iscover
Point Cook could well become a major General Aviation facility if Essendon closes though it is arguable whether too many of Essendon's existing small operators would survive the enforced change of address.
Recce
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The Disappearing Airports
As the year rolls to a close it sometimes brings to mind what the future might well hold for some aspects of aviation in Australia. In particular I have a bad feeling about some crucial aspects of General Aviation, a component of our aeronautical environment that seems to perennially be the subject of a slow death via a combination of political and economic torture. Over the past decade GA has been bludgeoned by a wide range of never ending assaults by various aviation ministers that are (we thought) supposed to nurture and promote its well being for the good of the nation. On top of that the savage recession of the early nineties pretty much sapped whatever reserves some operators had left following their never ending political battles of the period. Now there is a third ominous threat, albeit long term, but a major threat all the same that may not have a practical resolution. And that threat is the disappearing GA airports.
Over the past year Sydney has lost Schofields and it is inevitable that Hoxton Park will go not long after Badgerys Creek is operational whilst even Camden will ultimately be threatened in the long term by the new Sydney West jetport. For the record, little Hoxton, which is already rapidly becoming surrounded by housing estates, claims more annual movements than occur in all of Tasmania. Hoxton is not the ‘one man and a dog’ operation that many perceive and its inevitable loss will be sorely felt as already Bankstown is near capacity in both operational and environmental terms. What Sydney will face in a decade or less is the almost inevitable possibility of having just one GA airport. Furthermore, terrain and urban sprawl preclude any opportunity for the development of a new GA airport within 100 kilometres of the CBD. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that by 2010 Sydneysiders will have to venture south to Mittagong/Goulburn or west to Bathurst to be able to enjoy their recreational flying.
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