Learn about flight paths and aircraft movements in your area
Welcome to the Aircraft in Your Neighborhood Portal
Our goal is that you will learn more about the flight paths and aircraft movements in your area and be able to access the information and resources that explain how air traffic is managed.
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A large expanse of military airspace exists around Richmond RAAF Base in the north-west of Sydney, as shown in the image below. Locations inside and surrounding this area are likely to experience noise from military aircraft operations. This includes activities within the restricted area and aircraft flying in and out of the Base to and from other destinations.
Noise Mitigation
The Department of Defence Aircraft Noise Management Strategy outlines how they work with local communities to reduce noise impacts, while balancing operational and training requirements.
Flying operations are conducted in consideration of local communities, whilst maintaining the safe operation of the aircraft. More information can be found in the:
You can access more information on military aircraft activity at:
Circuit training is the first stage of practical pilot training, focused on take-offs and landings. It involves the pilot making approaches to the runway, touching down and then applying power to take-off again.
Circuit training is undertaken at most airports, particularly regional and general aviation aerodromes. How a circuit is flown and its location is determined by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.
The animation below shows how a circuit is typically flown. it has been created using typical tracks which are shown in blue whilst an animated aircraft flies the circuit. The circuit will only be used by one aircraft at any given time.
The animation illustrates the degree of variation that will occur in the way pilots fly circuits. The altitudes above mean sea level of the aircraft are also shown. You can enlarge to full-screen by clicking the square-shaped button in the bottom right-hand corner of the player.
The following image shows the density of aircraft in the circuit over a the quarter. The colour indicates the density – the hotter and deeper the colour, the greater the number of movements.
Important information for residents near circuit training airports
Aircraft movement information in this portal may inaccurately count some low-level flights at Secondary airports.
Why is this so?
The aircraft movement data comes from the radar located close to the major airport which is used by air traffic control to manage aircraft within controlled airspace. Low-level flights around secondary airports, such as circuit training flights, can be partially hidden from the radar’s line of sight by buildings and hills, potentially making counts inaccurate.
Learn more
Learn more about how radar coverage affects counting of low-level aircraft movements at secondary airports in our Help and Technical Information page, available in the resources section.
Circuit training is the first stage of practical pilot training, focused on take-offs and landings. It involves the pilot making approaches to the runway, touching down and then applying power to take-off again.
Circuit training is undertaken at most airports, particularly regional and general aviation aerodromes. How a circuit is flown and its location is determined by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.
The animation below shows how a circuit is typically flown. it has been created using typical tracks which are shown in blue whilst an animated aircraft flies the circuit. The circuit will only be used by one aircraft at any given time.
The animation illustrates the degree of variation that will occur in the way pilots fly circuits. The altitudes above mean sea level of the aircraft are also shown. You can enlarge to full-screen by clicking the square-shaped button in the bottom right-hand corner of the player.
The following images show the typical paths taken by aircraft flying the circuit at Camden using both runways available at the airport. The runway direction is selected using the wind direction.
Circuits conducted on the north-west side of the airport with Ellis Lane and Cobbity affected by either the crosswind or base legs as shown in the image below.
Circuits conducted on the north-east side of the airport with and parts of Ellis Lane and Kirkham affected by the crosswind and base legs as shown in the image below.
Important information for residents near circuit training airports
Aircraft movement information in this portal may inaccurately count some low-level flights at Secondary airports.
Why is this so?
The aircraft movement data comes from the radar located close to the major airport which is used by air traffic control to manage aircraft within controlled airspace. Low-level flights around secondary airports, such as circuit training flights, can be partially hidden from the radar’s line of sight by buildings and hills, potentially making counts inaccurate.
Learn more
Learn more about how radar coverage affects counting of low-level aircraft movements at secondary airports in our Help and Technical Information page, available in the resources section.
There are a number of designated flight training areas to the west and south-west of Bankstown Airport and surrounding Camden Airport. Once pilots progress past the initial circuit training stage of their learning they will begin flying to and around these training areas.
These areas extend from ground level to between 2,500 feet to 4,500 feet. The closer the training area is to Sydney Airport, the lower the upper limit will be to ensure that aircraft do not conflict with arrivals and departures using Sydney Airport.
In addition to pilot training, activities including model aircraft flights, ultralight aircraft flights, as well as aerobatic flights can occur. Parachute jumping generally occurs to the south of the training areas over the Wilton aerodrome area. Transiting aircraft may also track over the area.
The training areas are outside controlled airspace. This means that aircraft are not being directed by air traffic control. The following image shows the density of aircraft using the training areas and flying between the training areas, Camden and Bankstown Airports over a typical three-month period.
The colour indicates the density – the hotter and deeper the colour, the greater the number of movements. The legend in the bottom right-hand corner indicates the number of movements per quarter depicted by each colour.
