Yswg airspace & airport masterplan

[Captain]

Wagga Wagga City Council and The Office of Airspace Regulation are giving a presentation on Airspace and the Wagga Airport Masterplan to airport users over drinks & nibblies at Wagga Airport Terminal on the evening of Nov 17th.

 

With the recently increased movements at YSWG due to the REX Flight Training School relocating here, I fear for what the Airspace implications might be for us RA Aus guys, but will report further after the meeting.

 

Ahlocks and I will be there.

 

Is anyone else going? Will you be there Fred?

 

 

[Guest jabiru]

Last Night?

 

So what was the outcome from last night's meeting at the Wagg Wagga terminal ?

 

 

[Captain]

So what was the outcome from last night's meeting at the Wagg Wagga terminal ?

G'day Shaun,

 

The Mayor announced that WWCC have approved the expenditure of $7 million on resurfacing the taxiways and the runway.

 

An ILS was also approved to be installed but I am not sure whether that is part of the $7 M.

 

The night was mainly aimed at the commercial end of town and they forgot to mention or welcome the GA community, let alone the Recreational Aviators, even though we have 2 RAA training ops and the NSW Tecnam Agent on the field.

 

The Airport Master Plan was not unveiled, so they substituted some lightweight feel-good garbage about e-learning and a simpleton's guide about "Where will your buiness be in 2020" with the word "aviation" dropped into the text 2 or 3 times.

 

But WWCC's Airport Manager indicated that substantial growth in RPT and commercial activities is anticipated, including moving to a parallel runway in about 10 years (or was it 20 AhLo?).

 

The bloke from The Office of Airspace Regulation gave a talk listing all of the regulations, said how busy they are, and listed the options for Wagga Airspace in a slide that flashed up for about 20 seconds and covered the span from doing nothing to a full tower.

 

In my humble little opinion it was very lightweight feel-good stuff with the guy from The Office of Airspace Regulation saying that "they want to work with us", "it's great to see so much energy in the room" etc etc.

 

When I questioned the rep from The Office of Airspace Regulation it was a clear inference (IMHO) that Wagga will go to a tower (and the hardware all exists on the field) within 2 - 5 years ..... all for good and valid traffic and risk minimisation reasons. And when The Office of Airspace Regulation "work with us" at that time it will most likely be to give us a direction to bugger off to Temora or Narranderah or Holbrook or Tumut.

 

What the night indicated to me is that the RA Aus needs to continue to lobby for a Controlled Airspace Endorsement .......... but I wonder if there might be one for Country Controlled Strips (and here I mean the likes of Albury, Wagga, Tamworth etc) where the activity to relatively light and procedures pretty simple, and another for the likes of Bankstown, Moorabin or the big smoke etc.

 

Does anyone else want to comment on the night or my conclusions?

 

Regards Geoff

 

 

[Gibbo]

If Wagga goes to Class D airspace then I am really starting to get worried about access to Fuel.

 

Yarrawonga has lost the shell depot.. Wagga locked out. What will happen if the wind is way in excess of forecast and I need to get fuel. Long way to go out there for a bit of juice..

 

Wagga council take note - I use Wagga at least once a month and stay overnight most times. Fuel - $100, Room $125, Dinner and breakfast $50, Taxi $30, Few drinks $30 and it soon starts adding up. Wagga will lose thousands of dollars over the next few years just from myself. How many indirect job losses will occur if they go to Class D!

 

Emerald shire (qld) acknowledges that having an open access airport is worth at least $300 per night per pilot / passenger that takes the overnight stay option.

 

I would help employ at least 20 people in town.

 

Oh and it will make it hard to see my wife's family who live about 500m from the gate.

 

 

[ahlocks]

Me thinks that Wagga council is all starry eyed about the new airline training setup and can't see the woods for the trees at the moment.....

 

On the brighter side, apparently the golden hair child doesn't want CTR either so class E above and CA/GRS seems the most likely.

 

 

[turboplanner]

What the night indicated to me is that the RA Aus needs to continue to lobby for a Controlled Airspace Endorsement .......... but I wonder if there might be one for Country Controlled Strips (and here I mean the likes of Albury, Wagga, Tamworth etc) where the activity to relatively light and procedures pretty simple, and another for the likes of Bankstown, Moorabin or the big smoke etc.Does anyone else want to comment on the night or my conclusions?

 

Regards Geoff

In the CTA argument:

 

It's clear that of the 8000 RA Aus pilots, close to 100% are cautious, level headed and professional.

 

There is a very obviou safety issue in forcing pilots to fly around CTA locations where there is unsafe terrain.

 

Issues in the larger Regional towns are not as complicated as the Cities.

 

So I agree RA Aus should consider pushing for a Trial conditional CTA endorsement related to the unsafe airports and regional centres.

 

Gibbo makes an excellent point which is always lost on Councils until you point it out to them.

