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Sunshine Coast Airport Runway

Sunshine Coast Airport has one runway oriented North-West to South-East (Runway 13/31) which opened on 14 June 2020. The runway is shown in the image below with orange arrows at either end.

Each runway is referred to differently according to in which direction it is being used, as explained in the following video.

For example, the runway is referred to as Runway 13 when used in a south-easterly direction and Runway 31 when used in a north-westerly direction.

Runway numbering reflects the runways’ orientation and correlates with degrees on a compass. Runway 13 is at 130 degrees and Runway 31 is at 310 degrees.

The existing north-south runway (RWY 18/36) was de-commissioned when the new runway opened. The old runway is also shown in the image below in blue.

Learn more about seasonal changes in your area on our How seasonal variation affects your area page.

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What was that flight?

WebTrak is a tool that enables the community to see where aircraft fly and explore historical trends and patterns. WebTrak is provided by Envirosuite .

WebTrak uses information from air traffic control radars to display aircraft movements. The flight search and display function allows you to view aircraft flight activity over metropolitan areas. You can also:

  • locate your street address and have your home appear on the map
  • see noise levels of individual aircraft
  • view information about aircraft type, height, origin and destination
  • display an aircraft’s flight path and point of closest approach to your home
  • zoom in and out down to street level.

Note that there is a slight delay on the display of flights.

You can view WebTrak for your region here.

Or, find out more information about WebTrak and how to use it

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How many aircraft fly near me?

This tool shows the number of flights each day over your area in the selected month compared to the average for last year.  The bottom axis shows the day of the month. Use the drop-down menu to change the selected month to see how movements have varied. Hover over each day to see flight numbers.

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Sydney Airport Community Forum

Federally-leased airports (excluding Mt. Isa and Tennant Creek) have established Community Aviation Consultation Groups (CACGs), which provide an effective avenue for local community engagement on airport planning and operations, including aircraft noise. The Department for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications provides guidelines for CACGs.

Non federally-leased airports may also choose to establish CACGs or community forums.

CACG membership depends on the characteristics of the airport and any local issues of community concern however, generally includes:

  • airport management
  • aircraft operators
  • community organisations or representatives
  • representatives from state, territory or local government bodies
  • local tourism and business groups.

Airservices does not formally belong to CACGs, but is invited to attend to provide relevant information and assist in discussions. We engage with CACGs on flight path and airspace changes, as well as technical reviews, such as noise monitoring and noise abatement procedures.

Find our more information on the Sydney Airport Community Forum (SACF) webpage.

Meeting Summary Minutes

2024
IMC-FINAL-minutes-Meeting-168-5March24Download

2023
IMC-FINAL-minutes-Meeting-167-1August23Download
MAY 2023Download
IMC-FINAL-minutes-Meeting-166-30May23Download

2022

IMC-FINAL-minutes-Meeting-165-20December22Download
IMC-FINAL-minutes-Meeting-164-9August22Download
IMC-FINAL-minutes-Meeting-163-29March22Download
2021

IMC-FINAL-minutes-Meeting-162-23November21Download
IMC-FINAL-minutes-Meeting-161-21September21Download
IMC-FINAL-minutes-Meeting-160-20July21Download
IMC-FINAL-minutes-Meeting-159-18May21Download
IMC-FINAL-minutes-Meeting-158-16Feb2021Download
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How seasonal variation affects your area

Aircraft usually take-off and land into the wind for safety and performance reasons. As the wind direction changes the runway in operation and the flight paths being used may also change.

This means that Melbourne’s seasonal wind patterns affect usage of the different runway directions. Specifically, Runway 16 tends to be used more frequently in the warmer months due to southerly winds whereas Runway 34 tends to be used more frequently in the cooler months when the predominant wind direction tends to be northerly. The pattern of use of Runway 27 tends to be less clear-cut as it can generally be used with either a northerly or southerly wind, provided the crosswind does not exceed the maximum allowed speed of 20 knots, including gusts.

Runways may be used in combination. For example, Runway 27 may be used for departures while Runways 27 and 34 are being used in combination for arrivals.

Learn more about how the runways are named and oriented on our Melbourne Airport Runways page.

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Unusual activity

We regularly receive calls about unusual or irregular aircraft activity or airport operations.

Aircraft may not fly on the published flight path for a number of reasons. You can learn more on our Do planes have to stay on flight paths? page.

Some other common reasons we are contacted are:

Circuit Training

At major general aviation airports around the country including Bankstown (NSW), Archerfield (Qld), Moorabbin (Vic), Parafield (SA) and Jandakot (WA), flight training schools regularly conduct circuit training. Circuit training sees aircraft, usually small single engine propeller aircraft, fly over the surrounding suburbs at a height of approximately 1,000 ft (305 metres).

