Aviation

Archerfield Airport offers 'fly-free' in July

ARCHERFIELD Airport plans to celebrate its 20th year since privatisation with free landing fees throughout July.

Brisbane's metropolitan airport south of the CBD, which at one stage was Queensland's major airport and Australia's largest air base during World War Two, is today one of the country's leading pilot and aviation industry training centres. 

In 1934, Archerfield was the take-off point for the first west-east crossing of the Pacific by Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Captain P.G. Taylor in the Lady Southern Cross, a single-engined Lockheed Altair monoplane. 

The private company Archerfield Airport Corporation was established to control the airport in 1998 when the Federal Government privatised airport operations Australia-wide.

"This year, Archerfield Airport celebrates 20 years of privatisation and to thank tenants, airport operators and pilots for their support, next month is Free Fly July at the airport," Archerfield Airport general manager Heather Mattes said.
 
"Archerfield Airport Corporation (AAC) will not charge landing fees throughout the month of July.

"Through this gesture, AAC trusts that Free Fly July is a practical way to acknowledge the many years of co-operative partnership we have enjoyed with our airport community and a further contribution to promoting General Aviation in Queensland."

www.archerfield airport.com.au

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Archerfield Airport awarded for airspace ‘optimisation’

BRISBANE’s metropolitan airport, Archerfield, has been awarded the Corporate Project of the Year award by the Australian Airports Association (AAA) for its airspace optimisation project.

The AAA award recognises project innovation that provides major benefits to an airport’s operations. The Archerfield Airspace Optimisation Project was instigated by the management team at Archerfield Airport Corporation (AAC) and Keith Tonkin of Aviation Projects, who was engaged by AAC to implement the various project phases.
 
The project involved significant upgrading of the airport’s airspace and flight procedures, enabling more efficient and safer operation of all aircraft up to performance category C, flying at up to 140 knots.   
AAC general manager, Heather Mattes said the improvements would ensure that AAC meets increasing demand from operators of the larger, higher performance aircraft that currently operate from the airport.

“Archerfield Airport will be able to support aircraft operations under instrument meteorological conditions, 24 hours a day, before and after the commissioning of Brisbane Airport’s new parallel runway,” Ms Mattes said. “Improvements completed to date include new straight-in instrument approaches to runway 10L for up to performance category C aircraft, less restrictive standard instrument departure ceiling and visibility requirements, adding a broadcast capability to the automatic weather station and a webcam that live streams the current weather situation at the airport.”

Ms Mattes said the project continues to be rolled out in 2018.

New initiatives include optimising the existing approach to runway 28R; upgrading the approach to runway 10L for use by performance category C aircraft; implementing and protecting category C circling areas; introducing Baro-VNAV approaches to runway 10L/28R – due for flight validation in February – and measures such as reducing airport obstacles and protection of the airspace.

Airbus’s Vahana VTOL aircraft tests success

THE A³ arm of Airbus has completed a series of full-scale test flights by its all-electric, self-piloted vertical take-off and landing aircraft, named Vahana.

 Vahana, as reported by A³ by Airbus, reached a height of 5m before descending safely at the Pendleton UAS Range in Oregon. Its first flight, with a duration of 53 seconds, was self-piloted and the vehicle completed a second flight the following day.

The aircraft is Airbus’s innovative approach to future urban air mobility.

“Today we are celebrating a great accomplishment in aerospace innovation,” Vahana project executive Zach Lovering said. 

“In just under two years, Vahana took a concept sketch on a napkin and built a full-scale, self-piloted aircraft that has successfully completed its first flight. Our team is grateful for the support we’ve received from A³ and the extended Airbus family, as well as our partners including MTSI and the Pendleton UAS Range.”

The Vahana project is being developed at , the Silicon Valley innovation outpost of Airbus Industrie. Vahana aims to ‘democratise’ personal flight and answer the growing need for urban mobility by leveraging the latest technologies in electric propulsion, energy storage, and machine vision, according to Airbus reports.

“Vahana’s first flight demonstrates Airbus’ unique ability to pursue ambitious ideas quickly, without compromising the quality and safety for which the company is well-known,” A³ CEO and former project executive of Vahana, Rodin Lyasoff said. “For A³, it proves that we can deliver meaningful innovation with aggressive project timetables, to provide a real competitive advantage for Airbus.

“Our focus now is on celebrating the work of the tireless Vahana team while maintaining the momentum of this accomplishment.”

Founded in May 2015, A³ (pronounced ‘A-cubed’) is the advanced projects outpost of Airbus in Silicon Valley.  Mr Lyasoff said A³ concentrated on projects “centred around three traits: speed, transparency and a commitment to culminating in productisable demonstrators or demonstrators at convincing scale”.

www.vahana.aero

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Pilot shortages hit harder by 457 Visa abolition

THE recent abolition of the 457 Visa by the Federal Government – replaced by a new Temporary Skills Shortage (TSS) visa – has had unintended consequences in the aviation industry through a looming shortage of pilots.

Australian aviation has suffered periodic shortages of pilots ever since the mass sackings of pilots that occurred during the long pilots’ strike of late 1989 – and subsequently saw an outflow of Australian pilots to international airlines.

Australian pilots have since been recognised internationally for their skills and training – so the poaching by other international carriers has continued and led to regular pilot shortages.

Now, however, the replacement of the 457 Visa with the TSS in March is causing bigger headaches.

