[Peetwo]

 The ASGH (Aviation Safety Ground Hog); & Airports?? 

Via the AFR:

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• Mar 22 2018 at 5:36 PM
  
• Updated Mar 22 2018 at 5:36 PM
  

 
Commercial developments at airports threaten safety, Senate report says

Authorities are still investigating a plane crash at the DFO retail centre near Essendon Airport in February 2017. Justin McManus

by Jenny Wiggins

The encroachment of housing and commercial developments around airport land in Australia is creating "significant safety concerns", a Senate committee has found as it called for new rules to limit development near airports.

New guidelines for the development of public safety zones near airports were a "priority", the Senate's rural and regional affairs and transport legislation committee said in its final report on the Airport Amendments Bill.

Australia does not currently have any guidelines for so-called "public safety zones" around airports that allow space for airports to take evasive action or make emergency landings without hitting buildings. Draft guidelines have been prepared by the Commonwealth and Queensland, but legislation has only been passed in Queensland. 

New guidelines could affect future housing and commercial developments near airports, and should be considered by airports in future planning, the committee said.

"It is essential that safety on and around airports is given proper consideration at all times, without being overridden by commercial pressures.

"It should be incumbent on all airport lessees, developers and planners to do more than the bare minimum to adhere to airport planning legislation and frameworks."

The committee expressed concern at how long it was taking for authorities to investigate a fatal plane crash into a Direct Factory Outlet building near Melbourne's Essendon Airport in February 2017, which killed all four passengers and the pilot. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating building approval and planning processes as well as the causes of the crash.

The crash report is not expected to be released until late May or early June, while the planning report is not expected to be released until August. Findings from the ATSB reports could lead to further amendments to airport planning legislation, the committee said.

Any planning changes could affect the development of the new airport precinct at Badgerys Creek in western Sydney, which is being built by the Commonwealth, and areas around proposed new runways at Melbourne and Brisbane airports.

The Australian and International Pilots Association has also raised concerns over buildings near runways that cause turbulent wakes in strong winds and wants airports to be required to assess operational risks of building development.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority said increased numbers of buildings at heights just below prescribed airspace had contributed to wind shear and turbulence in recent years.
Although most of Australia's airports have been privatised, the Commonwealth retains regulatory oversight of building approvals and land use planning on airport sites, as well as approving airport master plans.

The bill aims to make changes to the Airports Act 1996 including lengthening master plan submissions to every eight years from every five years for smaller airports such as Adelaide, Canberra and the Gold Coast, and requiring new noise forecasts for every airport master plan.

Larger airports like Sydney and Airport are still required to prepare master plans every five years.

The committee, which did not hold public hearings but received 23 submissions, recommended the bill be passed by the Senate.

Read more: http://www.afr.com/business/commercial-developments-at-airports-threaten-safety-senate-report-says-20180322-h0xt62#ixzz5BajgFTQ9
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While on commercial developments and aviation safety around airports, I note that yesterday AOPA Australia's Ben Morgan provided media commentary on yesterday's light plane crash at Bankstown airport:
 

Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Australia added 2 new photos.
Yesterday at 3:12pm · [/url]

The AOPA Australia this afternoon assisted our member Whitworth Aviation in responding to media enquiries regarding today’s incident at Bankstown Airport. We are thankful the pilot involved was uninjured.

Responding to media enquiries with respect to the location that the aircraft landed, the AOPA Australia has highlighted our concerns regarding incompatible airport developments, which would see airport land used for safety developed into commercial industrial estates.

“We are incredibly fortunate that the pilot was able to make a safe return to the airport, however had the location on the airport been redeveloped into a commercial industrial estate, the pilot would be presented with extremely limited options, that may very well have resulted in a fatality.”, Benjamin Morgan, AOPA Australia Executive Director, said.

“Today’s incident should be a stark and sombre reminder of the need to prioritise the aviation industry’s safety above the interests of property development profits.”

“Our Association is urging the Government and the airport operator to reassess their plans.”

NOT A MEMBER? JOIN TODAY | AOPA.COM.AU


[url=https://www.facebook.com/AOPAaustralia/photos/pcb.1230380147092908/1230380127092910/?type=3]

Ah yes that old aviation safety chestnut with secondary airports, like Bankstown, being systematically sliced and diced by urban developers...

Blast from the past with Hansard from the 2013 Additional Senate Estimates:

hansard_infra_regional.pdf Size: 887.07 KB  Downloads: 0

Senator FAWCETT: Just to follow up on some of the points Senator Back was making about the imbalance of power, I will take you to Bankstown Airport. As the chair would appreciate, the master plan was signed off under a previous government, a coalition government, but the zoning that was regarded as commercial was viewed by the tenants at the time as being commercial aviation, because it involved areas that were used for the movement of aircraft, specifically helicopters approaching, landing and taxiing to maintenance facilities that people had invested significant amounts of money in building.

