PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - How does CASA and Air Services decide whether an airport has a Control Tower?
Old 29th May 2016, 09:41
  #21 (permalink)  
Traffic_Is_Er_Was
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: QLD - where drivers are yet to realise that the left lane goes to their destination too.
Posts: 3,319
Received 174 Likes on 70 Posts
Gove was also for a time the only place both mainlines of the day operated B737's into as RPT without a TWR. They also operated into Ayers Rock but they were classed as CHTR, so fell outside the regs. It was the potential for two 73's to be mixing it up with the local GA that drove the building of the TWR. While the apron could fit two at a pinch, the schedules had them separated, but often they were arriving and departing traffic for each other. It used to make me chuckle that while they would happily be spat out of the overlying CTA on descent, and left to work things out under "Directed Traffic", coordinating a pre departure clearance with DRW ATC involved much more to-ing and fro-ing so that they would be adequately separated prior to reaching CTA on climb (which I think was either at FL200 or FL250 from distant memory).
Edit: also no fire service. Response was two full time and a few volunteer town Firies in civil pumpers who couldn't physically arrive any sooner than 15-20 mins minimum after callout. The nearby mine site also provided a unit, but all would have been p#ssing in the wind if ever really needed.
Traffic_Is_Er_Was is offline