Landings at 3am..???

[Peter D]

A rather random question but anyway.

One of my friends, a keen aviation enthusiast/wannabe pilot like me, was at Brighton Le Sands - on a beach - the other day, At about 3:00 in the morning. Don't ask me why he was there. That's another story.

But he noticed that there were a few planes landing at the airport. He noticed that none were taking off.
I thought there was curfew at Sydney between 11pm and 5am so I don't understand how this would be possible.

My friend may have been hallucinating but I know that he doesn't do drugs so it's unlikely. I think he doesn't :s I'm sure ;)

But yeh wanted to know if there are any exceptions to the curfew which would make this possible?

[Michael Mak]

I think smaller aircrafts - possibly non-jet aircrafts are still allowed to take off and land because they don't make as much noise? From what I heard on Sydney Radar at night, there are numerous Ambulance movements at YSSY during the curfew hours.

I can imagine that emergency/medical landings are exempted from the Curfew Act as well?

[Bill S]

Yes there's a curfew from 11pm to 6am local. It doesn't stop any aeroplane taking off or landing as such, though for larger planes there's a huge financial penalty for doing so.
Small planes, such as the night freighters, can still use the airport at any time though during curfew hours they must land to the north and takeoff to the south. (though again they could just pay the fine, etc, though no-one does this.
The Air Ambulance is exempt from this however and they can operate as they need to at any time.

[Mick F]

The Air Ambulance is exempt from this however and they can operate as they need to at any time

Not quite, but partly true.

The Air Ambulance (RFDS) operate as per the curfew procedures (take off to the south, land to the north), except where they operate under Med 1 or Med 2 medical priority, which then removes any curfew or noise abatement requirements.

I don't doubt you already knew that Bill, just making it a bit clearer for everyone else, ;).

Cheers

Mick

[Mark M]

Its actually quite busy in that curfew period at times. When I lived at Sutherland I had a good view of Botany Bay so received scanner transmissions well.

It seemed about midnight was quite active there were numerous Metro's I think they still operate, I think they go to Gold Coast, Brisbane, Melbourne. Many use EE(?) callsigns

The AAE BAe's were also out around this time, they used NJ(?) callsigns. Im not 100% sure but I think there was a Cessna from Canberra that used to come in nightly, for some reason I think it was VH-VEA, altough that was a wild guess from memory. Does it still operate that flight and if so is it just SYD-CBR or does it go to other regional centres.

Bankstown also has a number of Freight movements at later periods of the night/early hours as well. Id like to know exactly how many freight movements there are each night, and where they actually go.

Late week is almost void of late night freight movements (Fr-Sat).

Mark

[Nigel C]

Friday to Sunday nights are the quiet periods.

VEA is indeed the Cessna 404 Titan that does the Canberra run. It used to do 2 runs a night, but has been on only 1 run for some time now.

The EE* callsigns are the Pel-Air Metros
There used to be OZ* Metros too, but they stopped about 6? months ago.

The 3 AAE BAe146's are NJM, NJF and NJV.

The busy period was generally 2300-0030, and then through the night there'd be a few flights after that. Unfortunately it's even quieter than that now...

[NickN]

Which is the most common SID for after curfew freight departures? CURFEW 2 or BOTANY BAY 5?

[Paul Hunter]

We use the Curfew 2 SID 99% of the time.

Sydney 2 will used in lieu of that for MED or other priority aircraft or if certain navaids are not available (such as the VOR) to preclude using the Curfew 2.

Regards.

[Mark M]

Friday to Sunday nights are the quiet periods.

VEA is indeed the Cessna 404 Titan that does the Canberra run. It used to do 2 runs a night, but has been on only 1 run for some time now.

The EE* callsigns are the Pel-Air Metros
There used to be OZ* Metros too, but they stopped about 6? months ago.

The 3 AAE BAe146's are NJM, NJF and NJV.

The busy period was generally 2300-0030, and then through the night there'd be a few flights after that. Unfortunately it's even quieter than that now...

The memory is not as bad as I thought, Nigel, does that Cessna come in Monday-Thursday and what time does it arrive and depart please?

Where abouts in the Eastern Park do the Metros load ? Ive seen them on odd occasion during the day over there but where is the freight buildings that these aircraft are loaded from ?

[Nigel C]

VEA comes in just before 2300 and unloads at the Northern Pond standoff apron (where the 146's park, north of Bravo-1) and departs from the Eastern Park around 0030 I think. To be honest I've never really taken the time to watch when they depart. Like just about all of the freighters, it's a Monday-Thursday flight only.

The Metros load on Bays 102-107 (western side of the GA, just in front of the Rex hangar), and in the 30m wingspan general parking area on the eastern side of the GA entrance. If the Eastern Park is full, then they can use Dom-6 as an overflow if it's available.
I think the freight comes from Australian Air Express (east of Qantas domestic Bay 1), and perhaps from DHL. Again, I've never taken the time out to see where it all comes from.

Cheers

[Bill S]

The Metros load on Bays 102-107 (western side of the GA, just in front of the Rex hangar), and in the 30m wingspan general parking area on the eastern side of the GA entrance. If the Eastern Park is full, then they can use Dom-6 as an overflow if it's available.

Make the most of it, the last Pelair Metro flight is exactly four weeks from today. And for the last couple of months there been no trouble at all getting a park in Domestic 5 - the place is a ghost town. :(

[Nigel C]

Bill, was there ever an option for guys like yourself to get Saab training and keep flying the freighters at night??

[Bill S]

Yes, but there's only the one Saab in Brisbane and a somewhat large oversupply of pilots for it. The company is trying hard to help everyone find a spot but unfortunately with the musical chairs not everyone is going to have a seat at the end of the day. They were having trouble getting crew for the Mackay base and I'm not sure how that will go.
I'm required in the office on Monday to have a meeting with one of the senoir blokes. I expect it's to be given my notice.
I would normally just take the move to Mackay (for example) but I have a committment at home, to look after my aging father so I cannot move away from the Gold Coast. So that's it for me.
From next month on, it's likely I'll be stacking shelves at Woollies.