USAF C17 Close Call with Terrain YBCS - No ATC Available

[sunnySA]

Originally Posted by Lead Balloon

I reckon the 4 dead in an IFR mid air near Mangalore and the incidents at Ballina are among the many recent examples already demonstrating the inadequacies of Australia’s ANSP and airspace arrangements - before resource mismanagement resulted in the systemic use of TIBA/TRA. I very much doubt that the US military will have much to learn from Australian civilians’ views as to how the most powerful defence force on the planet should be flying its aircraft - but might as well give it a try.

Thanks LB, particularly salient references to Mangalore and Ballina.

I'll try to provide my viewpoint. Probably 30/15 or 15/30 depending on your perspective.

Since 28-June I have been tracking the AsA TIBA/TRA/OPR Restrictions, so 3 months now.
ASA TIBA / TRA etc.
The thread has probably missed quite a few NOTAMs, and is by no means authoritative or to be used for navigation.

There have been a couple of CS Approach TIBA/TRAs in these 3 months. These NOTAMs are an example, one is a Brisbane FIR NOTAM search, the other from a Cairns NOTAM search.

C578/23
TEMPO RESTRICTED AREA ACT
IN CLASS C AIRSPACE INCLUDING CTR C. DESIGNATED AIRSPACE HANDBOOK
(DAH) SECTOR VOLUME NAMES AFFECTED ARE: CAIRNS APPROACH.
INCLUDES CLASS C AIRSPACE WI 36NM OF CAIRNS VOR/DME FM SFC TO FL180.
CONTINGENCY MAP (LISTED UNDER CAIRNS IN THE BN FIR) AVBL AT
HTTP://WWW.AIRSERVICESAUSTRALIA.COM/NOTAMMAPS/INDEX.ASP
ATS IN THIS AIRSPACE IS SUBJ TO CONTINGENCY DUE OPR RESTRICTIONS.
RELEVANT APPROVAL FM CONTROLLING AUTHORITY REQUIRED.
APCH CTL SER NOT AVBL. AD CTL SER AVBL ON MANOEUVRING AREA.
CAIRNS TWR WILL ISSUE LANDING AND TAKEOFF CLEARANCE ON 124.9 MHZ.
CTC CAIRNS TWR ON 124.9 MHZ PRIOR TO JOINING OR APPROACHING CIRCUIT
AREA.

PRIOR TO OPR IN THE TEMPO RESTRICTED AREA, PILOTS/OPERATORS MUST:
1. OBTAIN A BRIEFING ON CONTINGENCY PROCEDURES FM AIRSERVICES
AUSTRALIA ON [phone].
2. OBTAIN A LANDING, DEPARTURE OR TRANSIT TIME.

PILOTS-IN-COMMAND ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR TERRAIN AND COLLISION
AVOIDANCE WI THE AFFECTED AIRSPACE.
AUTHORISATION TO ENTER THIS TEMPO RESTRICTED AREA DOES NOT CONSTITUTE
CLEARANCE TO ENTER ANY ADJ OR EMBEDDED RESTRICTED AREAS.
SARWATCH FOR INBOUND IFR ACFT LANDING AT CAIRNS WILL BE HELD BY
CAIRNS TWR ON ADC FREQ 124.9 MHZ.
FIS PROVIDED BY CAIRNS TWR ON ADC FREQ 124.9 MHZ AND MAY BE AVBL FM
ADJ ATS UNITS OR HF.
TFC INFO BCST BY ACFT AND MANDATORY BCST PROC ON FREQ 118.4 MHZ.
THESE PROCEDURES DO NOT APPLY TO OPS IN ACTIVE MIL CTR AND RESTRICTED
AREAS.
SFC TO FL180
FROM 07 201355 TO 07 201945

C1187/23
TEMPO RESTRICTED AREA ACT
IN CLASS C AIRSPACE INCLUDING CTR C. DESIGNATED AIRSPACE HANDBOOK
(DAH) SECTOR VOLUME NAMES AFFECTED ARE: CAIRNS APPROACH.
INCLUDES CLASS C AIRSPACE WI 36NM OF CAIRNS VOR/DME FM SFC TO FL180
CONTINGENCY MAP (LISTED UNDER CAIRNS IN THE BN FIR) AVBL AT
HTTP://WWW.AIRSERVICESAUSTRALIA.COM/NOTAMMAPS/INDEX.ASP
ATS IN THIS AIRSPACE IS SUBJ CONTINGENCY DUE OPR RESTRICTIONS.
RELEVANT APPROVAL FM CONTROLLING AUTHORITY REQUIRED.
APCH CTL SER NOT AVBL. AD CTL SER AVBL ON MANOEUVRING AREA.

