The problem with this decision on the Minister's part is that it is in direct conflict with the DOT policy of harmonisation with ICAO regs. All hush kitted
B727s comply with ICAO stage 3 and are therefore stage 3. You can't be a little bit pregnant and you can't be marginally compliant. You either are or aren't in both cases. Australia is either going to be fully ICAO compliant or we aren't. If we aren't then stop all this rubbish like compulsory English testing for Australian born pilot candidates.
As far as Australian B727s, we are talking about one aircraft VH-DHE which is the only current aircraft on the VH register.Theonly other aircraft on the CASA list is VH-TBS which has long passed on to the an apprentice school.I assume any others mentioned specificall out of BNE and CNS are on the RP register and can be dealt with by other means if they are a niose problem.
I notice in one article it mentions that SYD had a total of 396 movements through 2008/09 years. That seems to equate to roughly 4 movements/week. I suspect banning VH-DHE is not going to have much of an effect on the overall night SYD noise patterns.I live under the North rwy pattern and you can tell that its a B727 by the rumble but since its between at least 2 other late departures it certainly won't change my sleeping pattern.
I notice that the Minister's electorate web site makes out he's a real hero for banning the B727. He doesn't point out that its only 4 a week.So the
conclusion that I make is that its all about Ministerial spin.
I'm sure that the 2 or 3 FEs who are about to lose their jobs for no real benefit to the overall Australian community will understand it all and not feel agrieved.
Wunwing