[Peetwo]

Harfwit backtracks on Hobart airspace fiasco - 

Well this is going to put a bit of a dent in Harfwit's OnePie trough fund...

By that happy little chappy from Tassie, via the Oz - 

Risk rating sparks airspace upgrade for Hobart - The Australian

Airservices Australia has decided to push an upgrade of Hobart’s airspace, weeks after The Australian revealed the city’s airport was rated “high risk” following a spate of mid-air safety breaches.

A leaked minute dated May 20 shows Airservices will call on the Civil Aviation Safety Authority to upgrade Hobart’s airspace from “Class D” regional status to “Class C” capital city status.

Industry expects this will see surveillance — Melbourne-based radar, as well as satellite GPS technology known as ADS-B — employed to guide aircraft to and from the ground at Hobart’s increasingly busy airport.

This reduces reliance on controllers at the local tower keeping planes apart and is seen as a safety improvement.

It may also reduce aircraft noise in some communities by ­allowing pilots to deviate from new standardised arrival and ­departure routes.

The final decision rests with CASA, which is reviewing Hobart’s airspace in the wake of a surge in passenger numbers and a spate of “loss of separation” incidents between September 2017 and early 2018.

“Airservices will be making a submission to this (CASA) review, that Hobart tower is upgraded from Class D to Class C,” Airservices says in a minute to an industry advisory committee. “This decision is based on industry feedback … potential future growth in Hobart … and internal safety work, which shows that Hobart is closer to other major airports with ­approach services.”

In April, The Australian revealed CASA elevated Hobart airport’s “risk assessment rating” to “10”, “high risk”, in the wake of the safety breaches. A fix requiring greater involvement by air traffic controllers in assigning levels to jets allowed the risk to be reduced to eight, “medium”.

However, the assessment noted that Hobart airport, with 2.6 million annual passengers, growing to 4.5 million by 2030, remained in “breach” of CASA’s one million passenger threshold for an upgrade to Class C airspace.

Managing director of Hobart-based Par Avion, Shannon Wells, said Airservices’ decision ­appeared “a reasonable outcome” and preferable to its previous push for a standardised regional style of air traffic control at Hobart.

Anti-aircraft noise group South East Coast Lifestyle Association welcomed the decision.

“After an unprecedented series of safety incidents … and … unnecessary … aircraft noise on peaceful coastal communities, it seems that Airservices finally gets it,” the association said.

Also a minor update to the RFFS inquiry: 

 Response by Airservices Australia to evidence provided to the inquiry, dated and received 2 April 2019.

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Hmm..notice how Harfwit always feels the need to personally respond to any of the Senate Committee inquiries? Why didn't he just handball that one to his Fire Chief?

 

OH YEAH that's right! 

MTF...P2