The Gold Coast airport is the fifth busiest international airport in Australia, with more than 1.8 million people passing through it last year. The corporation that runs Gold Coast Airport, Gold Coast Airport Pty Ltd, want to make landing of flights into Gold Coast airport more reliable.
What Is An ILS?
An ILS is an Instrument Landing System. It’s a radio signal that helps pilots navigate and land during poor weather. ILS operate within Australia’s major airports such as Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
How Will An ILS Help Me When I’m Flying Into Gold Coast Airport?
The ILS increases your likelihood of landing during poor weather. In any weather conditions, the pilot has to make a visual on the runway before he/she can land. The pilot has to spot the runway before the plane gets too low. Otherwise the pilot has to go around for another shot or fly to another airport. How low the pilot is able to go before spotting the runway is determined by what technology he/she has to rely upon. At the moment the pilot must spot the runway before descending beyond 500 feet altitude. With the ILS installed that same pilot could descend to 280 feet. That vastly improves the pilot’s likelihood of spotting the runway and being able to make a landing. What that means to you is, you’re much more likely to land where you want when you want when travelling to the Gold Coast.
As an airport transfer company, we’re often dealing with the uncertainties of whether planes will land or not. During poor whether they can queue up for landing or divert to Brisbane airport. This is especially common during summer when sub-tropical storms make for poor visibility on Gold Coast. Our job is to make sure we’re there where and when our clients needs us. This we do. However that is sometimes small comfort to passengers who are several hours late landing or have landed in the wrong city. The ILS will decrease the possibility of this happening.
Difficulties Assciated With The The Gold Coast ILS
The main issue affecting Gold Coastser is the flight path required by the ILS. Currently around two-thirds of Gold Coast airport flight traffic comes in from the northern approach. Generally that swing around Burleigh Heads area and line up with the airport, mostly traveling over sea until they get to Currumbin. In this way the planes are flying over a small percentage of Gold Coast residents. When the ILS comes into play the planes will be guided in a straight line that will take the plane over much of the Gold Coast coastal suburbs, increasing the amount of people affected by aircraft noise.
The other issue is building on the ILS station. The area south of the runways is a welands eco-system with rare and endangered animals.
Further Information On the Gold Coast Airport ILS
If you want to make a submission about the Gold Coast airport ILS please see their ILS submissions page: Gold Coast Airport ILS Submissions.
For further information on the Gold Coast ILS please see the Air Services Australia page: Instrument landing system for Gold Coast Airport
See also the Gold Coast Airport Pty Ltd Instrument Landing System Major Development Plan page.
