{"id":26170,"date":"2013-03-12T17:01:10","date_gmt":"2013-03-12T07:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=26170"},"modified":"2020-12-21T13:34:38","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T03:34:38","slug":"council-fights-to-save-weather-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/03\/12\/council-fights-to-save-weather-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Council Fights To Save Weather Service"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
The Royal Flying Doctor Service and other medevac services fly regularly into Kingaroy Airport;
the lack of a TAF service will force them to carry more fuel and accept lower safety standards<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

March 12, 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

The South Burnett Regional Council will formally ask the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) to reconsider its plan to axe Kingaroy airport’s weather forecasting service.<\/p>\n

The service provides pilots with information about weather conditions at the airport, and is funded through a Meteorological Service Charge on the aviation industry.<\/p>\n

In January this year, BOM released a draft report as part of a long-term review of\u00a0its Terminal Aerodrome Forecast (TAF) services which recommended that weather forecasting stations at 78 regional airports around Australia be closed.<\/p>\n

The draft report said this would save the $7 million that BOM estimates it would cost to ensure that all of Australia’s airports had up-to-date, high-quality weather forecasting stations.<\/p>\n

The report also recommended that in future a domestic aerodrome would need to have at least 4000 movements – or 10,000 passengers – a year to be considered for a TAF.<\/p>\n

Kingaroy Airport was one of the 78 airports identified as falling below this cut-off line.<\/p>\n

If the TAF service is withdrawn, the South Burnett Regional Council would have to pay\u00a0BOM if it wanted it to continue.<\/p>\n

The cost of an installed automatic weather station suitable for aviation use is typically between $100,000 and $150,000, and annual maintenance costs vary between $2000 and $15,000.<\/p>\n

If an airport doesn’t have a TAF, then pilots flying to it have to carry sufficient extra fuel to allow them to divert to a suitable alternate airport.<\/p>\n

The review noted that “TAFs are important meteorological forecasts produced for the aviation industry. And the availability, or non-availability, of a quality TAF for certain locations can have significant safety and financial impacts for the aviation industry and regional communities”.<\/p>\n

The draft report is open for public comment until March 30, after which BOM will review all the submissions it has received and then begin to implement the report’s recommendations.<\/p>\n

It expects the process of shutting down TAFs will begin in late 2013.<\/p>\n

Mayor Wayne Kratzmann said today the the South Burnett Regional Council would be making a formal submission to the Bureau to keep Kingaroy’s TAF operational in the interests of public safety.<\/p>\n

“Kingaroy’s airport is the largest in our region and regularly used by many different types of aircraft. This includes emergency services, the armed forces and the State Government, along with private aircraft operators,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The availability of accurate and up-to-date weather information is important for the safety of pilots and passengers. We don’t think aviation safety levels at Australia’s regional airports should be reduced.”<\/p>\n