Safety in the vicinity of non-towered aerodromes - Australian ...

across many aerodromes and aircraft landing areas (ALAs) (n = 231), all of varying
sizes, locations and activity level.
A review of movement data and traffic mix at 20 of the busiest aerodromes found
that Ballina/Byron Gateway, Mount Gambier and Kununurra are experiencing a
shift in their passenger transport services from smaller to larger aircraft. Port
Macquarie Aerodrome had the most passenger transport movements over the
period, and also a greater proportion of large jet transport aircraft operating these
services.
A review of the occurrences at these 20 aerodromes showed that Ballina/Byron
Gateway, Dubbo, Geraldton, Hervey Bay, Horn Island, Karratha, Orange, and
Wagga Wagga had a disproportionate number of occurrences involving passenger
transport aircraft, relative to the proportion of all movements at those aerodromes
that are passenger transport aircraft. However, it was not possible to determine how
much influence the better reporting culture that generally exists within passenger
transport operators had on this finding.
Comparison with previous ATSB studies
There were some common themes in the analysis of the 709 occurrences between
2003 and 2008 presented in this report, and the previous reports published by the
ATSB (2003 and 2006) into non-towered aerodrome operations:
• Approximately two airspace-related occurrences occurred in the vicinity of a
non-towered aerodrome and were reported to the ATSB each week, and this has
remained the case since 1994.
• Passenger transport aircraft were involved in a large proportion of the
occurrences; however, this was likely to be due to more active reporting
behaviours rather than an increased risk within this sector.
• Radio communication issues and reduced situational awareness due to pilots not
broadcasting or not following the standard broadcast procedures were the most
common factors contributing to airspace and operations-related occurrences.
• The rate of occurrences remains low across all individual non-towered
aerodromes.
• The number of occurrences reported to the ATSB at non-towered aerodromes
remains small as a proportion of all occurrences reported to the ATSB over the
reporting period.
A change was noted since the 2003 report regarding the non-towered aerodromes
that recorded the greatest number of airspace-related occurrences. Between 1994
and 2003, Bundaberg, Ayers Rock, Devonport and Jandakot had the highest number
of reported occurrences. Between 2003 and 2008, the most occurrences were
reported at Newcastle, Avalon, Geraldton and Dubbo.
Changes to procedures at non-towered aerodromes
On 3 June 2010, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) made changes to
procedures at non-towered aerodromes. From this date, all aircraft operating into all
registered, certified, military and other non-towered aerodromes as specified by
CASA require a radio to be carried and used. Part of the reason these changes were
introduced by CASA was to address the types of communication and separation-
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