 

It would be good to have a "What does Recreational Aviation do for your town" on the RA Aus website and on a CD, so when local issues (mainly slobbering developers working over the council to get cheap land for houses or factories) come up there's a Van Nuys type story there which shows the value of aviation.

 

 

[nong]

G'day Shaun,The Mayor announced that WWCC have approved the expenditure of $7 million on resurfacing the taxiways and the runway.

 

An ILS was also approved to be installed but I am not sure whether that is part of the $7 M.

 

The night was mainly aimed at the commercial end of town and they forgot to mention or welcome the GA community, let alone the Recreational Aviators, even though we have 2 RAA training ops and the NSW Tecnam Agent on the field.

 

The Airport Master Plan was not unveiled, so they substituted some lightweight feel-good garbage about e-learning and a simpleton's guide about "Where will your buiness be in 2020" with the word "aviation" dropped into the text 2 or 3 times.

 

But WWCC's Airport Manager indicated that substantial growth in RPT and commercial activities is anticipated, including moving to a parallel runway in about 10 years (or was it 20 AhLo?).

 

The bloke from The Office of Airspace Regulation gave a talk listing all of the regulations, said how busy they are, and listed the options for Wagga Airspace in a slide that flashed up for about 20 seconds and covered the span from doing nothing to a full tower.

 

In my humble little opinion it was very lightweight feel-good stuff with the guy from The Office of Airspace Regulation saying that "they want to work with us", "it's great to see so much energy in the room" etc etc.

 

When I questioned the rep from The Office of Airspace Regulation it was a clear inference (IMHO) that Wagga will go to a tower (and the hardware all exists on the field) within 2 - 5 years ..... all for good and valid traffic and risk minimisation reasons. And when The Office of Airspace Regulation "work with us" at that time it will most likely be to give us a direction to bugger off to Temora or Narranderah or Holbrook or Tumut.

 

What the night indicated to me is that the RA Aus needs to continue to lobby for a Controlled Airspace Endorsement .......... but I wonder if there might be one for Country Controlled Strips (and here I mean the likes of Albury, Wagga, Tamworth etc) where the activity to relatively light and procedures pretty simple, and another for the likes of Bankstown, Moorabin or the big smoke etc.

 

Does anyone else want to comment on the night or my conclusions?

 

Regards Geoff

Good conclusions Captain. What a glorious event it was....thanks to the WIRADJURI PEOPLE apparently.

Hmmm....just looking at my invite. It says "showcase of the Wagga Wagga Airport Master Plan". Huh?

 

Its OK though because it says that something is "bigger than the bottom line". That must be good, would'nt you think?

 

After five networking ( with canapes and drinks ) looks like the real solution and if we all don our dayglo vests that should take care of any safety issues.

 

And what WERE those girls talking about?

 

 

[nong]

Me thinks that Wagga council is all starry eyed about the new airline training setup and can't see the woods for the trees at the moment.....On the brighter side, apparently the golden hair child doesn't want CTR either so class E above and CA/GRS seems the most likely.

Er, Ahlocks. The babes in the woods might also be worth a mention.

PS I no longer operate a 'recreational' flying school. After all, what clout would that have in the Wagga environment?

 

No, these days I run a School of Piloting, specializing in the core primary skills and disciplines required of the twenty first century aviation professional.

 

See. Much better.

 

 

[Captain]

Good conclusions Captain. What a glorious event it was....thanks to the WIRADJURI PEOPLE apparently.Hmmm....just looking at my invite. It says "showcase of the Wagga Wagga Airport Master Plan". Huh?

Its OK though because it says that something is "bigger than the bottom line". That must be good, would'nt you think?

 

After five networking ( with canapes and drinks ) looks like the real solution and if we all don our dayglo vests that should take care of any safety issues.

 

And what WERE those girls talking about?

G'day Fred,

 

That event is a good example of how the world (or perhaps we should limit it to Gov't and Public Servants) is getting just so PC that it makes you vomit.

 

When I asked my questions I should have added that it is just a tad presumptuous for the council to organize a couple of young ladies to tell us all how to run our businesses in 2020, when perhaps the 1st place they should concentrate (say in 2009) is on the Council and CASA, ..... but that's another story.

 

I feel so privileged to have had my 230 test flown by a purveyor of a School of Piloting, specializing in the core primary skills and disciplines required of the twenty first century aviation professional. That sound really expensive, though, and I assume would have cost me twice as much.

 

Regards Geoff

 

 

[turboplanner]

At the end of the day, it is also a privilege to read about the team building facilitation of ongoing outcomes in the aviation environment of non city-centric activities.

 

I take it from the thread that the event was also attended by some purves.

 

It seems to me that if you trawl through this site you'll see some close similarities with a recent statement by John McCormick who totally confused a simple hayseed like me with the first three words.

 

Don't arc up though guys or next they'll be telling you there's no "I" in team.