It didn't take long for the scare strategies to emerge in the popular media, following the accident near Bankstown Airport last week. This report from the local Bankstown paper was pretty typical:
The plane crash at Canley Vale which killed Bankstown pilot Andrew Wilson last week occurred less than two weeks after changes were made to improve flight procedures at Bankstown Airport.
Although the cause of the incident is still under investigation and may well be due to mechanical failure, the tragedy raises serious questions about the safety of the airport.
It is the second busiest airport in the country located in a densely-populated area and caters for passengers, cargo traffic, student pilots and emergency services.
According to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, there have been 17 investigated crash incidents involving Bankstown Airport since 1970 including a mid-air collision, which caused a light plane to crash into a Casula home in December 2008.
There are 350,000 flights at Bankstown Airport a year, compared with Sydney airport which only has 290,000 flights.
The airport has become even busier with the closure of Hoxton Park Airport in 2008 and the increasing diversion of more light planes from Sydney airport to Bankstown.
Bankstown Airport sits in a highly-populated area, with five schools, a preschool and nursing home all within 1km of its flight zone.
Concerns about the airport’s safety have prompted the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) to implement 24 recommended changes to flight procedures at Bankstown and five other secondary airports on June 3.
The recommendations made by aviation consultant Ambidji were part of a study commissioned by CASA which found risks associated with the general aviation aerodrome procedures (GAAP) operations at Bankstown and two other airports were “intolerable when compared with the CASA risk criteria”.
One of the recommendations was to limit “peak traffic movements” at Bankstown, Jandakot in Perth and Moorabbin in Melbourne.
CASA spokesman Paul (sic) Gibson said: “The (flight procedure) changes are to enhance situational awareness - in other words the ability of pilots to be aware of all the other traffic - as well as communicate effectively with air traffic control,” he said. “This reduces the risk of incidents and accidents.”
Eleven days later pilot Andrew Wilson and nurse Kathy Sheppard were killed when their light plane crashed into the power line in front of a Canley Vale home.
There's no logical chain of reasoning behind this story, which is replete with non-sequiturs. But it's the sort of thing that leaps on to front pages and television screens immediately after aircraft incidents and accidents. It would be refreshing to see some balanced and rational reporting, instead of something designed purely to frighten the local residents.