RAAF BASE AMBERLEY: 2017 AMBERLEY SUPER HORNET REPORT · 2018. 9. 5. · Brüel & Kjær EMS Page 3...

Brüel & Kjær EMS Noise Office

RAAF BASE AMBERLEY: 2017 AMBERLEY SUPER HORNET

REPORT

PREPARED BY: BRÜEL & KJÆR

2 February 2018

alexander.smith

Text Box

Robert Denney Group Captain Officer Commanding Number 82WG

alexander.smith

Text Box

Ken Robinson Air Commodore Senior Australian Defence Force Officer RAAF Amberley

alexander.smith

Typewritten Text

Approved

alexander.smith

Typewritten Text

Endorsed


Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................. 3

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 4

RESULTS ......................................................................................................................................... 8

OPERATIONAL PROCEDURES ....................................................................................................... 20

OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENTS .................................................................................................. 26

AIRCRAFT NOISE .......................................................................................................................... 29

Appendix A – Detailed Movement Counts .................................................................................. 32


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Brüel and Kjær has completed the 2017 annual Australian Super Hornet analysis for RAAF Base Amberley using the Noise Flight Path Monitoring System (NFPMS) data to validate the number of Military Fast Jet (MFJ) aircraft movements.

A total number of 3863 combined take-offs, landings and circuit movements were

identified as operating at RAAF Base Amberley during this period. The movements

consisted of:

- 1813 Arrivals; - 1797 Departures; and - 253 Circuits.

These movements were identified and validated using the following methods:

1. Track visualisation and data validation processes 2. Identification of discrete military SSR codes 3. Airspace Analysis - a review of the military flying areas and their commonly

flown procedures, together with geometrical analysis of the available tracks i.e. their speed and altitude profiles

4. Noise Recognition - utilising the 1 sec Leq data and studying the noise profiles to identify aircraft flying in formation but without an active transponder

Of the total 3863 aircraft movements, it was found that 962 MFJ aircraft were not

recorded in the radar data. These were identified using noise recognition

techniques.

In accordance with the Super Hornet Management Plan:

• MFJ movements during 2017 were found to utilise runway 15/33 only for arrivals, departures and circuits; runway 04/22 was utilised on one occasion by MFJ aircraft;

• 70.0% of MFJ arrival movements to RAAF Amberley completed the Initial and Pitch procedure; and

• All detected circuit operations were conducted to the west of runway 15/33.


INTRODUCTION

PURPOSE

The aim of the Amberley Super Hornet report is to identify and verify the number

of MFJ movements at RAAF Base Amberley, and to demonstrate compliance with

the Amberley Super Hornet Noise Management Plan. It also provides a rationale

for circumstances where non-compliant procedures have been executed.

DATA ANALYSIS

This analysis has utilised the track data from the NFPMS together with the

available 1 sec Leq data and noise recognition techniques from the runway end

Noise Monitoring Terminals (NMTs) to validate the number of aircraft

movements.

NMTs 1, 2, 3 and 4, located at the end of each runway, were used to identify

additional aircraft not present in the NFPMS system due to the nature of MFJ

operating procedures, such as formation flying.

The runway layout and corresponding runway end monitors are shown in the

diagram below.

Figure 1 Runway Noise Monitoring Terminals at RAAF Base Amberley


The real-time analysis of the 1 sec Leq data evaluates the aircraft operations corresponding to RAAF Base Amberley based on the detection parameters that are set at the NMT. Figure 2 depicts a typical F18 track recorded in the NFPMS departing from runway 15 and Figure 3 then goes on to illustrate the corresponding 1 sec Leq noise data, recorded at the time the aircraft passes NMT 2 south of the runway.

Figure 2 F18 departure from runway 15

The following noise graph shows that the lead departing aircraft has its

transponder switched on and produces a valid correlated noise event. The

following noise peaks indicate there were an additional 3 jets in formation (nose

to tail) operating without a transponder.