Low level flights

Occasionally, aircraft and helicopters fly at low levels for reasons including law enforcement, rescue and military operations, aerobatic or air show displays.

More information is available on our What are the rules about helicopters? page and What are the rules about altitudes? page.

Equipment testing & calibration

We are responsible for conducting regular flight calibration inspections on around 500 navigational aids nationwide.

This involves a specially-equipped aircraft conducting numerous ‘missed approaches’ to test and calibrate equipment usually at low level. In order to fully check the equipment several passes are required and the aircraft may remain in the area for an extended period of time.

Whilst we take measures to reduce the impact of these inspections, they are required to maintain safety of the entire aviation system and on occasion we may need to undertake these at sensitive times.

Smoke and flames from an airport

We regularly conduct training exercises around the country for aviation fire fighters which involve the creation of large amounts of smoke and flames. There may also be an unusually high number of emergency vehicle movements. The appearance of smoke and flames at an airport does not mean there has been an accident or that there is any concern for aircraft safety.

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Helicopter and nearby routes

The airspace surrounding Brisbane Airport is controlled from the ground level up. The base of the controlled airspace rises moving outwards from Brisbane Airport, with the airspace below the base being uncontrolled. Light aircraft and helicopters often remain in uncontrolled airspace to remain separated from large passenger aircraft that transit through controlled airspace.

The following image shows light aircraft and helicopter movements in uncontrolled airspace throughout the Brisbane region. As you can see, these flights remain clear of Brisbane Airport:

This however does not mean light aircraft and helicopters are restricted from entering controlled airspace. In order to access this airspace, the aircraft operator requires an airspace clearance and is obligated to abide by air traffic control directions once in the controlled airspace. In the Brisbane region, the most common user of this airspace apart from Brisbane Airport traffic is medical helicopters flying to and from local hospitals. The following image shows some of these flights:

Archerfield Airport also has a pocket of controlled airspace surrounding the airport. A difference to Brisbane’s controlled airspace though is that Archerfield’s is only active from 7:00am – 5:00pm. Outside of these hours the airspace around Archerfield is uncontrolled.

In busy airspace where there is a mix of controlled and uncontrolled airspace, lanes are often established to ensure pilots transiting through the airspace remain outside of controlled airspace. One such lane passes between Brisbane’s and Archerfield’s control zones. The following image shows aircraft using this lane. The control zones for Brisbane Airport and Archerfield Airport are shaded grey. Pilots navigating along these lanes do so with visual reference to landmarks that are easy to recognise from the air which in this case is the University of Queensland and the brickworks in Rochedale. Both of this places are referenced on the map:

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Useful documents and websites

Further information about aircraft operations

You can find a range of information on the Airservices website.

Accessing earlier noise and complaint information reports

Our interactive noise and complaint reports include data from 1 January 2017. Previous reports are available on request.

Understanding noise and annoyance – video

Everyone encounters sound every day. It is only when that sound causes an adverse effect on a listener, such as annoyance, does that sound become noise. Noise is not always just about how loud the sound is, there is a complex set of factors that drive annoyance both based upon the noise itself and what that noise means to us. Find out more by watching this video:

From the ATC archives – video

Take a look at how air traffic control and flight operations used to operate.

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Introduction to aircraft noise

Although the terms noise and sound can be used interchangeably, noise is used to refer to an unwanted sound, while sound is the generic term used to refer to anything acoustic.

In the case of aircraft noise, the acoustic energy can pass through 500 metres to 10 kilometres (or more) of air to reach local communities. As a result an aircraft can sound very different depending on the distance between the community and the aircraft, be that at flying or on the ground at a nearby airport.

The following video explains how aircraft noise is generated and how the characteristics of sound from aircraft can vary depending on a range of factors, such as the height of the aircraft, the type of aircraft (jet/propeller), its speed and weather:

If you would like to read more about aircraft noise and how we monitor it, you can visit our aircraft noise webpage.

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How frequent are flights in my area?

There are a number of factors that influence the frequency of flights.

Firstly, the number and frequency of flights will vary on a daily, weekly and yearly basis due to differences in airline schedules. The airlines schedule flights in response to consumer demand. This is particularly the case around Christmas, Easter, school holidays and Lunar New Year.

Secondly, the runway in use at any given time will also vary, largely due to the wind conditions. Each runway has its own set of flight paths, and each flight path will affect different areas. As the runway in use changes, the flight paths change, and so too do the areas affected by aircraft movements.

This chart shows the total number of flights each hour over the month, compared to the average for last year. Change the selected month to see how it has varied.

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