PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Move RAAF/SAF Pearce To Learmonth/Curtin...
Old 10th Aug 2007, 23:34
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Knackers
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Oz
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The RAAF isn't going to move one inch - and why should they? They've invested hundreds of millions in to Pearce. Tied in with HMAS Stirling and the submarine fleet, Pearce is a critical strategic base for access to the Indian Ocean and SE Asia.
What's required is greater radar coverage to the north-east of Perth so, allied with slot times, sequencing can begin earlier. Aircraft held up to 40 minutes the other day and the NOTAM calls for 15 minutes. This was due to the number of aircraft trying to get back to Perth at the same time.
Controllers are flat out getting aircraft identified, STARed, onto the correct transitions, sequenced, simultaneously keeping them procedurally separated from following traffic, then putting them into holding patterns, some of which aren't even on the just-cleared track.
There have been several serious incidents in Perth airspace over the past 6 months as the airspace and controllers - and probably the pilots - have reached the system's capacity.
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