PRIOR TO OPR IN THE TEMPO RESTRICTED AREA, PILOTS/OPERATORS MUST:
1. OBTAIN A BRIEFING ON CONTINGENCY PROCEDURES FM AIRSERVICES
AUSTRALIA ON [phone]
2. OBTAIN A LANDING, DEPARTURE OR TRANSIT TIME

PILOTS-IN-COMMAND ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR TERRAIN AND COLLISION
AVOIDANCE WI THE AFFECTED AIRSPACE.
AUTHORISATION TO ENTER THIS TEMPO RESTRICTED AREA DOES NOT CONSTITUTE
CLEARANCE TO ENTER ANY ADJ OR EMBEDDED RESTRICTED AREAS.
SARWATCH FOR INBOUND IFR ACFT LANDING AT CAIRNS WILL BE HELD BY
CAIRNS TWR ON ADC FREQ 124.9 MHZ.
FIS PROVIDED BY CAIRNS TWR ON ADC FREQ 124.9 MHZ AND MAY BE AVBL FM
ADJ ATS UNITS.
TFC INFO BCST BY ACFT (TIBA) AND MANDATORY BCST PROC ON FREQ 118.4 MHZ.
CTC CAIRNS TWR ON 124.9 MHZ PRIOR TO JOINING OR APPROACHING CIRCUIT AREA.
THESE PROCEDURES DO NOT APPLY TO OPS IN ACTIVE MIL CTR AND RESTRICTED AREAS.
SFC TO FL180
FROM 07 201355 TO 07 201945

The NOTAMs would’ve been issued based on the activation of the TMA ATS Contingency Plan - TCU not available, TWR available.
TMA ATS Contingency Plan

If we consider these NOTAMs to be representative of the NOTAMs that were current at the time, then everything is OK -

PRIOR TO OPR IN THE TEMPO RESTRICTED AREA, PILOTS/OPERATORS MUST OBTAIN A BRIEFING ON CONTINGENCY PROCEDURES FM AIRSERVICES

(Argh, the ubiquitous Airservices Australia) and

PILOTS-IN-COMMAND ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR TERRAIN AND COLLISION AVOIDANCE WI THE AFFECTED AIRSPACE

If ATS cannot be provided, a Contingency Response Manager (CRM) is required to (amongst other things)

• Maintain an Activity Log to record any significant decisions or changes to the situation as the contingency progresses.
• Maintain an Aircraft Tracking Form to list aircraft affected by the activation of TRA/TIBA airspace.
• Complete and submit a Post Activation Review Report (PAR) to the relevant Director Operations (DO) within 28 days of activation.

ATM Director must submit a CIRRIS occurrence (safety report) Enter CIRRIS
For situations resulting in TIBA or TRA declaration the ATM Director

So there would be a CIRRIS and PAR for this TIBA / TRA declaration and I suspect that both documents would be released under Freedom of Information.

TCU not available, TWR available.
Questions:
Would CS TWR know if the pilot had obtained a briefing, do they even care? IDK
Would CS TWR issue an airways clearance? IDK
Would CS TWR issue a SID? IDK
Did CS TWR issue the RWY 15 SWIFT EIGHT DEPARTURE? IDK
(SID has a number of warnings and restrictions, DER, MAX IAS, MIN AOB)
At what point would CS TWR instruct the aircraft to make a transmission on 118.4? IDK
Would CS TWR monitor the turn (height, turning onto correct track)? IDK

Without knowing the exact date then it’s not possible to listen to the audio.

And I didn’t record the ATIS current during the TIBA/TRA so it’s not clear what operational information was included on the ATIS.

As I have stated on the other thread what concerns me is the differences between normal and contingency operations, in particular, console configurations. Cairns Approach is located in Brisbane Centre and uses a EUROCAT display. ATC alarms include Short Term Conflict Alert (STCA), Danger Area Infringement Warnings (DAIW), Cleared Level Adherence Monitor (CLAM) and Minimum Safe Altitude Warning (MSAW). The latter is basically the ATC equivalent of a Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS). Cairns Tower was retrofitted with INTAS (anyone, anyone - Integrated Tower Automation Suite) and as CS TCU “owns the airspace” and CS TWR "owns no airspace"; it is highly unlikely that CS TWR has MSAW alarms activated and displayable. TBC.

If TCU had been operating then on receipt of MSAW (or probably earlier) the ATC would've issued a safety alert

ATC will issue a Safety Alert to aircraft, in all classes of airspace,
when they become aware that an aircraft is in a situation that is
considered to place it in unsafe proximity to:
a. terrain;

SAFETY ALERT, followed as
necessary by: LOW ALTITUDE WARNING, CHECK YOUR ALTITUDE IMMEDIATELY, QNH IS (number) [(units)]. [THE MINIMUM SAFE ALTITUDE IS (altitude)] or
TERRAIN, CHECK YOUR ALTITUDE IMMEDIATELY (suggested pilot action if possible)

Aircraft calls 118.4 - crickets.

So the Swiss cheese aligned, AsA failed to provide a service, a heavy jet missed the hills, more by accident than design. Nothing to see, these aren't the droids you're looking for, move along. Really, is this the best we can do?