Special flight path safety checks are being carried out at 17 Queensland aerodromes in June 2019.
The checks are being conducted by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority to make sure instrument procedure flight paths at the aerodromes operate safely.
Queensland aerodromes being checked between 31 May and 8 June 2019 are:
- Atherton
- Bowen
- Bundaberg
- Cairns
- Chillagoe
- Chinchilla
- Georgetown
- Hamilton Island
- Ingham
- Innisfail
- Kingaroy
- Mareeba
- Palm Island
- Proserpine
- Rockhampton
- Thangool
- Townsville
A twin-engine Cessna Conquest aircraft will be used to carry out the safety checks within an area up to 35 kilometres from the aerodromes.
Helicopter landing sites at Mossman Hospital, Wujal Wujal and Tully Hospital will also be checked. These checks will be done by helicopter.
Low-level flying is an essential part of the safety exercise, with the aircraft down as low as several hundred feet at times.
Local residents may notice an uncommon flying pattern, but this is to make sure obstacles are accurately marked on charts and no new obstacles exist. Obstacles can be towers, trees, masts or buildings that can be a danger to aircraft.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority requires aerodrome flight path safety checks to be carried out every three years to maintain a high level of air safety at all aerodromes.
If poor weather or other factors do not allow the safety checks to go ahead on the planned days they will be carried out as soon as possible.
CASA has contracted the operation of the special check flights out to Corporate Air, one of Australia’s largest and longest established aviation services providers.
