Residents of communities in some areas of NSW may see a twin-engine plane or a helicopter flying unusually low this week as the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) carries out important safety checks at helicopter landings sites.
The checks are being conducted by CASA to make sure terminal procedure approach procedures at hospital and other landing sites operate safely.
CASA regulations require that the approach procedures are checked every three years to confirm their ongoing safety.
The checks will be carried out from Thursday 27 October at the following locations:
27-OCT
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28-Oct
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29-30 OCT
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A twin-engine Cessna Conquest fixed-wing aircraft and a Eurocopter EC135 helicopter will be used to carry out the safety checks.
Low-level flying is an essential part of the safety exercise, with the aircraft down as low as several hundred feet at times.
Local residents may notice the uncommon flying pattern as we make sure obstacles are accurately marked on charts and no new obstacles exist. Obstacles can be towers, trees, masts or buildings that can be a danger to aircraft.
The Conquest will be completing obstacle inspections and flying at low-levels within 30nm of each of the helicopter landing sites but not over the sites.
The EC135 helicopter will fly the instrument procedures all the way through to touchdown at the landing sites. It will also conduct random low altitude manoeuvring and fly counter to traffic flows at low levels.
If poor weather or other factors do not allow the safety checks to go ahead on the planned days, they will be carried out as soon as possible.