The flow-on effect has been that pilots are poached from the Australian major national and international routes, so airlines then poach pilots from Australia’s regional routes.

Now regional areas, reliant on air travel, are feeling the pinch as schedules are changed on the fly from pilot shortages, while flights are often cancelled.

The current problems have been highlighted by regional Australian air transport group Airnorth, based out of Darwin. 

“The situation is not isolated to Airnorth or Australia, and is part of a global pilot shortage that is affecting the entire aviation industry and its customers,” the company said in a media statement. ”We continue to recruit pilots and currently have 11 positions vacant.”

The issue has already come to a head, with the Federal Government moving to revise the Skilled Occupations List, to allow for foreign pilots to come into Australia on two-year work visas.

“The Federal Government intends to make changes to the occupations list every six months which makes it so important that those reliant on recruitment of overseas employees keep abreast of the situation,” said Dessie Hristova, director at Abode Migration Lawyers. “This is just one way we can help

“In this dynamic space which is full of uncertainty seeking advice from experienced immigration lawyers is important for many reasons. As experts in the field we attend stakeholder consultations and have an understanding of the government’s proposed changes.”

Ms Hristova said discussions were afoot between Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton and the Regional Aviation Association of Australia in an effort to extend the visa to four years.

She said the reasoning behind the move was that senior pilots would not be attracted to short-term relocation to Australia and regional carriers needed to attract senior pilots to fill the roles.

www.abodemigration.com.au

www.airnorth.com.au

Air Services Australia gears up for Brisbane’s second runway

AIR SERVICES Australia is preparing to install supporting infrastructure and equipment at Brisbane Airport to enable the operation of the new second runway under construction.

New aviation navigation system equipment and aviation rescue firefighting services are required to support the introduction of the new runway, an Air Services Australia spoksesperson said. 

Additional airfield equipment and infrastructure is set for installation, including navigational aids at each end of the new runway and a new fibre optic network. Civil works proposed in this project will support these installations.

Additionally a new Aviation Rescue Fire Fighting Service will be constructed to support the new runway.

The project is scheduled to be completed in line with the new runway being operational in 2020. The estimated cost of the project is $24.92 million.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works conducted public and in-camera hearings and took submissions in November.

www.aph.gov.au/pwc

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CASA’s blueprint for the future

A FRESH blueprint for the future of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has been released by the Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Darren Chester. It places a new emphasis on the way CASA delivers client services and drive a ‘digital-first’ approach to medical certification.

Mr Chester said CASA’s latest corporate plan continues the authority’s focus on safety as its highest priority. But the blueprint also sets out how the nation's aviation safety regulator “will be pragmatic, practical and proportional in its responsibilities”. 

“The 2017–18 CASA corporate plan is a strong blueprint for the future of aviation safety regulation in Australia to help maintain our record of having one of the safest skies in the world,” Mr Chester said. “In addition to its regulatory approach the plan identifies a number of key aviation activities and highlights strong stakeholder engagement as a priority.

“CASA will maintain and enhance a fair, effective and efficient aviation safety regulation system while collaboratively engaging with the wider aviation community to promote and support a positive safety culture. CASA will also continually improve its organisational performance.

“I am particularly pleased to see CASA is committed to modernising its service delivery to meet the evolving needs of all sectors of Australian aviation. In 2017–18 CASA will develop a customer service charter that will shape the way it delivers client services.

“It will optimise client service channel options and will drive a digital first approach to medical certification. The overarching objective will be to create an efficient, simple and accessible experience for the people and organisations in aviation that conduct regulatory business with CASA,” Mr Chester said.

Other initiatives in the latest CASA corporate plan include a review of the safety regulatory strategy for remotely piloted aircraft systems, commencing implementation of the final tranche of regulatory reform, and continuing the implementation of the government's response to the Aviation Safety Regulatory Review.

www.casa.gov.au/publication/corporate-plan-2017–18

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CASA’s blueprint for the future

A FRESH blueprint for the future of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has been released by the Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Darren Chester. It places a new emphasis on the way CASA delivers client services and drive a ‘digital-first’ approach to medical certification.

Mr Chester said CASA’s latest corporate plan continues the authority’s focus on safety as its highest priority. But the blueprint also sets out how the nation's aviation safety regulator “will be pragmatic, practical and proportional in its responsibilities”. 

“The 2017–18 CASA corporate plan is a strong blueprint for the future of aviation safety regulation in Australia to help maintain our record of having one of the safest skies in the world,” Mr Chester said. “In addition to its regulatory approach the plan identifies a number of key aviation activities and highlights strong stakeholder engagement as a priority.

“CASA will maintain and enhance a fair, effective and efficient aviation safety regulation system while collaboratively engaging with the wider aviation community to promote and support a positive safety culture. CASA will also continually improve its organisational performance.

“I am particularly pleased to see CASA is committed to modernising its service delivery to meet the evolving needs of all sectors of Australian aviation. In 2017–18 CASA will develop a customer service charter that will shape the way it delivers client services.

“It will optimise client service channel options and will drive a digital first approach to medical certification. The overarching objective will be to create an efficient, simple and accessible experience for the people and organisations in aviation that conduct regulatory business with CASA,” Mr Chester said.

Other initiatives in the latest CASA corporate plan include a review of the safety regulatory strategy for remotely piloted aircraft systems, commencing implementation of the final tranche of regulatory reform, and continuing the implementation of the government's response to the Aviation Safety Regulatory Review.

www.casa.gov.au/publication/corporate-plan-2017–18

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