Figure 3 1 sec Leq data shows four noise peaks corresponding to one aircraft track


MOVEMENT COUNTS

From the RAAF Australian Super Hornet Noise Management Plan V 3.0:

MOVEMENTS

45. A ‘movement’ is a single take-off or landing by a single aircraft at an airfield.

Generally, each aircraft flight involves two movements, although this number

may increase for missions which include practice take-off and landing circuits

around the airfield.

The total aircraft movements in this report are calculated as follows:

• Arrival = 1 movement

• Departure = 1 movement

• Circuit* = 1 movement

Additional aircraft movements that are not present in the NFPMS but identified

through noise recognition techniques were then added to complete the total

number of identified MFJ movements.

*When the circuit detection algorithms were implemented in the NFPMS, the

intent was to capture the number of circuits performed, thus why a circuit is

counted as one movement. Aircraft operating in the circuit pattern but without

a transponder are not able to be detected due to the absence of traceable radar

data.


LIMITATIONS AND DETERMINING FACTORS

Due to the limitations in the flight data availability in the NFPMS, Brüel and Kjær

utilise a number of processing procedures based on known performance

characteristics and specific flight procedures to determine the identification of

MFJ aircraft.

Due to the absence of detailed radar data, 68.7% of the identified MFJs during

2017 are of ‘unknown’ aircraft type. Of these 68.7%, the majority are suspected

of being Super Hornets and the remaining portion are made up of a

combination of visiting MFJ aircraft, such as Classic Hornets and Hawks from

other RAAF bases, as well as fast jets from foreign forces.

Due to the adoption of a holistic approach to fast jet noise, the calculations in

this report have been completed using all known MFJs which include, but are

not limited to, F18s, Hawks and visiting fast jets from Singapore and the US.

Movements from foreign forces are included in, but not limited to, the

following months:

- February: F15s (SAF) - February/March: F35s - August/September: F16s (SAF) - November/December: B1s (US) and AJETs (CA)

Brüel and Kjær acknowledge and are continuing to improve noise recognition

techniques to identify more MFJ aircraft operating without the use of SSR.

While ‘nose to tail’ departures are able to be identified in the NFPMS (due to

noise profiles), techniques in detecting ‘paired’ departures are still developing.

The inability to identify ‘paired’ departures often results in lower departure

counts compared to arrival counts.

The following radar outages were identified at RAAF Amberley during 2017:

- 1-Jan 0000 to 3-Mar 0800 (radar system upgrade resulting in major interruption of radar data to the NFPMS)

- 28-Jun 0955 to 29-Jun 1100 - 2-Aug 1358 to 2-Aug 1538 - 25-Aug 0810 to 25-Aug 1320 - 7-Dec 1500 to 8-Dec 0700

During these radar outages times, noise recognition techniques have been used

to identify MFJ aircraft operating at RAAF Amberley.


RESULTS

TOTAL AIRCRAFT MOVEMENTS

The analysis of the 1 sec Leq data and the study of the corresponding noise

profiles to identify additional MFJ aircraft resulted in a significant improvement

in the number of MFJ movements during 2017. Table 1 shows the combined

overall number of aircraft movements during 2017 at RAAF Base Amberley.

A more detailed set of movement counts can be found in Appendix A – Detailed

Movement Counts

TOTAL MOVEMENTS 2017

Arrivals Departures Circuits Total

January 121 121 73 315

February 260 257 0 517

March 177 175 3 355

April 61 67 32 160

May 95 95 13 203

June 33 28 1 62

July 268 267 29 564

August 224 210 89 523

September 234 233 6 473

October 130 137 4 271

November 197 192 3 392

December 13 15 0 28

Total 1813 1797 253 3863

Table 1 Total movement counts during 2017


Figure 4 Total movements per month

Figure 5 Movements per month by operation type


MOVEMENTS PER WEEK

From the ASH Noise Management Plan V4.0:

21. Planned periods of flying operations.

d. Maximum of 46 weeks of planned flying operations per calendar year,

with periods of respite from flying operations scheduled over the new year

and mid-year.

The NFPMS detects a flying week as Monday to Sunday. Any single movement

detected between a Monday to Sunday period triggers a weekly movement

count.

