Residents have criticised a plan to send more flights over northern Redlands and are urging locals to “take a stand” during community consultation on the proposed changes.
Airservices Australia has released a new report called the Noise Action Plan outlining options to alter Brisbane Airport flight paths.
The report proposes spreading flights across more of Brisbane’s south-east while decreasing flights over the eastern suburbs.
One of these flight options sends aircraft directly over the Birkdale and Thorneside communities at 6100 feet.
Brisbane Airport Aircraft Advisory Board community representative Steve Muller said these departing aircraft would be low, slow and labouring under full power.
“The engines are very loud, and departures are the worse,” he said.
“These planes will be so low that you will not be able to sleep.”
An Airservices Australia spokeswoman said the new noise-sharing flightpath option addressed the impact of night-time operations on communities to the north and north-west of Brisbane Airport.
“This is in direct response to Trax International’s recommendations and community feedback that aircraft-noise impacts should be shared across the city,” the spokeswoman said.
“This noise-sharing night-time option would be shared across some or all of the paths proposed.”
The spokeswoman said noise level modelling in the vicinity of Tingalpa Creek was found to be around 60-65 decibels from a typical international jet, similar to the noise generated during a conversation.
Earlier this year, it was proposed that this flight path would go over Wynnum.
However, the proposal was not positively received by the Wynnum community at a drop-in session in May.
Mr Muller said all Airservices had done was move the path down to Birkdale and Thorneside.
“The depth of their thinking is moving it somewhere else until someone doesn’t complain,” he said.
“It is just disgraceful, simplistic and none of these people in the Redlands are aware of it.”
Mr Muller said the main issue was that this option sent aircraft to the south-east and over Redlands when the destination was to the north-west.
“This option is just stepping on people’s toes unnecessarily,” he said.
The Airservices Australia spokeswoman said they were asked to develop a flightpath option that would have aircraft directed over water as quickly as possible to complete the initial climb away from communities.
“Once at a high altitude (around 17,000ft) aircraft would then cross back over the coastline to travel north-west,” she said.
“This option aims to track over less densely populated locations, but it is not possible to avoid all communities.”
Airservices Australia invites the community to speak on the proposed flight path options at two drop-in sessions this month.
The first session will be held on August 19 at the Redlands Lions Club Hall in Cleveland from 8am to noon.
The second session will be held on August 30 at Club Manly from 3pm to 7pm.
Mr Muller encouraged people from Birkdale and Thorneside to attend one of these sessions.
“The important thing for us here in the Redlands is to be aware there are other options than one that is directly over us,” he said.
“Redlands is not just a dumping ground for everyone in Brisbane who complained.”
Air Navigation Technician Anthony Sullivan, who spent 14 years working for Airservices Australia, said people needed to consider these options as the noise level was guaranteed to increase.
“People don’t realise the effects this noise level will have on us, and it will be far greater than inner or close to the city,” he said.
“If we don’t take a stand, they will come down on us because they would have got no feedback which means no community concern.”
