SYD curfew not honoured

[Melburnian1]

Yesterday afternoon (Thursday 20 December) saw huge storms (and hailstones) in and around Sydney that continued into the early evening.

By my count at least 11 flights took off to the south of SYD after 2300 hours. There were also some arrivals after that time, though I recorded only one, probably missing others. There is a requirement that such departures occur to the south where there are fewer residents affected.

The SYD 2300 to 0600 daily curfew has some exemptions: a small number of international flights are permitted to land for six months of the year between 0500 and 0559, and various freight/mail flights are exempt overnight.

Under the applicable Act, adverse weather conditions is not generally considered a reason to exempt a flight from the curfew (although the number of passengers affected is a consideration):

https://infrastructure.gov.au/aviat...ews/SydneyAirport/DispensationGuidelines.aspx

I perceive that under the Federal Coalition Government, many exemptions are being granted that in previous decades may not have been approved.

As a non-resident of Sydney, on the one hand the care for passengers shown by allowing dispensations is good, but if I lived in Sydney and was affected by aircraft noise, I'd want politicians to honour the Act Parliament passed. Aircraft may be quieter than a decade ago, but surely some locals still have their sleep interrupted by departures or arrivals post-2300 hours.

 

[docjames]

You would be able to note frequency and any changes - reports are tabled to parliament.

https://infrastructure.gov.au/aviation/environmental/curfews/CurfewDispensationReports/index.aspx

 

[Forg]

Aircraft may be quieter than a decade ago, but surely some locals still have their sleep interrupted by departures or arrivals post-2300 hours.

I had a few friends that lived in those high-falutin' inner-city suburbs, before they had families & the desire for space for kids to play etc; they reckon you get used to it after a while. A few people probably noticed, but most probably didn't (and had probably already gone to sleep during the Noise Time ).

 

[mrsterryn]

As a person who does live in the area...we can easily walk to domestic (even me) we don't hear much noise.
Admittedly our townhouse was built with noise dampening/reducing glass.
Though I wasn't home last night . I would prefer people did get home even if curfew was broken

 

[JB001]

The departures after 2300 from 16R would almost certainly not have been dispensations to the curfew.

The legislation states that departing aircraft must be in receipt of a taxi clearance prior to 2300. Aircraft departing from runway 34L must be airborne prior to 2245.
During the summer months when northerlies are the prevailing winds and storms affect Sydney airport, it is not uncommon for the late bank of international departures being unable to meet the requirement to be airborne off 34L by 2245. Instead the aircraft, as long as they have a taxi clearance prior to 2300, can depart runway 16R at any time prior to 0559 without any penalty. It is not uncommon for the late International departures to have to taxi for runway 16R and wait for the wind to drop sufficiently to allow them to depart from 16R with an acceptable tailwind component (generally < 10 knots).

There is absolutely no curfew dispensation required for the above and this has been legislated in the act for as long as i'm aware of.

Curfew dispensations are very rare and it's best not to make assumptions that dispensations are being granted when it's not the case.

 

[JohnK]

I had a few friends that lived in those high-falutin' inner-city suburbs, before they had families & the desire for space for kids to play etc; they reckon you get used to it after a while. A few people probably noticed, but most probably didn't (and had probably already gone to sleep during the Noise Time ).

We don't live far from the airport but I remember when I was out of work and sitting in my bedroom playing games during the day the windows/house used to shake with aircraft directly overhead.

Never got used to the noise and I'd constantly call the recorded number and complain. Thank God they changed the flight paths away.

 

[RooFlyer]

Curfew dispensation's are very rare and it's best not to make assumption's that dispensation's are being granted when it's not the case.

Sorry, off to the grammar thread for you with those multiple errant apostrophes.

 

[Forg]

We don't live far from the airport but I remember when I was out of work and sitting in my bedroom playing games during the day the windows/house used to shake with aircraft directly overhead.

Never got used to the noise and I'd constantly call the recorded number and complain. Thank God they changed the flight paths away.

Yeah two mates lived in Leichhardt (?sp?) for about 5 years ... we’d be there for a BBQ with some music playing, this 747 would thunder overhead (you’d have to be careful if you were tossing a pizza as it’d get caught in the undercarriage), I’d jump about 10’ in shock & the guys who lived there were all “what, something happened?”.
I’d be with you; dunno how you could get used to that. Mind you it was all landings, I don’t recall any take-offs.

 

[JohnK]

I’d be with you; dunno how you could get used to that. Mind you it was all landings, I don’t recall any take-offs.

Landings are probably the worst as the aircraft is only a few hundred metres above.

The worst part was we are outside the free insulation zone. Not sure how much that helps though.

 

[drron]

Sorry, off to the grammar thread for you with those multiple errant apostrophes.

