show the location of each environmental monitoring 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 and above 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 Jan March 2011 Source: Noise and Flight Path Monitoring System Report Gold Coast 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 southerly (blowing from the south to the north) and in Figure 5 the winds is northerly (blowing from the north to the south.) Typical tracks for southerly wind conditions Figure 4: Typical movements in southerly wind conditions, 24 hours, 13 January, 2011 Source: Airport Noise Operations Management System (ANOMS) 5
Typical tracks for northerly wind conditions Figure 5: Typical movements in northerly winds, 24 hours 1 March 2011 Source: Airport Noise Operations Management System (ANOMS) 6
Training Circuit Operations There are a number of flying training schools at Gold Coast Airport. Training flights include several circuits out to approximately 10km from the runway. The direction of these will depend on the wind conditions. Examples of circuit operations are shown in Figure 6. Figure 6: Typical circuit operations 1-20 June 2012 Source: Airport Noise Operations Management System (ANOMS) 7
Community Engagement Gold Coast Airport provides two main forums for community and stakeholder engagement; 1. Community Aviation Consultation Group (CACG) 2. Airport Noise Abatement Consultative Committee (ANACC) CACG The CACG is the primary forum for community engagement with airport management and other 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 Gold Coast 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. ANACC The ANACC focuses specifically on aircraft noise issues around the Gold Coast and has been established since the late 1990s. It is a subcommittee of the CACG. The purpose of the ANACC is to consider and, where possible, make recommendations on matters relating to operations at Gold Coast Airport. The ANACC examines noise complaints and monitors aircraft movements. The ANACC is comprised of representatives endorsed by local community groups. Details of local representation are available from the Gold Coast Airport website. Airservices representatives attend the ANACC and provide regular reports to the committee. Other Resources Noise and Flight Path Monitoring System The Gold Coast Airport component of the Noise and Flight Path Monitoring System (NFPMS) has two permanently installed Environmental Monitoring Units collecting noise data at Tugun and Banora Point. The monitoring locations are regularly reviewed for their suitability in addressing the impact of aircraft noise on the local community. These reviews consider suggestions for future monitoring locations from the Airport Noise Abatement Consultative Committee (ANACC). Airservices publishes reports from the NFPMS on a quarterly basis on its website at http://www.airservicesaustralia.com/publications/reports-and-statistics/noise-reports/ 8
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 Gold Coast 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/ Gold Coast Airport Website The airport s website contains information of the current activities at the airport including; noise maps, Airport Noise Abatement Consultation Committee, Community Aviation Consultation Group and details on the airports Master Plan. http://goldcoastairport.com. Department of Infrastructure and Transport Website Information on aircraft noise regulations, Airport curfews, factsheets 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. 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/ 9