Table 2 shows the number of movements per week during 2017, where MFJ

movements were recorded and identified in 46 weeks of the year which

included 10 weeks with reduced activity (highlighted below):

MOVEMENTS PER WEEK 2017

Week Arrivals Departures Circuits Total

1 0 0 0 0

2 0 0 0 0

3 44 44 43 131

4 45 45 11 101

5 67 64 19 150

6 75 74 0 149

7 63 64 0 127

8 61 58 0 119

9 64 68 0 132

10 54 56 2 112

11 32 32 0 64

12 26 19 1 46

13 27 29 0 56

14 3 0 0 3

15 35 35 29 99

16 10 13 0 23

17 13 19 3 35

18 18 18 7 43

19 32 32 5 69

20 19 19 1 39

21 19 18 0 37

22 7 14 0 21


MOVEMENTS PER WEEK 2017 CONTINUED…

Week Arrivals Departures Circuits Total

23 6 0 0 6

24 0 0 0 0

25 0 0 0 0

26 27 22 1 50

27 15 9 3 27

28 91 84 10 185

29 100 106 10 216

30 60 66 5 131

31 12 11 12 35

32 76 69 60 205

33 36 37 9 82

34 48 44 6 98

35 59 58 3 120

36 60 61 2 123

37 49 48 2 99

38 40 40 0 80

39 80 77 2 159

40 23 25 0 48

41 40 44 0 84

42 6 4 1 11

43 38 41 3 82

44 61 61 0 122

45 35 34 0 69

46 32 33 0 65

47 50 46 3 99

48 53 52 0 105

49 0 2 0 2

50 2 2 0 4

51 0 0 0 0

52 0 0 0 0

TOTAL 1813 1797 253 3863

Table 2 Movements per week 2017


Figure 6 Total Movements per week 2017

Figure 7 Movements per week 2017 by operation type


MOVEMENTS PER DAY OF WEEK

During 2017 most MFJ movements were conducted on weekdays, where there

were a total 80 movements detected on weekend days for the reporting year.

Table 3 shows the distribution of movements per day of the week. A detailed

list of weekend movements can be found in the separate summary document

2017 ASH Annual Noise Report – Data Extract.

MOVEMENTS PER DAY OF WEEK 2017


Monday 335 328 52 715

Tuesday 433 423 97 953

Wednesday 414 431 56 901

Thursday 398 389 23 810

Friday 190 193 21 404

Saturday 26 15 0 41

Sunday 17 18 4 39

TOTAL 1813 1797 253 3863

Table 3 Movements per day of the week 2017

*Some weekend movements were identified as being associated with the

Avalon Air Show, V8 Supercars – Ipswich and Gold Coast, Brisbane Aviation

Expo. and Sunsuper Riverfire Festival.


Figure 8 Total movements per day 2017

Figure 9 Movements per day 2017 by operation type


MOVEMENTS PER DAY/NIGHT

Table 4 shows the number of movements per hourly range as outlined in the

ASH Noise Management Plan.

*The 22 movements identified between 11pm – 7am occurred on a Thursday

and Friday:

- 30-Jun-2017, 05:48:23AM – 19 departures to YBTL (Exercise Diamond Storm)

- 13-Jul-2017, 05:43:13AM – 06:53:29AM – 2x deps and 1x arr

*There were no continuous circuits after 10pm

A detailed list of movements between 10pm – 7am can be found in the separate

summary document 2017 ASH Annual Noise Report – Data Extract.

MOVEMENTS PER HOURLY RANGE 2017


7am-7pm 1608 1675 221 3504

7pm-8pm 33 92 11 136

8pm-10pm 171 9 21 201

10pm-11pm 0 0 0 0

11pm-7am 1 21 0 22

TOTAL 1813 1797 253 3863

Table 4 MFJ movements per hourly range


Figure 10 Movements per hourly range 2017

Figure 11 Movements per hourly range 2017 by operation type


MOVEMENTS PER HOUR

Table 5 shows the number of movements per hour, which is calculated per the

NFPMS Arrival or Departure Time of the movement.

