Circuit Training at Moorabbin Airport Circuit Training at Moorabbin ...

4. KEY ISSUES
Moorabbin Airport is an urban airport, surrounded by residential and commercial
development. When the airport was originally designed, in 1949, it was some way removed
from the urban metropolis of Melbourne but over the years, especially in the 1960’s and
1970’s, development has encroached upon the flight paths of the airport.
In particular, Dingley Village is directly underneath the eastern circuit of the airport and as
this community has expanded, and the population demographic has changed, conflict
between aviation and community amenity has intensified.
A sample of complaints from the community relating to aircraft noise is detailed in Appendix
3: Noise complaints received in 2010. This contains a breakdown of complaints received by
Airservices Australia and also by MAC. The majority of complaints come from Dingley.
THE 2009‐10 MASTER PLAN.
During the public consultation phase of the most recent Master Plan it was evident that
community concern had increased and a large number of submissions, over 200, were
lodged during this process. Most related to circuit training. As a result of this, the Minister,
in his approval of the 2010 Master Plan, requested that MAC conduct an investigation into
whether the pattern of circuit training could be changed to improve residential amenity.
THE VIEWS OF THE COMMUNITY.
The City of Kingston, and the City of Greater Dandenong in an identically worded
submission, suggested that all training should cease by 2025 or 2030, and that helicopter
training cease by 2015 unless a number of measures are adopted, including revising circuits
to direct traffic away from residential areas, making greater utilization of simulators,
prohibiting noisy aircraft and putting in place noise sharing arrangements.
Dingley Village Community Association (DVCA) supported by the Moorabbin Airport
Residents Association (MARA) argued for a capacity “cap” to be introduced at 2009 levels
and a plan be put in place to re‐locate training flights away from Moorabbin Airport.
There was a diversity of view regarding the percentage of traffic allocated to the east or
west circuits. Clearly, a community group with a membership base in Dingley would prefer
less traffic and the same applies to a group with a membership base to the west of the
airport.
No community organization presented a vision of how these desires would be achieved, or
considered the economic impact on existing businesses. However during the group meetings
a number of opportunities were canvassed.
THE VIEWS OF INDUSTRY.
A number of flying schools actively participated in the discussions. Their arguments can be
summarized as:
• CHANGES TO THE CIRCUIT PATTERN.
The essential requirement for flight training, by way of safety, is to train to a standard.
Their view is that should this standard be changed to any extent it would have a
negative impact on safety. There were no strong views held on whether it would be
preferable to change the percentage of circuits operated east or west.
However there was a view that a change to circuit training times at weekends and
public holidays would be supportable.
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