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Joint Airspace
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Royal Australian Air Force
Joint Airspace Control Cell (JACC) requests feedback on proposed temporary restricted area (TRA) and procedures for Exercise TALISMAN SABRE 2023 (TS23), specifically to be employed near Charters Towers and Macrossan.
The issue
This proposal notes the following key issues:
- activation of TRA-Macrossan to support a dynamic multi-aircraft rotary wing activity around Macrossan
- activation of TRA-Windsor to support large-scale (250+ chute) military parachute activity in an area 15 nautical mile (n mile) south-west of Charters Towers
- no impact to published air routes, but TRA will affect Charters Towers’ Instrument Approach Procedures (IAP)
- conditional status of both TRA will be RA2; transit will not be approved except in case of emergency.
Purpose
This is an update to another AvSEF Paper published 23 February 2023 with a consultation close date of 10 March 2023. The only change is to amend the proposed activation timings of TRA-Macrossan. An extension of the original consultation close date has been provided to accommodate review of these timings.
Elements of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and partner nation militaries will be conducting Exercise ‘TALISMAN SABRE 2023 (TS23)’ over the period 21 July – 04 August 2023. TS23 is a large-scale military activity, involving a wide range of military air, sea and ground activities across the Queensland coast. Two Temporary Restricted Areas (TRA) are proposed to safely separate civil aircraft from the aforementioned military flying activities. This AvSEF Paper does not exhaustively cover the proposed Temporary PRD for TS23. Stakeholders should refer to the AvSEF website for consultation material relating to different areas under ‘Exercise TALISMAN SABRE 2023.’
Macrossan The proposed airspace is a low-level TRA around Macrossan, designed to allow high tempo, dynamic transit between Macrossan and the Townsville Field Training Area (TFTA). The expected traffic density consists of multi-nation military rotary wing aircraft of various wake turbulence categories and various sized unmanned aircraft systems. These aircraft will be conducting non-standard, high-intensity manoeuvres and will be unable to comply with AIP broadcast requirements in Class G. The tempo, complexity and nature of military flying operations require TRA to ensure non-participant aircraft are safely segregated. As such, TRA-Macrossan is proposed to be activated for the following times:
| Date | Planned activation times (local) | Planned activation times (UTC) |
|---|---|---|
| 31 July - 01 August 2023 | 18:00 31 July - 12:00 01 August (local) | 0800Z 31 July - 0200Z 01 August (UTC) |
| 01 - 02 August 2023 | 18:00 01 August - 12:00 02 August (local) | 0800Z 01 August - 0200Z 02 August (UTC) |
Specific timings of airspace activation windows will be confirmed by aeronautical information package supplement (AIP SUP) and notice to air missions (NOTAM).
The Charters Towers (YCHT) RNP RWY 06 and 24 arrivals will not be available during TRA-Macrossan activation due to conflicting lateral and vertical dimensions. The availability of the Charters Towers One departure is yet to be determined. The affected instrument flight procedures will be promulgated as ‘unavailable’ via NOTAM and AIP SUP. The minimum distance between YCHT and TRA-Macrossan is 4.5 n mile.
During NOTAM activation periods, access by non-exercise aircraft through TRA-Macrossan will not be available except in cases of a declared emergency, radio failure or participating in activities for the preservation of life and property (search and rescue, medical evacuation, police or fire and flood recovery). Transit procedures will be promulgated via AIP SUP.
- YBBB/TRA-Macrossan
- Conditional Status: RA2
- Military Flying
- Lateral Limits: 194940S 1462145E – 195056S 1463353E – 195239S 1463341E – 200500S 1463300E – 200500S 1462205E – 194940S 1462145E
- Vertical Limits: SFC – 4000
- Hours of activity: NOTAM
- Controlling Authority: Defence Airspace Liaison Officer, contact details to be specified in NOTAM.
Mt Windsor/Lake Powlathanga
The proposed airspace is a low-level TRA located approximately 16 n mile south-west of Charters towers, in the vicinity of Lake Powlathanga and Mt Windsor. The TRA is required to support a large-scale (250+ chute) military parachute activity within a four-hour window on 23 Jul 23. See Figure 2.
In the unlikely yet possible event of cancellation due unforeseen circumstances (eg weather), the following day (24 Jul 23) will serve as a spare activation period. Specific timings of airspace activation windows will be confirmed by AIP SUP and NOTAM.
| Date | Time (local) | Time (UTC) |
|---|---|---|
| 23 July 2023 | 0930-1330h | 2330Z 22 July - 0330Z 23 July 2023 |
| 24 July 2023 | 0930-1330h | 2330Z 23 July - 0330Z 24 July 2023 |
Planned activation timings for TRA-Windsor. The Charters Towers (YCHT) RNP RWY 06 will not be available during TRA-Windsor activation due to conflicting lateral and vertical dimensions. The availability of the Charters Towers One departure is yet to be determined. The affected instrument flight procedures will be promulgated as ‘unavailable’ by NOTAM and AIP SUP.
During NOTAM activation periods, access by non-exercise aircraft through TRA-Windsor will not be available except in cases of a declared emergency, radio failure or participating in activities for the preservation of life and property (search and rescue, medical evacuation, police or fire and flood recovery). Transit procedures will be promulgated via AIP SUP.
- YBBB/TRA-Windsor
- Conditional Status: RA2
- Military Flying
- Lateral Limits: 200927S 1454533E, 200302S 1455343E, 201827S 1460720E, 202452E 1455911E, 200927S 1454533E
- Vertical Limits: SFC – 4500
- Hours of Activity: NOTAM
- Controlling Authority: Defence Airspace Liaison Officer, contact details to be specified in NOTAM.
AvSEF members are invited to provide feedback to JACC: adf.airspace@defence.gov.au by 16 March 2023.