MOVEMENTS PER HOUR 2017

Hour Arrivals Departures Circuits Total

00 0 0 0 0

01 0 0 0 0

02 0 0 0 0

03 0 0 0 0

04 0 0 0 0

05 0 21 0 21

06 1 0 0 1

07 3 8 0 11

08 1 37 0 38

09 26 335 10 371

10 125 343 22 490

11 436 63 54 553

12 114 43 9 166

13 91 208 12 311

14 188 477 52 717

15 343 42 33 418

16 204 11 19 234

17 62 8 1 71

18 15 100 9 124

19 33 92 11 136

20 126 9 19 154

21 45 0 2 47

22 0 0 0 0

23 0 0 0 0

TOTAL 1813 1797 253 3863

Table 5 Movements per hour 2017


Figure 12 Total movements per hour 2017

Figure 13 Movements per hour 2017 by operation type


RUNWAY USAGE

In 2017 MFJ aircraft utilised runways 15 and 33, except for:

- one paired arrival to runway 22, 18-Aug-2017 12:12:08 PM.


Usage %

RWY 33 856 727 127 1710

44%

RWY 15 955 1070 126 2151

56%

RWY 22 2 0 0 2

0%

RWY 04 0 0 0 0

0%

TOTAL 1813 1797 253 3863

100%

Table 6 MFJ Runway usage during 2017

Figure 14 Runway usage distribution 2017


OPERATIONAL PROCEDURES

ALL OPERATIONS

Figure 15 Track density for all MFJ operations 2017

Figure 16 Track plot for all MFJ operations 2017


ARRIVALS

Figure 17 Track Density MFJ arrivals 2017

Figure 18 Track plot MFJ arrivals 2017


The arrival procedures have been shown in more detail in Table 7 and Figure 19.

The arrival procedures identified in the NFPMS are as follows:

- I&P: Initial & Pitch procedure, - Straight In from 10nm, and - Other Approach – an arrival that does not conform to I&P or straight in

from 10nm

I&P Straight In from 10nm

Other Approach

Total

Usage %

RWY 33 635 28 193 856 47%

RWY 15 638 136 181 955 53%

RWY 22 0 0 2 2 0%

RWY 04 0 0 0 0 0%

TOTAL 1273 164 376 1813 100%

% 70% 9% 21% 100%

Table 7 Arrival procedures breakdown 2017

Figure 19 Arrival procedures 2017


*Straight In arrivals from 10nm are determined in the NFPMS by using zones to

filter out radar tracks that penetrate them.

Figure 20 Straight In arrivals from 10nm at Amberley


DEPARTURES

Figure 21 Track density MFJ departures 2017

Figure 22 Track plot MFJ departures 2017


CIRCUITS

Figure 23 Track density MFJ circuits 2017

In 2017, all MFJ circuits were conducted to the west of the base.

CIRCUIT DIRECTION TOTAL

LEFT RIGHT

RWY 33 126 126

RWY 15 127 127

RWY 22

RWY 04

TOTAL 126 127 253

Table 8 MFJ Circuits 2017


OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENTS

ALTITUDE LIMITATIONS OVER IPSWICH

There were 2 detected movements that operated below 1500ft within 10nm of

RAAF Base Amberley during 2017, both of which occurred on ANZAC day.

Figure 24 MFJ operations below 1500ft above Ipswich


LEFT TURN DEPARTURES FROM RUNWAY 15 BEFORE 4NM

There were 6 MFJ movements that turned left after departing runway 15

identified during 2017.

Date Time Operation

Type Runway

Flight Number

Beacon Aircraft

Type Destination

/Origin Formation

08/03/2017 08:40:03 D 15 ASY1015 1153 F35 PGUA 1

22/10/2017 13:43:00 D 15 COGR11 2543 HAWK

22/10/2017 15:30:22 D 15 COGR 2526 HAWK 1

13/11/2017 08:13:25 D 15 PTHR20 2512 HAWK YWLM

*2 operations on 22/10/2017 are suspected to be participating in the V8

Supercars Aerial Display at Gold Coast.

