Warnervale airport: AirMed cancels flights due to safety concerns from treelines
An independent air ambulance service has cancelled all flights to the Central Coast, with tall treelines causing a safety hazard for the service.
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An air ambulance/patient transfer service has cancelled all flights to Warnervale airport due to the tree heights at either side of the runway.
AirMed, an independent medevac specialist, will no longer provide services to the Central Coast, advising that the runway length and tall trees had become unsuitable for their aircraft.
“With the current runway reductions at Warnervale, AirMed are no longer able to operate aeromedical flights into or out of Warnervale airfield, as the available runway length and obstacle clear takeoff gradient is inadequate for suitable aircraft,” AirMed chief pilot Andrew Fry has advised.
In July 2019, Central Coast councillors voted to look into replanting vegetation at the airport and prohibiting any mowing, slashing or trimming at both ends of the runway. This created tension with the aviation community who said safety would be at risk at the airport.
Since then, no trimming has been carried out while investigations and legal issues regarding trimming of the trees were investigated.
However council recently advised that line marking has “moved the displaced threshold at each end of the runway further away from the trees to make it safer for pilots to land”.
Central Coast Aero Club said the council’s current displacements were five per cent.
“We understand that this severely restricts the usability of the airport to many types which could previously use the runway,” aero club president Andrew Smith said.
“The CCAC board has advised council that these lengths are in no way acceptable long term, and will mean a borderline unusable runway in Summer months.”
Cr Bruce McLachlan said council was now the “only major region in Australia, that an air ambulance service cannot land in”.
He councillors had put their political party agenda ahead of public safety.
“NSW Government must step in and order Central Coast Council to simply trim some trees, remove the documented safety risk, and reinstate an Air Ambulance Service to 330,000 residents,” he said.
A council spokeswoman said council had not implemented any immediate new flight restrictions at Warnervale Aircraft Landing Area (ALA).
“Displaced thresholds are in place to provide more clarity to itinerant users who may not be as familiar with the airfield,” she said.
“It is entirely the pilot’s decision, having regard to prevailing conditions and their aircraft limitations as to whether they land or take off at Warnervale ALA.”
She said night time operations would be restricted from October 5 2020 and Warnervale Aero Club had been advised of this change.
“Council is considering its options to trim trees that may impinge into the obstacle limitation surface (OLS) and has been progressing finalisation of environmental assessments and the approvals required before any such works can begin.
“Council has been in contact with the Chief Pilot of AirMed today to discuss any concerns. AirMed have indicated they understand the reasoning for the thresholds being displaced and are aware that council is looking into options around trimming of the trees at the northern end which will allow for a return to normal operations.”