Mildura Airport is considering whether changing the direction planes take off and land after dark could reduce complaints about training flights taking place above residential areas.
The proposal to change the runway circuit direction was put forward by Australian Aviation Alliance, an academy training more than 100 pilots at Mildura for Chinese airlines.
Its operations have significantly increased traffic at regional Victoria's largest airport, attracting noise complaints from the residential areas to Mildura's south.
Those complaints continued even after airport management trialled shifting training areas away from Mildura, implementing a curfew, reducing the number of aircraft in the airport's circuit and having planes approach from higher altitudes.
Mildura Airport has advised airport users it supported the change "provided safety is not compromised" and said it would consult the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.
Talks in early stages
Mildura Airport CEO Trevor Willcock said changing the flight path was "always a difficult and long process".
"We want to see how far it goes before any consultation wider than the airport will happen," he said.
"There's been communication from Qantas, there's been communication from other organisations on the airfield, but the whole proposal will go to our safety and operations forum and the forum consists of everybody that operates aircraft on the airfield and that's where it will get discussed in detail," Mr Willcock said.
The pilot academy's proposal explainer said "several training airfields around the country … have a change in circuit direction after sundown".
If the proposal is implemented there will be a trial period to evaluate the impact.
Safety first, Aero Club says
Dave Seddon, vice-president of the Mildura Aero Club, said the change was unlikely to affect its members because they usually fly during the day.
But he questioned whether the risks of a sudden change to the flight path at a certain point in the evening could outweigh the benefits.
"Just retaining the status quo is more important for safety, I think, rather than changing — and I don't see a lot of advantage," he said.
"Because you're going to upset a different group of people."
A spokeswoman for Airservices Australia said the agency had received noise complaints in April and May related to general aviation activity near Mildura Airport, and that it was providing the airport management with a monthly report outlining those complaints.
"Aircraft operating at Mildura Airport are generally not under the control of Airservices, but they must still comply with aviation regulations," she said.
