Proposed Changes to Oakey Airspace and Air Traffic Services

Providing a Class D service to all users would alleviate delays for both military and some civil users and resolve complexity issues.

The issue

Oakey Air Traffic Control (ATC) currently provides a Class C service to civilian aircraft in Oakey airspace; however, this level of service is not conducive to the type of military operations that are conducted within. Consequently, Oakey ATC provide a Class D service to military operators.

R654A/B is classified as RA2 and will remain so. This means that civil pilots must not flight plan through the restricted area (AIP ENR 5.1 -3), but there are times when a clearance through the restricted area could be offered on a tactical basis. The present varied Class C/D service often prevents this and is the main source of delays when civilian and military operations could otherwise occur simultaneously.

Purpose

The intent of this consultation is to advise that the air traffic service provision in Oakey restricted areas R654A/B/C/D and Oakey Control Zone (CTR) will be changing from Class C to Class D. R654A/B will remain classified as RA2. R654C/D will remain classified as RA1.