Sydney Second Airport - The God's Must be Crazy

Home page of this site, provides overview of the airport proposal development - history and current status. Compares sale price of Bankstown and KSA airports with underlying land values, and discusses threats to expand Bankstown Airport to have regular 737 flights. Reviews the myths arising from the Sydney 2000 Olympics, and recent crashes as Bankstown.

  Smog Basin

A cartoon strip showing the key steps in the process that pumps and concentrates pollution and adverse health impacts in Sydney's West and South West. Options for airport expansion are discussed in this context.

Updated Airport Forecasts

Discusses accuracy of airport growth predictions, and updates the Second Sydney Airport forecasts on the basis of data from 1997 to 2002. Highlights worrisome possibility of demand exceeding EIS forecasts. Considers lopping peak demand instead of building airports for a few days a year, and the possible impact of NASA's Small Aircraft Transportation Systems research.

Some politicans claim the airport is needed to provide jobs. The truth is the opposite - it provides less than one tenth the jobs an equivalent size of industrial/commercial area. The airport is preventing provision of over 25,000 jobs. If you want full employment, you don't want an airport...

House prices around Bankstown have already dived by 20%, without a sod of dirt being turned on the airport. The average drop of $50,000 per house translates to a $600 million subsidy to the airport.

Maths Details of the logistic equation are explained. Shows an example of applying logistic equation to Australia's population statistics.

SACL has been holding secret meetings with its friends to build support for expansion of Bankstown Airport and continued growth at KSA as substitutes for a second airport at Badgery's Creek. Read the parliamentary speech that exposed this. Also here are the reaction of the Minister for Transport, and members of parliament representing the affected electorates here. There's also reported remarks of one Bankstown councillor who is enthused by the prospect of interstate operations at Bankstown (not just regional), and who could probably be relied on to support SACL in building Bankstown International Airport.

This page compares the financial performance of Sydney's Kingsford Smith International Airport (it's first international airport), with the normal commercial returns enjoyed by Qantas, probably KSA's major customer. The financial underachievement of Sydney Airport is translated into terms of a public subsidy that it enjoys. If aviation is such a wonderful business, why do we have to subsidise them ? Isn't it time the blow torch of meaningful competition reform is more rigorously applied to airports ?

This page highlights errors and flaws in the economic analysis eventually presented in the Final EIS for the Sydney Second Airport, and presents an analysis of what airport users ought to pay for their facilities - something sadly lacking in the airport proponents' reports and analysis to date.

The Final EIS indicates the Second Airport costs will be huge. Air travellers will be in for a rude shock if they have to pay for this. Will the shock be so big we won't need a new airport ? No wonder the DOT didn't present this stuff in the Draft EIS, where it might have suffered some critical public scrutiny. The question remains unanswered: Why not manage demand, not supply ?

The Transition from Badgerys Creek to Bankstown, including a brief history of the EIS history. How Federal Finance Minister and others promoted Bankstown in order to relieve the devastation of a second airport in their electorates.

Address, phone, fax and email for members or candidates for parliament from the South West of Sydney, and important government departments.

Also includes tips for writing to politicians, and copy of political parties aviation policies (where available).

Bankstown Airport Limited Managers deny it has been extended since 1996. Review the aerial photographs to see if you agree. Do BAL's claims look pretty sick ? Also includes definitions for many airport and runway terms, to help you analyse the photos.

Bankstown Airport Managers claims it's runways haven't been extended and that runways were once 1460 m. Here are the facts from 1962, and the 1965 aerial photo from the Surveyor General's Office. Are BAL misleading us, and, if so, why ?

1982 Master Plan for Bankstown Airport. Check What they're building. Do you believe this, or the Airport Managers ?

Transcript of Briefing to Council by FAC officers who now manager Bankstown Airport Limited. Bankstown Airport is being readied for sale. Read what its managers had to say to Bankstown Council, and see how much you can believe. Learn also why Melbourne's Essendon Airport will fall into the Sydney Airports Ltd company structure. Raises many questions.

Two aircraft tried to use the same runway at the same time at Bankstown Airport, from opposite directions. The pilot responsible for taking off the wrong way was testing equipment to enhance Bankstown Airport's support for instrument landing by bigger aircraft at Bankstown. So secretly the poor pilot coming in to land wasn't told !!! What are they hiding ???

Bankstown Airport is being readied for sale. Read what its managers had to say to Bankstown Council, and see how much you can believe. Learn also why Melbourne's Essendon Airport will fall into the Sydney Airports Ltd company structure.

Approaching Hoxton Park Airport, two light aircraft tried to use the same piece of the busiest airspace in the Southern Hemisphere at the same time. Two people killed, one plane fell out of the sky, nearly gate-crashed a children's birthday party, and made a helluva mess of a (fortunately) unoccupied house.

Have your say ! Submit your rankings of a variety of airport sites. What for the publication of a summary of results on this page in 3 months. Also tabulates a summary of location of airport sites relative to Sydney CBD.

Why was Ray's Golf Range, at the end of Bankstown Airport's main runway, closed up by the FAC ? What are the plans or options for runways extension at Bankstown Airport ? Is the Olympic air traffic the thin edge of the wedge ? Read what Minister for Finance John Fahey has to say about Bankstown's prospects, and what local member John Hatton's thinks of this.

Pro airport spin-doctors released details of their submissions to the Second Sydney Airport Draft EIS process (which closed on 30th March, 1998). The purpose of these was to convince us we can't do without the 2nd airport. But how good are their arguments ? Visit this page for some analysis (there will be updates from time to time, as the various pro-business lobby groups dole out their two-pence worth).

A brief summary of SMEC's criticisms of the Draft EIS process. SMEC are the independent auditor for the EIS. Link to full report.

