Airservices Australia has started installing an en-route radar in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
The radar, being built at Paraburdoo, will be used to provide ATC surveillance in the region and enable Airservices to respond to the increase in air traffic.
It will provide controllers with coverage down to the ground at Paraburdoo, to approximately 10,000 feet for traffic at West Angeles, Barimunya and Fortescue Dave Forrest and to about 15,000 feet for traffic to Newman.
It will also provide some radar coverage at Karratha.
Airservices Executive General Manager Projects and Engineering, Mark Rodwell, said that air traffic in WA had grown exponentially in the last five years.
“Perth Airport, the hub for growth in Western Australia, has experienced a rise of 12.5 per cent in aircraft movements in the last year alone,” he said. “With so many additional planes flying to and from the Pilbara region, radar provides us with the capability to know the exact location of an aircraft in real time."
The radar should be completed by November 2012 and the onset of the wet season.