Figure 25 MFJ departures from runway 15 that turned left before 4nm


LEFT TURN DEPARTURES FROM RUNWAY 33 BEFORE 4NM

There were 114 MFJ movements detected that turned left before 4nm after

take-off from runway 33.

Figure 26 MFJ departures from runway 33 that turned left before 4nm


AIRCRAFT NOISE

N70 N85 & N100

Table 9 shows the total number of recorded noise events at each location that

were correlated to MFJ aircraft during 2017.

CORRELATED NOISE EVENTS 2017

>70dB >85dB >100dB

NMT 5 Willowbank Cemetery 2055 186 4

NMT 6 Kholo Gardens 92 1

NMT 7 Walloon PS 730 75

NMT 8 Yamanto COC 3059 926 4

TOTAL 5936 1188 8

Table 9 Total MFJ noise events 2017

The peak noise events identified at each monitoring location are shown below:

Peak L(A)Max dB

NMT 5 Willowbank Cemetery 107.2

NMT 6 Kholo Gardens 86.7

NMT 7 Walloon PS 98.9

NMT 8 Yamanto COC 103.1

Table 10 Peak noise levels at each monitoring location


The N70, N85 and N100 noise event data per forecast flying day at each

monitoring location is shown in Table 11 N70, N85 and N100 data per forecast flying

day 2017Table 11.

*The N noise values are determined by the total annual noise events divided by

230 flying days (46 weeks at 5 days a week)

NOISE EVENTS PER FLYING DAY 2017

N70 N85 N100

NMT 5 Willowbank Cemetery 8.93 0.81 0.02

NMT 6 Kholo Gardens 0.40 0.00 0.00

NMT 7 Walloon PS 3.17 0.33 0.00

NMT 8 Yamanto COC 13.30 4.03 0.02

Table 11 N70, N85 and N100 data per forecast flying day 2017


24 HOUR QUARTERLY AVERAGE AIRCRAFT LEQ DATA

Table 12 shows the quarterly average Leq data for all aircraft noise events at

each monitoring location during 2017.

Average 24hr Leq 2017

Quarterly Average 24hr L(A)eq in 2017

Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4

NMT 5 Willowbank Cemetery 52.2 52.7 52.6 49.7

NMT 6 Kholo Gardens 40.2 36.7 38.5 35.4

NMT 7 Walloon PS 42.3 48.2 51.9 46.6

NMT 8 Yamanto COC 56.3 59.8 58.5 56.6

Table 12 Quarterly average Leq data 2017

*Noise outages that occurred for 2017 are included below:

NMT 7 was missing data:

- 6/Nov/17 0000 to 14/Nov/17 1400

NMT8 was missing data:

- 1/Feb/17 0200 to 6/Feb/17 1100

- 16/Feb/17 0240 to 21/Feb/17 1200

- 18/Mar/17 1000 to 28/Mar/17 1500

- 28/Apr/17 2300 to 4/May/17 0700

- 4/May/17 0800 to 12/May/17 1200

- 14/May/17 0700 to 17/May/17 1000

- 17/May/17 1100 to 25/May/17 1400

- 3/Jun/17 2300 to 4/Jun/17 0700

The outages at both monitors were due to hardware issues.


APPENDIX A – DETAILED MOVEMENT COUNTS

ARRIVALS DEPARTURES No. of

CIRCUITS

Total

Movements NFPMS NOISE REC TOTAL NFPMS NOISE REC TOTAL

January 92 29 121 87 34 121 73 315

February 151 109 260 156 101 257 0 517

March 151 26 177 95 80 175 3 355

April 58 3 61 42 25 67 32 160

May 86 9 95 54 41 95 13 203

June 20 13 33 9 19 28 1 62

July 248 20 268 152 115 267 29 564

August 214 10 224 146 64 210 89 523

September 209 25 234 145 88 233 6 473

October 124 6 130 86 51 137 4 271

November 182 15 197 118 74 192 3 392

December 12 1 13 11 4 15 0 28

TOTAL 1547 266 1813 1101 696 1797 253 3863

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