NEW DANGER AREA - VICTORIA

[Waddles]

Gidday All,Below is an email received from a Victorian member who became aware of an new danger area that had been created right near his airstrip and over the area used by several gyros.It is self explanatory for those likely to be affected. I have also asked CASA for assistance in having such new restricted airspace notified to us and other sport aviation disciplines so that we can advise members in a timely manner instead of members having to find out by "accident". Regards,Allan WardillThose sports aviation pilots who have the latest Airservices Maps and check their NOTAMs regularly would have noticed that a danger zone, D333 has been declared in the Warranga Basin Murchison Area from ground level to 2500 ft. Its activation is by NOTAM and it is active quite regularly. Of course the rest of us would be flying in blissful ignorance of its existence and implications, so what is D333 about and how does it affect us? D333 has been created by Airservices Aust, (CASA) for a company, Flight Data System who are located in Melbourne but have 250 acres at Murchison to test UAVs and train UAV pilots. D333 consists of a circular airspace from ground level to 2500 ft with a radius of 5 nautical miles centred on location 36 34 01 S , 145 08 29 E. This is approximately on the shore of the Warranga basin midway between the two inlet channels on the south side. The actual site used for the UAV testing is approximately 0.6 miles south of this point and is a sheep paddock with no runways.I contacted Flight Data Systems who offered to meet me on site when they were flying next to understand and discuss their operation, and what potential dangers existed for sports aviators. Apart from the number of local strips general aviation pilots would usually be above the 2500 ft ceiling so would not have an issue, and are familiar with NOTAMS to check it’s activation. (More on how to do that later). However you would recognise the shores of the Warranga Basin and Murchison area as a popular flying location and transit zone for those flying between places like Kotta and Echuca and to the south. Also flying in smaller open frame machines a collision would be quite memorable for us. The UAV is a white radio controlled aircraft approximately 2 meters wingspan, has virtually no visible body, has a sausage shaped pod underneath, weighs up to 4.5 kilogram and flies at up to 80 Kilometres per hour. Being electrically powered it is also silent. It flies autonomously, usually out of sight of the ground crew due to height or distance and essentially cannot be manoeuvred by the ground crew after launch. It does not have any “see and avoid capability” so it is up to you to see and avoid it. Once launched it climbs to height quite swiftly, over 1000 ft and generally over their location and then completes it’s pre-programmed flight around the area. It is equipped with a TV camera sending pictures back to the ground crew. If radio contact is lost it will return to the launch site and land automatically. So apart from takeoff and land it does not appear to be loitering below 500 ft, so for once lower is safer. Prior to launch they make a broadcast on the Shepparton frequency, 118.8 Mhz advising of their flight and the UAV has a duration of less than 90 minutes. If you go to www.flightdata.com.au and click on the UAV systems, and there is a link to the specs of the UAV.Flight Data Systems request Airservices to create a NOTAM activating the zone 24 hours prior to their intended flights. They are currently not flying at weekends and only on limited days of the week. In the future they plan on having quarterly training sessions that would last for the full 5 week days. So how do you check to see if D333 is active or not. You will need a logon with Airservices to the NAIPS Internet Service. Here is a win it’s free!Go to www.airservicesaustralia.com/naips/Account/LogOn where you can create an account or logon. Once logged on go to location briefing and enter D333 as the location, then tick NOTAM and submit. If there is a NOTAM active it will come up. The time is in UTC so during daylight savings time add 11 hours to the activation times to get AEST. If nothing comes up it is not active. To double check select area briefing and then select area 30 off the map. D333 should then be at the bottom of the page under inactive zones. So surprise surprise, but now that we are aware of D333 and can check when it is active, given the current activation frequency, and also know where in particular it originates from, what it looks and flies like, then we shouldn’t have any issues or major restrictions in how we enjoy sports aviation. And yes D333 does extend to cover my place at Murchison but as the UAV doesn’t have low level terrain following capability and I am right on the 5 mile mark then we should be safe in our backyard