ABC Online News:
Flying rules change after 12 near-misses at Queensland airstrip
By Jonathan Hair
About a dozen near-collisions at a south-east Queensland airport has forced an urgent change in flying regulations to prevent a major disaster.
The Gympie Regional Council owns the Gympie Aerodrome, which is used by locally-based powered and non-powered planes as well as helicopters.
Mayor Mick Curran said it had only come to his attention in the past fortnight that there had been "about 12" near-misses in the past five years.
Some of the incidents "resulted from a lack of radio use by aircraft operators".
He said council had been unaware of how close it has been to an aviation disaster
"Nobody wants to see that, nobody wants to have that occur," he said.
"If council was aware of this prior to it, something would have been done."
Council has since held crisis meetings with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and convened a special meeting with councillors on Friday to push through new safety rules.
They include forbidding aircraft to land between sunset and sunrise with the exception of emergency flights.
It will also be mandatory for all aircraft to use radios while in the nearby airspace or on the ground.
In addition, helicopters are no longer allowed hover in the area.