There is now advertising on the internet that that land, which currently is a manoeuvre area for helicopters, is being made available by the leaseholder for commercial warehouses, hard stands and other things. His response, when I contacted him, was that it is in the master plan that was approved as commercial areas and that there had been no objections.

To what extent does the department accept that if an airfield is an airfield, predominantly for aviation purposes, then it is reasonable that an existing business, when looking at a proposal saying, 'You are a commercial operation and we are zoning the area you are in as commercial', would expect that things like aircraft movement areas would remain aircraft movement areas and therefore not lodge an objection to that zoning that says commercial?

Is it reasonable for the leaseholder to call for expressions of interest from the public to build warehouses on an area that would then essentially prevent the operation of an established business?

Mr Mrdak: I am not familiar with the circumstances.

Mr Doherty: Obviously in reaching the master plan decision the potential use of the site for aeronautical purposes—and that would be strongly evidenced if it was currently being used for aviation movements and I understand in this case that it is helicopters—then that would be a powerful factor. The difficulty here is that once the master plan is approved, where it is zoned as something to allow for broader commercial development, they are going to look at what they can do to make use of that site. We would certainly be keen for them, if they are moving current aviation users, to explore reasonable alternatives, but it is very hard for us legally to stop them doing what is being allowed under their master plan.

Senator FAWCETT: What is the duty of care by the Commonwealth, as the owner of the airport, if the basis of the lease was that it should predominantly be preserved as an aviation facility? Is there not a duty of care in the Cmmonwealth to make sure when approving master plans that those kinds of loopholes, essentially that then allow a lessor to shut down aviation related businesses, are actually prevented as opposed to being endorsed, acitly, by the Commonwealth?

Mr Doherty: I cannot talk about what happened back in 2005 when that master plan was approved, but it is one of the things that we tried to get to the bottom of.

Mr Mrdak: I would say, as I have said previously, wherever possible our intention is to maximise aeronautical activity. That is what we are looking at. If there has been that issue of a merge which has in someway rezoning has happened without the aeronautical operators being aware or raising their concerns, then we would be concerned about that. We are looking to maximise the aviation operations of that airport, and as you
know better than all of us, aeronautical assets are a very scarce resource.

Senator HEFFERNAN: If this is Bankstown, we have raised this some years ago. This is a doctoring aviation, this fellow here and the cross wind runway being scrapped, the airspace will become unmanageable.

Mr Mrdak: Our concern is to maximise the capacity of Bankstown. If you look at the work of the joint study report it makes it clear how critical Bankstown's aeronautical growth is.

Senator FAWCETT: I would like to take you to some media reporting from October last year that 'Bankstown is looking to take over a state government lease of an adjoining golf course'. Are you familiar with that reporting?

Mr Mrdak: Yes.

Senator FAWCETT: The stated intention is so that they can increase aviation facilities. Reading a bit further, what they are actually talking about is relocating buildings and businesses from the current airport site to the new golf course site, so essentially they have now just become a developer as opposed to an airport operator. What kind of oversight does the Commonwealth exercise on behalf of the existing leaseholders, given the reports we have had from many of these airports, including Canberra, where the leaseholder has almost arbitrarily moved, at the businesses' own expense, those people to a new location? What protection is the Commonwealth seeking to put in place on behalf of those aviation businesses?

Mr Doherty: If that transaction was to go ahead, the first question for the Commonwealth would be whether to incorporate the new land into the airport site, and if that was done then there would be planning. The first hurdle in this case, as I understand it, would be to convince the New South Wales government to make the land available to Bankstown, and I am not sure that they have crossed that hurdle.

Senator FAWCETT: I understand that. In fact, the local government, as well, appears to have objections because of drainage, but what I am more interested in here is the principle. Let us assume that those other two levels of government give it the green light. What I am asking is, in principle, for your governance frameworks, what processes do you have or will you put in place to protect the interests of people who have invested in
aviation enterprises on that site or any other site around Australia?

Mr Doherty: Again, I can only think in terms of the existing regulatory requirements. If there was a substantial new part of the land to be added to the airport, we would certainly consider calling in a new master plan and try to examine some of those issues about what this would mean for the existing tenants on the site.

Equally, if an airport was proposing to move tenants around on the airport under some power, we would look at how to satisfy ourselves about the impact of that before giving any regulatory approval that was required...

