Military Flying Activity - Shoalwater Bay Training Area

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    Closed consultation
    QLD
    Start 21/03/2023
    AEDT 11:00
    End 04/04/2023
    AEST 10:00

    Submit feedback to

    Joint Airspace  Control Cell
    Royal Australian Air Force
    adf.airspace@defence.gov.au

    Elements of the United States Military and Australian Defence Force (ADF) will be conducting military flying activities over the period 19 June – 09 July 2023.

    The issue

    This proposal notes the following key issues: 

    • Temporary Restricted Area (TRA)-Ostrich proposed to safely separate civil aircraft from dynamic fast jet transit, holding and operations over water to the East of Shoalwater Bay Training Area (SWBTA).
    • Conditional status of TRA-Ostrich to be RA2.
    • Anticipated activation windows and procedures, with final confirmation to be promulgated via Aeronautical Information Package Supplements (AIP SUP) and NOTAM.

    Purpose

    The Joint Airspace Control Cell (JACC) requests feedback on a proposed TRA to serve as a corridor between ship-based aircraft and SBTA restricted airspace over the period 19 Jun - 09 Jul 23.

    The intention is to activate a TRA to provide a corridor for ship-based aircraft to transit to/from ships and the SWBTA Restricted Airspace. This corridor will also be used to hold military aircraft outside of SWBTA airspace for deconfliction with other military flying and non-flying activities.

    A TRA is proposed to facilitate use of extant SWBTA PRD during the military flying activity. The proposed area, TRA-Ostrich, has been designed to safely segregate civil aviators from military fast jet aircraft while they conduct high-speed and low-level holding off the Queensland Coast.

    TRA-Ostrich is expected to be activated twice daily, with one daily activation period occurring during hours of daylight and the other during hours of night. Anticipated activation windows for TRA-Ostrich are tentatively outlined in Table 1, with anticipated extant PRD windows in Table 2. The specific timings of PRD and TRA airspace activation will be confirmed by NOTAM.

     

    Table 1. Anticipated TRA-Ostrich activation
    Date Temporary Airspace Hours of Activation
    19 Jun - 09 Jul 2023 TRA-Ostrich

    1300-1600 Local (0300-0600 UTC)

    1900-2200 Local (0900-1200 UTC)
    Table 2. Anticipated extant SWBTA activation
    Date Extant Airspace Hours of Activation
    19 Jun - 09 Jul 2023 R680, R682, R683, R684B, R686, R687B, R689 NOTAM
    19 Jun - 09 Jul 2023 R684A, R687A H24

     

    Extant PRD activation for this activity is subject to change, and may be activated outside of these anticipated dates for unrelated activities within SWBTA.

    Access to TRA-Ostrich and SWBTA RA by non-military aircraft is not available except for aircraft with a declared emergency or operating in the preservation of life or property (medivac, fire and flood recovery, police, search and rescue). Clearances through TRA-Ostrich, when required, will be provided by the controlling authority IAW procedures to be published in the AIP SUP.

    Refer to Figure 1 for a depiction of TRA-Ostrich.

    YBBB/TRA-Ostrich

    • Conditional Status: RA2
    • Military Flying
    • Lateral Limits: 221814S 1510552E – 221806S 1515252E – 223133S 1515252E – 223047S 1510103E – then along the counter clockwise arc of a circle radius 30.00 nautical mile (n mile) centre 221600S 1503300E – 221814S 1510552E
    • Vertical Limits: SFC – FL210
    • Controlling Authority: Defence (contact details to be published in AIP SUP)
    image depicting TRA-Ostrich
    Figure 1. Proposed TRA-Ostrich [not for navigational purposes]

     

    Submitted by

    Joint Airspace Control Cell
    Royal Australian Air Force
    adf.airspace@defence.gov.au