On 6th May, the CASA education team of Tim Penney and Michael White held an education briefing for pilots on the proposed changes to airspace at the secondary airports around Australia and the changing procedures for flights into and out of non controlled airports. About sixty pilots turned up including a number of pilots from the ACST.
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Changes at GAAP Airports
The first half dealt with the new procedures for the secondary airports Moorabbin, Parafield, Bankstown, Archerfield and Jandakot. As of 3rd June, the GAAP procedures will no longer apply at these airports and they will be run more closely aligned with internationally recognised Class D procedures. Here at Cambridge we are used to working with a class D tower already. There are a few minor differences in the procedures but in practical terms, there will not be much difference to the way we operate now.
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Some of these differences are:
| • | Use of abbreviated clearances when establishing two way communications |
| • | VMC Criteria and distances from cloud |
| • | Entry to the class D zone not constrained to particular tracking points. |
In particular, VMC criteria in class D will be:
| • | Flight visibility of 5000m. |
| • | Horizontal distance from cloud 600m |
| • | Vertical distance from cloud, 1000 ft if above, or 500 ft if below. |
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Special VFR procedures can be used if an appropriate clearance is given by the tower:
| • | Flight conducted clear of cloud |
| • | Visibility not less than 1600m for fixed wing and 800m or helicopters |
| • | The flight is conducted in accordance with CAR 157 with regard to low flying. |
This is not the place to duplicate all the procedural changes. All pilots will have received a booklet from CASA which completely document all changes - you should read it. If you do not have a copy of the booklet you can read or download it. I couldn't actually find it on the CASA website, though I expect it's there somewhere.
The GFA have a copy of a pamphlet covering the details of changes which is on their website that you can download from:
http://www.gfa.org.au/Docs/CASA/CLASS%20D%20brochure%20final%20WEB%20160410.pdf
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Changes to Operations at Non-Controlled Aerodromes
There a re a number of changes in regard to operations at non-controlled aerodromes. Amongst others, they include:
| • | Circuit traffic separated by height and distance from the runway for different speeds: |
| 1. | High speed aircraft at 1500 feet agl (over 150 knots) further out |
| 2. | Mid range speed aircraft at 1000 feet agl (over 55 knots, less than 150 knots) distance out as usual |
| 3. | Low speed at 500 feet agl (below 55 knots) closer in |
| • | Final approaches & go arounds: |
| 1. | Final of 500 metres no longer required |
| 2. | Turn on to final should not be below 500 ft |
| 3. | Go arounds must be done on the dead side of the circuit |
| • | Departures and approaches may be in any direction |
| • | If crossing the circuit, you must be a minimum of 500 ft above the circuit height |
| • | Straight in approaches are now allowed under certain conditions: |
| 1. | Must be set up by 3 nm from the runway |
| 3. | Appropriate radio calls |
| • | Radio Required by ALL aircraft at Certified aerodromes (includes RAA, ultralights, gliders..). (Certified aerodromes are identified in ERSA with a "CERT" designation). |
There is a paper on all the procedures and conditios which you can download from:
http://www.casa.gov.au/wcmswr/_assets/main/download/caaps/ops/166-1.pdf
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CASA also has an eLearning website at:
http://casaelearning.com.au/M01/index.htm for class D changes and
http://casaelearning.com.au/M02/index.htm for changes to operations in the vicinity of non-controlled aerodromes.
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