Gold Coast southern departures reinstatement

Airservices proactively works with Gold Coast Airport and the community to minimise noise impacts where possible. To reduce the impact of aircraft noise on local residents and at the request of the community, Airservices trialled a change to a flight path for southern departures from Gold Coast Airport.

The trial flight path change commenced on 8 January 2015 for southern departures on Runway 14 and continued for 12 months, to cover normal seasonal patterns of runway use and allow the community the opportunity to provide feedback.

Airservices considers the trial did not achieve the intended noise reductions. The trial also unintentionally concentrated flights over Farrants Hill. Due to this, and in consideration of community feedback, Airservices has decided not to implement the trial flight path permanently. A process was undertaken to reinstate the Runway 14 departure flight path procedure which occurred on 23 June 2016.

Gold Coast Runway 14 southern departures trial (Banora Point Golf Course) outcome factsheet

Post implementation review

Process undertaken

The process taken to reinstate the flight path included:

  • The original APAGI RWY 14 Standard Instrument Departure (SID) was re-evaluated using the latest obstacle data and the current valid CASA Manual of Standards (MOS) 173 and ICAO criteria.
  • CASA validation was approved and submitted to Airservices for review and endorsement.
  • National Request for Change (NRCF) process commenced.
  • NRFC process was completed and the procedure was submitted for publication as an AIP SUP and will be effective on the next AIRAC date.
  • The next available AIRAC publishing date is 23 June 2016. Reinstatement will be effective and the new procedure available for use 23 June 2016.

International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) recommends that an aeronautical change submitted to AIP becomes effective 56 days after publication to allow adequate time for the data to be entered into the air traffic control system and aircraft flight management systems.

Flight path design

Re-instating the pre-trial flight path required Airservices to update procedures in compliance with current design rules and limitations that were updated in 2015 (the pre-trial procedure was established in 2013). Due to this, there will be a small variation in the flight path that will be re-instated. The design rule requires a change in one Waypoint on the Standard Instrument Departure (SID). Whilst the waypoint locations are exactly the same, the waypoint closest to the runway had to be changed from a fly-by to a fly-over. This is due its close proximity to the runway which may cause the aircraft autopilot to turn well inside the waypoint and making the flight path corridor much larger than previously.

A small section of the flight path corridor from the Terranora Creek (near Pacific Motorway) to the southern end of the Banora Point Golf Course may be up to 100m wider than it was previously (image below). This change will have no noticeable difference in aircraft noise at ground level. It is also unlikely to be a visible change in aircraft tracking.

Related information

This page provides a summary of the flight path and airspace changes we implemented in 2016.