But,but apostrophes are an important part of the Fitzsimon's school of writing.

 

[Forg]

What’s a butt apostrophe?
This is a Union inside-term innit?

 

[drron]

Well I grew up under the flight path in Tambourine Bay.
Then with mrsdrron we live in a unit at Stanmore and the planes literally flew past our window.You could actually see people in the window seats.Then moved a little further out to Annandale.We certainly got used to the noise.

 

[GoldCanyon340]

I lived in Edgecliff around 1996 when a flight path change resulted in the Eastern Suburbs 'sharing the noise'. Could hardly hear the leaves blowing in the streets some evenings.

 

[Milboo]

There was allowance made on Thursday night to help shift the backlog. And I think it was the right thing to do ahead of the busiest 2 travel days for the year.

I live under the flight path - take off and departure. Arrivals come over me at about 1000ft - like the QF from Cairns (B738) right now. And honestly you get used to the noise - and it blends into the background. Occasionally you get a window rattling departure but it’s fleeting.

 

[OATEK]

My daughter lived at Marrickville for a while, about 800 metres west of Sydenham Station. When we had family do's there people would say where is your dad, and she would say out on the balcony waving to the pilots - where else!!

Nothing quite like watching an A380 lumber into the sky from close range - reminded me a bit of when we used to look in peoples windows on the final approach to Kai Tak in the good old days. Fair to say the noise doesn't worry me, but then I grew up living close to a 1 in 40 grade on the railways where double headed steam locomotives would pull heavy coal trains past in the middle of the night. I had no trouble sleeping through it, although now I wished I had been outside taking a look at what is now long gone.

 

[drron]

In Concord west we lived on Concord road.Busy the whole 24 hours then.No problem sleeping.Then moved to Maitland.Couldn't sleep for the first 6 months as it was too quiet.

 

[Solid]

I was on QF75 that night which took off well after 23:30. We were about sixth in the queue from memory and there were also a number of landings while we were waiting (pilots were updating us).

I’m surprised it happened but appreciative, plenty other flights cancelled while in the lounge.

 

[Altair]

When I was a wee lad I lived on 2 USAF bases, Yokota in Western Tokyo and Barksdale in Louisana. I can tell you that military aircraft do not have Q kits or care too much about noise limitations....although most base operations are kept to daylight hours.
I lived under the LHR arrival path and that was a nightmare and made sure you were an early riser from 5:50 am.
I now live overlooking Evans Bay at WLG and knew the time by the aircraft taking off in the morning. This is where I have really noticed the atmospheric condtions playing a key part in noise and shaking. The first few weeks living here I thought I was going through an earthquake when the 737 trans Tasman flights took off on a moist cool and windless day. The entire house shook and the noise was incredible but after a couple of departures after that I knew what it was. Interesting when I was on the roof of my house painting on such a day I thought a 5+ earthquake was a plane taking off and only knew it was an earthquake when I saw the empty runway and then the Civil Defence alerts came across the phone. Most of the time now you hear them but ignore them with only the occasional need to stop a conversation or rewind the tv show.

 

[flying_double]

The departures after 2300 from 16R would almost certainly not have been dispensations to the curfew...
...
Curfew dispensations are very rare and it's best not to make assumptions that dispensations are being granted when it's not the case.

On the evening of 20 December 2018, there were 11 dispensations granted for arriving aircraft and 8 dispensations granted for departing aircraft.

Over the period 29/11/18 to 8/2/19, 71 applications were made, 67 dispensations were approved and 4 were not.

I’d say it’s best not to make the assumption that dispensations are not being granted in exceptional circumstances, because the factual summary lodged with parliament tells a different story.

 

[Melburnian1]

On the evening of 20 December 2018, there were 11 dispensations granted for arriving aircraft and 8 dispensations granted for departing aircraft.

Over the period 29/11/18 to 8/2/19, 71 applications were made, 67 dispensations were approved and 4 were not.

I’d say it’s best not to make the assumption that dispensations are not being granted in exceptional circumstances, because the factual summary lodged with parliament tells a different story.

I agree.

IIRC, since the Federal Liberal/Nationals Government was elected, dispensations have become more common (and a far higher percentage of those flights that required to have an application made for such).

Should Albanese (ALP) become Minister for Transport Federally, one might expect dispensations to drop given his electorate is adjacent. It includes Leichardt, Stanmore and Sydenham, all of which receive some noise from aircraft depending on the mode of operation SYD is using (which varies from day to day and within each day, under the 'mode sharing' in the Long Term Operating Plan).

I don't live in Sydney. Is the No Aircraft Noise Party still active to any marked degree (it has at least a small social media presence)? What other other non-aligned opponents of SYD airport noise?