Further information for residents of Buddina and Point Cartwright
We have received a number of queries from communities south of the airport, including Buddina and Point Cartwright, that have been requesting the flight paths be amended to follow this procedure:
“At the earliest of 500 feet or departure end of runway turn left and track 100 degrees, at 8 DME SU intercept outbound track (track direct Moolo)”.
This procedure is not possible to implement according to international design standards:
- As some aircraft can still be only at 16 feet at the departure end of a runway, and a turn left at that stage would not provide minimum obstacle clearance and would be unsafe; and
- if an aircraft was at 500 feet and still above the runway, a turn left would expose a large area of residential communities to direct overflight.
Given the range of aircraft type and operations at Sunshine Coast Airport, that would result in a large splay of where aircraft might go, and would spread the impact of aircraft operations and noise over communities.
Procedures require that aircraft can only turn after reaching 500 feet, or the departure end of the runway – whichever is the latter.
The Airservices design for the Runway 13 departure is safe, compliant and correct, and minimises the effect of aircraft operations on the community.
