Tweed residents under or near the Gold Coast Airport flight path fear a review of existing curfews will lead to more night flights and are calling on the government to rule them out.
Fresh on the heels of federal approval for the airport’s controversial runway expansion into the Cobaki wetlands across the border in NSW, the news of the review has taken many by surprise.
Greens candidate for the federal seat of Richmond, Dawn Walker, says community groups are concerned that lifting the curfew will bring more noise from increased night use of the airport.
Ms Walker said locals were suspicious about the intentions of the curfew review, given the proposed destruction of the ecologically-sensitive NSW wetland to make way for the runway expansion and a new landing system.
‘Since approving the controversial Project Lift and ILS expansion into NSW Crown land, the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development has now announced it is conducting an internal review of airport curfew administration arrangements at the Gold Coast Airport,’ she said.
‘The review will “examine opportunities for increasing industry productivity through refinements to current regulatory controls and administrative arrangements”, and is expected to be completed by June.
‘I’m concerned to see that on top of the unwanted runway expansion into sensitive wetlands, the Gold Coast Airport curfew arrangements are now under review.
‘This curfew review was not mentioned at last week’s Aircraft Noise Abatement Consultative Committee. (see http://goldcoastairport.com.au/anacc/)
‘You have to question the Gold Coast Airport’s commitment to consulting the community when this curfew review was not mentioned at last week’s Aircraft Noise Abatement Consultative Committee which is attended by community representatives from the Tweed and Gold Coast.
‘When the previous federal government approved the Gold Coast Airport’s current master plan, the airport was told to communicate more in relation to aircraft noise and environmental issues.
‘This hasn’t happened. Instead we’ve had secrecy.
‘Current airport expansion plans are paving the way for louder, lower planes over the Tweed and to lose the night curfew would be a devastating blow to the community.
‘The Tweed community calls on the government and the Gold Coast Airport to explain the true intentions of the review, and to rule out any increase in night flying,’ Ms Walker said.
I believe your article to be factually misleading, and the comments used within it are incorrect.
ILS systems will potentially reduce noise in some curcumstances. Especially when there is poor weather close to minimums.
ILS systems will provide lower green house immisions. When an airport has an ILS system the alternate minima can be decreased, therefore the aircraft does not have to carry as much fuel reducing the lift required and thereby reducing the drag.
An ILS system provides better safety, it provides the pilot/s with better vertical guidance and reduces workload. This will prevent accidents whereby an aircraft might crash into wetlands releasing tonnes of JET-A1 into the local estuary.
The runway is not being extended, the instrumentation systems require more land.
For locals it might mean less noise. There will be less missed approaches and they contribute to most to the maximum noise level.
ILS systems are required for training, creating a boost for the economy and the flying schools that exist on the Gold Coast.
So implementing the ILS will be;
Safer
Greener
Quieter
James
Air Transport Pilot License Holder
Ok, so now the GCA want to fly in freight planes in the curfew times. Great, so now the border population will have to put up with planes landing and taking off between 11:00pm and 6:00am (mind you, that’s 12:00 and 7:00am in NSW daylight saving time). What’s even worse is that there has been no public conversation about this – all done on the sly.
I’m sure we wouldn’t object to these freight flights during daylight hours as at the moment, the GCA has limited flights in.
For heavens sake, this border area has a huge aged population and flights coming in across those curfew hours will deeply disturb sleep patterns increasing anxiety. Where is the humanity here?
There has been no community consultation on this disruption of the Gold Coast Airport curfews. Sydney still has a 0600 hrs curfew. With Qld state borders opening the argument that there are no passenger flights operating to carry freight no longer passes the pub test. STOP waking me up at 0430 hrs. What difference does 90 minutes make to getting freight to consumers. Get the freight planes to arrive after 0600 hrs. We only had 7 hours of noise freedom and you have decided to take this away from us. It is alright when the sun is up early. What about when it is dark in winter.
Tugun Progress Association is collecting signatures on a petition tomorrow outside IGA at Tugun tomorrow Sat 28/11/20 from 0630 to 1100 hrs. Come along, sign the petition and try and have a small voice in the politics of this region.