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

City of Kingston:
A designated flight path for helicopters wishing to access the airport that minimizes low
altitude flying over residential areas is supported
City of Greater Dandenong:
The City of Greater Dandenong made an identical submission to the City of Kingston
Dingley Village Community Association:
Although the majority of noise caused by helicopters over Dingley Village is caused by
training circuits, DVCA would support this move as a step towards reducing total noise.
MARA:
Suggest helicopters follow the major road network, not as now which appears to be the
shorter route from A to B. Consider flight paths along Boundary Rd, Nepean Highway,
freeways(eg: Eastlink) and Cheltenham Rd.
9.2.5. Can the circuit height be raised ‐ and if so to what altitude?
The circuit altitude is 1,000 feet and this is a relatively standard altitude across the country.
Aircraft gaining height are for the most part on full throttle and will only throttle back when
such altitude is attained. The speed with which they attain this altitude is geared to their
performance. A Cessna 182 will reach 1,000 feet much more quickly then a Cessna 152 basic
trainer. Can the altitude be raised to, say, 1,500 feet?
The logic behind this is that aircraft make less noise at 1,500 feet especially when throttled
back. However no evidence exists to support or disprove this contention.
RVAC:
Increasing the height of the circuit will only prolong the time taken to reach 1000ft and
therefore increase noise issues. Practicing non‐standard circuits’ patterns is not conducive to
flight training. Since Moorabbin is a primary training airfield it of utmost importance that
training is standardised here first.
MFT:
As per item 1.2.2, there is no negative cost impact but I believe there is a safety impact. The
skills taught via the standard circuit pattern provide important visual cues in the circuit that
can be applied to an in‐circuit emergency procedure. It is imperative that the circuit taught at
Moorabbin be a standard circuit pattern that can be applied at all aerodromes.
Oxford Aviation Academy:
Raising the circuit height will create operational difficulties. With a higher circuit, days of
lower cloud base will severely restrict the availability of circuit training. It also means that
overflying aircraft will have to be 500ft higher again which may be unavailable due cloud.
Climbing to and then descending from a higher circuit altitude, will add almost two minutes
to a circuit pattern. This will reduce the number of circuits possible in a typical one hour
lesson, making training less efficient and probably necessitating additional circuit lessons.
38