Another slightly nail biting night approaching SYD

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Melburnian1

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As many of us know, the 2300 hours curfew in SYD may not please the airlines or the airport lessee but from the simple point of functionality it works pretty well most nights.

However on days such as today when there were a lot of delays out of or into another major airport - today it was MEL due to bad weather (rain all day, presumably low cloud, heavier rain away from the city and so on), it must be slightly nail biting wondering whether the last to depart (in tonight's case) from MEL will make it for touchdown prior to the 'witching hour.'

As we have discussed previously, dispensations from curfew are occasionally approved by the Federal delegate but they are quite unusual - of course, on many if not most nights, no air operator needs to apply because every flight is in or out with quite a margin before 2300. Tonight as I type this at 2206, TT282 (timetabled to depart MEL at 2105) has not even taken off - so that looks like a case of 'sorry folks, come back in the morning' - while JQ526 (which departed 81 minutes late at 2151) still has 556 kilometres to run (as ATC never says, since in common with convention it does not use kilometres).

VA891 at 2209 had 511 kilometres left on its flight to SYD, having departed MEL 109 minutes late at 2149, while VA883 was close to Tumbarumba and should have about 23 minutes spare if not placed in a holding pattern. It departed MEL 160 minutes late.

UPDATE: TT282 seems to have been cancelled. JQ526 made it to touchdown at SYD at about 2256 and 30 seconds.

TT287 just made it out of SYD for MEL, departing 71 minutes late at 2256.

QF556, the 2105 from SYD to BNE, seems to have breached curfew by about 40 seconds (although obviously my watch and an Internet site may not be accurate to the second) although in the circumstances that seems a reasonable dispensation to give if one was sought from the delegate.

QF497, the 2205 from SYD to MEL took off at 2304 in a clear breach of the curfew.

One wonders if QF497 satisfied the three specified criteria:

http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/av...ews/SydneyAirport/DispensationGuidelines.aspx
 
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QF497, the 2205 from SYD to MEL took off at 2304 in a clear breach of the curfew.
From my previous readings on the matter, I think what was required was that there be a taxi clearance before 11 pm. The takeoff could still occur after 11, as long as the actual taxi clearance came before.
 
Would the blanket runway dispensation in place apply here as per your link?
 
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