Australian Flying — November-December 2017

“ I don’t believe that Bankstown and Camden

can continue to be as active in flight training

or operational aircraft as they are now.”

initial operations, although the

Department of Infrastructure

and Regional Development has

stated that initial operations will

not affect Bankstown. But not

everyone is convinced.

“The worst case scenario is

that IFR operations in and out

of Bankstown will cease,” said

Australian Business Aviation

Association Chief Executive

Officer David Bell. “The area for

training f lights will cease because

it’s right on the path of the main

runway there at Western Sydney

Airport. It would slice right

through the training area. And it

would adversely affect Camden,

which is very close to the new

airport as well.”

Bankstown instrument arrivals

use runway 11, approaching from

the west. The options are limited,

as northern approaches don’t align

with the designated runway, while

approaches from the east and

south would conf lict with Sydney

Airport’s control zone.

Phil Reiss is a retired 20,000-

hour corporate pilot, former

Australian Aircraft Owners

and Pilots Association (AOPA)

President and current Vice

President of the International

Aircraft Owners and Pilots

Association for the Pacific Region.

He has f lown everything from

Lear Jets to Boeing 727s and still

f lies his private IFR twin from

Bankstown. He believes the days

of instrument f light from the

airport are numbered.

“I located the position of

Badgerys Creek on a visual

terminal chart,” Reiss told

Australian Flying. “I plotted

the 05/23 proposed runway. If

you run the extended centreline

as I did on my VTC chart, the

extended centreline comes out just

slightly to the north of Prospect

Reservoir, probably about half

a mile or a mile at most. That’s

where the lane of entry starts

going in to Bankstown.

“Okay, we could make a left

turn five and a half miles from

the 05 take-off point. That would

put you slap bang over the top of

Penrith. Now I don’t think the

people of Penrith would be too

excited by having aircraft turning

and going straight over the top of

their city. So there’s going to be a

general objection to that turning

point. In which case, that means

the extended centreline going out

past Prospect before there’s any

turns or any departure from that

particular track.

“Now you could well say well

that’s about nine and a half, 10

australianflying.com.au 37

November – December 2017 AUSTRALIAN FLYING

W

hile the Federal Government

celebrates finally gaining some

traction on building Western

Sydney Airport, operators at

Bankstown and Camden are

trying to discern the effects

Badgerys Creek will have on f light

training and instrument arrivals

and departures at the secondary

airports.

Badgerys will effectively sit in

the current Bankstown training

area. And of the three models

used for a Stage 2 assessment

of the airport’s future airspace

architecture requirements in

the Western Sydney Airport

Environmental Impact Statement,

two include removal of instrument

approaches and departures from

Bankstown. The third applies

to avoiding airspace conf licts

between the three airports

in Western Sydney Airport’s

SYDNEY METRO AIRPORT BANKSTOWN