The Civil Aviation Safety Authority is considering community feedback on the Bankstown South-East VFR Corridor concept, which has highlighted three main problems with the design.
Airservices Australia and CASA's Office of Airspace Regulation (OAR) released in August the design for a VFR corridor that would link Bankstown to a proposed new training area to the south-east.
The proposal envisages an outbound lane running from Revesby Station to Casuarina Oval and Woronora Cemetery, and an inbound lane from Engadine to Ridge Golf Course, Sandy Point Mine and Brighton Lakes Golf Club.
Public consultation closed in late October, with CASA issuing a feedback summary yesterday.
"Submissions were received from a wide variety of airspace users including aerial work operators, flight training organisations, air transport licence holders, commercial licence holders, private/recreational pilots, emergency services, air navigation service provider officers, sports aviation pilots, and some non-aviation industry stakeholders," CASA says.
"Eighty-eight percent of the responses received were from fixed wing operators with 12% from rotary wing operators."
Of the 100 submissions, 61 have been made public, revealing a mixture of concerns, with three main issues raised with some regularity.
- the low-level nature of the corridor
- the risk of mid-air collision
- likelihood of controlled airspace and restricted airspace incursions.
The corridor, if it is implemented as proposed, will have a ceiling of 1500 feet, and at its narrowest point between Sandy Point Mine (SPTM) and Casuarina Oval (CASO) is only 1.4 nm wide. It will be bordered by Sydney CTA to the east and Holsworthy restricted area to the west.
"The VFR lanes remain in close proximity to restricted areas, controlled airspace and each other," respondent Ozanne wrote. "This leaves limited room to manoeuvre to avoid confliction.
"Further, the flight path of the VFR lanes is over densely populated areas (at the northern end) and rugged terrain (at the southern end). Finally, the proposed corridor is not conducive to the typical VFR flow – aircraft would have to join/remain in the corridor from/to the coast (placing them in confliction with the VFR coastal routes and hang glider activity) or depart/join RGCO [Ridge Golf Course] (leading to a traffic funneling effect).
"Overall this design constricts air traffic and in fact reduces safety."
Respondent Holodenko raised concerns about the potential for traffic conflict as well.
"We had a few midair collisions around Bankstown approach and reporting points," Holodenko said. "My concern is that it is a bad idea to force inbound aircraft to a single point to enter the Bankstown airspace from a particular sector.
"The pilots should be able to enter Bankstown CTR from any direction, including Class C airspace and the key to it is to expect a quick approval from ATC to transit Class C when safe."
"While many respondents acknowledged the inherent constraints posed by the adjacent restricted areas and the Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (KSA) control zone, concerns were raised about the risk of collision with opposite tracking aircraft operating along the proposed inbound and outbound lanes simultaneously," CASA noted.
"This is particularly the case for less experienced pilots, creating a significant risk of air proximity incidents.
"Marginal visual meteorological conditions (VMC) were also cited as a potential contributing factor, as was the perceived complexity of the arrival procedure during a high workload phase of flight."
Respondents also saw that the narrow nature of the corridor could result in an increase in violations of controlled airspace as pilots juggled staying clear of traffic and simultaneously remaining in the confines of the corridor.
"Many considered the narrow dimensions set an unrealistic expectation that VFR aircraft could navigate accurately enough in the available airspace," CASA said. "Using GPS navigation tools, which are typically seen as a risk mitigation measure, was also considered risky because it requires a head-down rather than a heads-up posture.
"This issue was particularly highlighted in responses from some flying training organisations."
However, Aeria Management Group (AMG), the company that operates Bankstown Airport, sees the design as a way of reducing costs on aviation companies.
"Ensuring efficient access to Sydney flight training areas is critical to the ongoing operations and viability of flight schools at Bankstown Airport," AMG said in their submission.
"The Corridor will provide direct and shorter access for flight training schools between Bankstown Airport and flight training areas in the southeast, substantially reducing travel times and costs.
"Similarly, the provision of a Class G transit route to and from Bankstown Airport will reduce the financial and operational impacts on smaller GA operators of otherwise having to comply with Class D airspace, including the costs of equipment, time and administrative resources associated with mandatory flight planning."
CASA has said it will take all feedback under consideration in conjunction with Airservices Australia and the feedback received from their community consultation.
The summary of consultation responses is on the CASA Consultation Hub.