Some comments on concerns about the Off-Shore Airport. Is it "out-of-the-basin" enough ? Also links to overseas proposals and prototypes of floating airports.

What's the new minister up to ? Check out these stories from Sydney's Sunday Newspaper's of 12th October, 1997, for a study in divisive duplicity.

   Holsworthy Saved - But Sydney Still Threatened

With release of the summary of the Draft EIS, the Federal Government announced it was abandoning the Holsworthy option. But the coast is not yet clear for Sydney siders and the people of Bankstown in particular.

  Boiling Frogs & Airport Noise

How the government mitigates the noise problem, by introducing it slowly. This is like boiling frogs to death (slowly).

How big an airport do we need ? Presents historical data and mathematical models of three scenarios for the future. Critiques the Government's fudged forecast figures. Are the Government's figures biased to eliminate Badgerys Creek ? The second airport may need to be much bigger than the DOT thinks.

   Double or Nothing - Impacts of the Second Sydney Airport

The problems a Second Sydney Airport will bring around Bankstown Airport, and divisive dumping on the people of Bankstown.

This site documents the apalling conduct of officers of Airservices Australia and AMSA in the failed search and rescue mission for Nicky Whelan. An excellent study in the mindset and ethics of aviation bureaucrats. One of AMSA's officers heavily criticised in the investigations has now (June 2002) been appointed to an executive position in Airservices.

Authoritative list of air disasters from 1920's to present. Lots have html links to reports on the disaster. Scare yourself - go visit it !

Aviation Industry News from around the world.

Authoritative history of Second Airport planning - from a government's perspective dating back to 1946. Very conspicuously does not mention the latest plan to expand Bankstown Airport.

This a 28 page parliamentary paper prepared for members of parliament, by researcher Paula Williams, 29 June 1998. Very suitable for High School or University student's research purposes.

Being the Establishment's work, it does not cover much of the community's concerns, and it avoids controversy. But still a valuable read. Excellent if you're looking for dates when things happened.

Includes a very good map of sites considered for Second Airport.

To find it, you need to use the search engine at the aph site. It's Background Paper 20 1997-1998.

There are other earlier airport issue papers in the archive that are also well worth a read.

Includes some really useful stuff, like a downloadable file of all Australian registered aircraft. Pretty handy for finding out who owns that plane that's just buzzed your home (if it's an Australian one).

An official Bankstown Airport site, very pro-aviation. Lots of historical focus (including pictures from World War II). Also has aerial views of airport, and maps of airport flight corridors (see pilot briefing sections). Has e-mail link which purports to be for Airport General Manager.

Before emailing airport officials, the Torch newspaper (July 31st, 2002) reported that the GM (Kim Ellis) had tried to have an airport activist disciplined for using his company email to send email's querying the late release of the airport Annual Report (2000/2001 report was released 11 months late). Moral to the story: use only your private email in dealing with these miserable types.

You will find some pilot's information at the site, including a GAAP diagram that shows Aircraft Tracks. Prior to 2000, the Jan 1998 ERSA was published there (look under pilot info, or pilot briefing) - but it's not there now (August 2002). Hiding this information behind high subscription-only supply is the airport management's idea of transparency.

Australian Federal Parliamentary Library, Current Issues Brief 17 - 1996-97, authored by Matthew & Denis James. An interesting and thorough review of the VFT and High Speed Train proposals.

On October 10th, 1997, the State & Federal Government announced intention to proceed further with the VFT

Is the VFT the right alternative to airport congestion ? Check out the comments re Canberra Airport link with VFT !

The BVF provides current news on aviation and noise topics (english/german) and a lot of background informations on noise physics, health effects, regulations and more.

Opinions from the campaigners who're fighting Badgerys Creek as the site for Sydney's Second Airport. Unlike some anti-KSA, and some anti-Holsworthy protestors, they don't see any site in the Sydney Basin as an airport solution. What would happen if the bureaucrats couldn't divide airport protestors into little groups that fight each other ?

This is a proposal to build airport runways 2 to 5 kms offshore, using a bridge building approach just North of the entrance to Botany Bay. The runways are connected by bridges to the mainland.

There's no doubt this would be a world-first for an airport. But so too was Holsworthy - where else in the world has an airport been built on top of gullies 100 to 140 meters deep ? Which idea might you be able to sell to another country and make export dollars from ?

Does filling gullies up to 140 meters deep with dirt and rock, make less sense than building bridged runways over (say) 10 to 30 meters of water ? Even if you add allowances for tidal waves, terra firma is much closer to the runways on the offshore site than it was at Holsworthy.

Can PAG's proposal be made sufficiently "offshore" to satisfy the residents living on the adjacent coast line ? Can "dog-leg" landing or take-off paths (made possible with new landing system technology), avoid ill-effects on our valuable coastal tourist assets ? Why isn't this being debated ?

A good briefing on the Second Airport issue history and the response of seven local Councils who formed a united opposition to the Holsworthy proposal.

The Council's committee of local politicians is called Councils & Residents Against the Selection of Holsworthy(CRASH).

Be wary that while opposing Holsworthy, CRASH does not oppose the Badgerys Creek proposal. Lest you think this a really NIMBY attitude, the CRASH member Council supporting Badgerys Creek proposal most strongly has Badgerys Creek in its backyard - and is ruled by the Federal Government's political opponents. Is this some perverse variation of the "good cop/bad cop" game with Sydney-sider's crime being airport aversion ?

Even more strangely, when Holsworthy was abandoned, the State Minister for Urban Affairs and Planning - a political opponent of the Federal Government - stated the state government no longer supported Badgerys Creek. If this position had been adopted earlier, we might have seen an even larger block of Sydney council's opposed to the Second Airport.

Make sure you visit this site, if only to see if you can figure out what the deal is with this !