From the same Hansard link and very much related to the previous post, plus the safety issues connected to commercial developments around airports, the following extract was taken from the CASA segment of the Hansard:
   

Senator BACK: I would be keen for your advice with regard to the potential threat to aviators of the new wave of industrial wind turbines. There has been discussion on two fronts; first of all, the height of the tower plus the blades when they are extended to their full height and the second, of course, is associated with bushfires in the area where wind turbines might be located. Could you help the committee by giving us some ideas as to where the risks might lie, what heights of wind turbines or the vertical height of any obstacle I suppose, but in this instance a wind turbine, that would constitute a risk to aviation? Could you also address that question in the context of limited visibility and presumably air turbulence occasioned with bushfires?

Mr J McCormick: As we discussed before, in an answer on notice to a question about wind farms, the question of wind farms has been addressed through the NASAG process, of which the department has carriage.

As far as general terms of wind farms go, if they are within 15 kilometres and in some cases, depending on the regulation, within 30 kilometres of an airfield that is certified or registered, then it is on the operator, the constructor or the owner to ensure that the wind turbine does not impinge on the obstacle limitation surface. If it does impinge upon the obstacle limitation surface, in other words the safety slope into the runway, then CASA has the power to act in that area. Outside of that, it has been an issue which has been discussed many times in this committee. Secretary Mrdak might like to add a bit more and I will ask Mr Cromarty, our Airspace and Aerodrome Regulation Division executive manager, to give you a bit more detail.

Senator BACK: Thank you. Just before he does, that safety slope that you speak of, I guess what interests me is either 15 or 30 kilometres. What is the highest vertical height that triggers that concern regarding that safety slope?

Mr J McCormick: That safety slope goes away from the runway threshold at a defined angle, so depending on how far away from the airfield it is and what the elevation of the terrain is that the wind turbine has been built on compared to the terrain the airfield is on will vary. There is no fixed height where we, as far as the obstacle limitation surface goes, are concerned.

Senator BACK: Your concern would be height above the airfield, itself, whether that is made up of natural landforms and/or obstacles such as a tower?

Mr J McCormick: Yes. I will ask Mr Cromarty to give you a little bit more information around the 15 and 30 kilometre limits.

Mr Cromarty: I would just like to clarify one thing that the director said which is that the obstacle limitation surfaces and the PANS-OPS surfaces are different. There is no CASA power to stop obstructions penetrating obstacle limitation surfaces. If they are within the vicinity of an aerodrome and they penetrate the obstacle limitation surface, we have the power to make the proponent light the obstacle and that is all. If they are away from the vicinity of the aerodrome we have no powers at all. If they penetrate the PANS-OPS services then the department has powers to prohibit that.

Senator BACK: Light the obstacle or in some circumstances no capacity at all?

Mr Cromarty: Correct.

Senator BACK: Or if they penetrate the PANS?

Mr Cromarty: The PANS-OPS. That is the procedures for our navigation services operations surface. These are the surfaces that are derived when an instrument approach procedure is drawn up.

Senator BACK: When it comes to my concern about safe flying in bushfire circumstances, all of that responsibility rests with the pilot, does it?

Mr Cromarty: That is correct.

Senator BACK: To place his or her aircraft in a—

Mr Cromarty: If they are away from the vicinity of an aerodrome, which generally they are, then it is up to the pilot to do the proper preparation for his flight, flight planning, to determine where the obstacles are. In the case of agricultural aircraft, they often do a risk assessment of the whole area to make sure that they are aware of exactly where the obstacles are and, as you say, it is not just wind turbines. Quite often they put up towers to monitor the wind before they build the wind turbine—radio towers, mobile phone towers and so on—so the pilot would do their preparation in advance and know exactly where the obstacles are. In the reduced visibility circumstance that becomes even more critical, as you can imagine.

Senator BACK: But, once again, no role for the organisation to alert aviators to any special risk associated in this case with bushfire?

Mr Cromarty: We require notification when obstacles are going to be built above 110 metres above ground level. When we receive that notification we write to the proponent and point out to them the various stakeholders that they would probably want to talk to in the event that they do their due diligence and not put up an obstacle for aviation. All we can do is suggest to them the people that they should talk to, such as local aerodromes, Airservices Australia for the PANS-OPS criteria, the agricultural association and so on. There is a list of them that we suggest and we also tell them that they should be notifying it to the Department of Defence because they hold the database on obstacles.

Senator BACK: Thank you. That is all I wanted.

- Ever get the feeling that matters of identified aviation safety risk and risk mitigation in this country is stuck in some kind of bizarre bureaucratic ground hog day?? - UDB...

TICK...TOCK - (new) miniscule 'do nothing' McCormack, Senators, Carmody et.al - TICK...TOCK INDEED!

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MTF...P2