CASA has completed a study of the airspace around Hobart and Cambridge airports in Tasmania.
According to CASA, the purpose of the study was to evaluate the arrangements and classifications within 35 nm of Hobart, which includes the general aviation airport at Cambridge as well.
The report notes a 73% increase in traffic into and out of Cambridge in the period December 2009 to June 2016, against a decline of 9.3% at Hobart across the same period. The two airports are only 1 nm apart and both controlled from Hobart Tower.
At the conclusion of the study, CASA made three recommendations.
- The existing airspace classification and architecture (apart from the one CTA step lower limit change, which is already the subject of an airspace change proposal) is appropriate and should remain unchanged.
- CASA should continue to monitor aircraft and passenger movements and incidents at Hobart over the next 24 months to determine whether the trend for growth continues. An aeronautical risk review should then be conducted if necessary.
- To improve efficiencies and predictability, taking into account PBN requirements Airservices should continue redesign work for flight routes into and out of Hobart, make improvements to existing Terminal Instrument Flight Procedures (TIFPs) and introduce STARs into Hobart.
General aviation users who submitted comments to the study highlighted two main issues:
- delays in receiving airways clearances and general inefficiencies in the use of the airspace due to the reported claims of over servicing of Class D procedures by Hobart Tower
- improvements to airspace access and efficiency could be achieved by increasing the level of surveillance available to ATC for separation in lieu of the existing procedural separation standards.
The full airspace study is available from the CASA website.