Hedges Avenue: Residents furious over flight path changes due to Instrument Landing System

Rich residents of the exclusive Hedges Ave were furious when they found it a change welcomed by the rest of the city would impact them, declaring they “didn’t want to be Currumbin”.

The battle over the ILS was a key community issue through the 2010s.

Nobody likes to have their flights diverted during bad weather.

The late 2000s and early 2010s saw a spat of wet weather and storm events which played havoc with the Gold Coast Airport and preventing tourists from landing on the runway.

Calls as early as 2007 were made for the city to get its own Instrument Landing System (ILS) which would guide planes in during increment weather.

Agitation for a $10m system grew louder in early 2012 after a spate of wet weather diversions, with pilots branding the situation a “disgrace”.

Airport boss Paul Donovan at the time told the Bulletin that an ILS was “long overdue”.

Rainy Conditions made for poor visibility at the Gold Coast Airport, one of the reasons an ILS was needed. Picture Glenn Hampson

“It is incomprehensible that an airport such as Coolangatta, with more than five million passenger movements a year, does not have an Instrument Landing System (ILS), to guide pilots to the runway when visibility is poor,” the Bulletin editorialised at the time.

“Last week, countless aircraft were diverted to Brisbane from the Coast after torrential rain enveloped the landing strip.

“Pilots are understandably underwhelmed. This is not about the airport’s bottom line but people’s lives.”

Maps released a decade ago in 2013 revealed the flight path needed for an ILS would run down the coastline, directly above the ultra-exclusive real estate hotspot of Hedges Ave.

Funding for the ILS was greenlit by Julia Gillard’s government in Labor’s final budget before the Coalition came to power that year.

Real Estate Institute of Queensland Gold Coast zone chairman John Newlands told the Bulletin at the time he expected some residents whose houses were under the flight path to put their property on the market and move.

``Obviously it could have this minor impact and there are always going to be some people who will not be pleased. However, the upside would be getting a system people have been crying out for,’’ he said.

``From tourism and safety point of views this system is definitely needed.’’

Stop the Instrument Landing System (ILS) spokesman Sven Puetter (right) and members of the public supporting the campaign during a meeting at Mermaid Waters, Gold Coast.

What happened in late 2013 was something nobody expected- Mermaid Beach residents launched a high-stakes fight to stop the project from going ahead.

Mermaid Beach Community Association president Alf Vocker, an LNP member, said he was “utterly opposed” to the plan and would take the matter directly to then-prime minister Tony Abbott.

“Mermaid Beach is a high residential area and the last thing we want is to become another Currumbin,” he said.

Mermaid Beach MP Ray Stevens led a campaign against the proposed flight path which crosses through his electorate. He said the proposed flight path was not suitable given the area’s high-density population.

The Instrument Landing System (ILS) was officially switched on at the Gold Coast Airport. Airservices Australia Northern Operations Manager Doug Scott. Picture: Jerad Williams

Then Broadbeach councillor Paul Taylor — who lives under the proposed flight path — urged Airservices Australia and Gold Coast Airport to delay the installation until there had been a full review of the flight path.

“I cannot support this because, while we as a city want this system and do not want more planes diverted, I do not think this path is the right way of doing it,” he said.

“Given Broadbeach and Mermaid Beach are going to be the focus for high-density development, I do not want planes to be flying so close above our high-rises because it would turn that strip into a little Hong Kong.”

Despite a long-running campaign, including high-profile supporters Robbie McEwen, Wes Berg, Anthony Don and Jason Aucoin, the ILS was ultimately installed in 2019 and switched on by Airservices Australia’s Doug Scott.

The ILS remains in use today, with little opposition in the past four years.