Complaints
Airservices manages enquiries and complaints about aircraft noise and operations through the Noise Complaints and Information Service (NCIS). The information below is collected by the NCIS for the purpose of complaint management, analysis of issues and identification of causal factors. For this reason we refer to ‘complainants’ and ‘issues’. Complainants are people who contacted the NCIS. While some people submitted enquiries or comments rather than complaints, all are referred to as “complainants”. Issues are the primary concern they raised.
Overview
At Parafield Airport most complainants raise one of two issues:
- circuit training activities
- general aviation traffic
Circuit training affects residents in suburbs immediately surrounding the airport such as Mawson Lakes, Pooraka, Ingle Farm, Para Hills, Para Hills West, Gulfview Heights, Salisbury East, Salisbury South, Brahma Lodge, Salisbury Downs and Parafield Gardens.
Historically, suburbs under the crosswind and base legs of the training circuit tend to have a greater number of complainants than those suburbs under the downwind and final legs. This is not specific to Parafield Airport but is seen at all secondary airports in Australia. The suburbs most affected at any given time vary according to which runway direction is being used.
Complainants raising issues related to general aviation activities may be located under one of the arrival or departure routes to and from the airport, or they may be from suburbs significant distances from the airport concerned about random movements of aircraft that originated or ended their flights at Parafield Airport.
Changes to our complaint-reporting format
The new interactive reporting below (effective October 2019) will be monthly, rather than quarterly. New data will be available on the 10th business day of each month.
Use this interactive tool to explore the issues raised by residents from different suburbs. Read an explanation of issues and classifications used in complaint reporting.
Help is provided on both the Complainants and Issues and Classification Screens in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.
If the NCIS have identified something new or unusual in the data, an explanation will be provided in a dated accordion below the interactive reporting. Previous quarterly reporting to January 2016 is under the accordion “Archived”. Yearly reviews of complainant numbers and issues will continue to be provided.
Note: monthly complaints data describes the complaints lodged in that calendar month. Depending on when in the month the matter was lodged, the investigation may not have been completed within the same month. Where an investigation reveals that the issue or classification initially assigned to the matter was not the most appropriate one, this will be corrected. This may result in incremental changes to issue or classification counts for a previous month. Additionally, complainant numbers are now for each month. Previously if a complainant contacted the NCIS each month in a quarter that was reported as one complainant, if you are adding the number of complainants each month, this may not provide a realistic interpretation of the total number of complainants. If you select a month where there were no complainants, nothing will be displayed.
The following tabs contain our previous complaint reports
Complainants
There were 108 individual complainants in 2020. This is a decrease from 147 complainants in 2019.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on complainant activity across Australia. Increased working from home requirements increased the exposure of residents to aircraft noise. Increased emergency services operations were required to facilitate responses to the pandemic, training organisations were not subject to restrictions and fewer jet movements at Adelaide Airport enabled other aviation activities within the Adelaide basin.
The Movements at Australian Airport reports show that to the end of October 2020 there had been 208 786 movements at Parafield Airport. As a comparison at the end of November 2019, there had been 239 238 movements.
In 2020, the NCIS implemented monthly reporting data in lieu of quarterly reporting for all airports. It is important to note that if a resident contacts the NCIS once every month, they are noted as one complainant for each of the 12 months, however, when we record the number of complainants for the calendar year they are only counted as one complainant, regardless of how many times they have contacted us.
Chart 1: Complainants per month, average number of complainants per month for the past three years and total number of complainants 2020
Chart 2: Comparison of complainant numbers 2016 to 2020
Issues
In 2020, fixed wing circuit training remained the main concern to complainants; other training such as rotor wing training and training outside the listed hours were also raised.
Chart 3: Issues raised in 2020
Sixty-nine new complainants contacted the NCIS from suburbs surrounding Parafield Airport in 2020. This accounts for 64 percent of complainants in 2020. Fixed wing circuit training is the concern for the majority of residents in these suburbs and they are not newly overflown. It is possible as more people were working from home during COVID-19, this may have caused this increase. The NCIS cannot identify any other specific reason for this increase.
Chart 4: Circuit training operations comparison 2016 to 2020
Suburbs
In 2020, 98 separate suburbs recorded concerns with aircraft operations from Parafield Airport.
Ten suburbs recorded five or more complainants; fixed wing circuit training was the main concern for each suburb.
Six suburbs recorded a single complainant.
Chart 5: 2020 trend of complainant numbers of suburbs affected by fixed wing circuit training, compared with 2017 to 2019
Complainants
There were 147 individual complainants during 2019. This is a considerable increase from 69 complainants in 2018.
Complainant numbers began to increase in quarter four 2018 and the trend continued for each quarter of 2019. One hundred and thirteen new complainants contacted the NCIS from suburbs surrounding Parafield Airport, and this accounts for 77 percent of all complainants in 2019. Fixed wing circuit training is the concern for the majority of residents in these suburbs and they are not newly overflown. We could not identify a specific cause for the rise in complainant numbers.
Chart 1: Complainant numbers 2016 to 2019
Chart two shows that complainant numbers increased each quarter of 2019.
Chart 2: Complainant numbers per quarter 2016 to 2019
Issues
Fixed wing circuit training remained the main concern to complainants in 2019, affecting 92 percent of complainants.
General aviation traffic recorded 12 complainants and these residents were concerned with standard flight routes to and from the airport.
The other noise related issues raised were Night Movements concerning two complainants, and an emergency services helicopter disturbed one complainant.
Chart 3: Main issues of 2019 with comparison of complainant numbers for 2016 to 2018
Suburbs
During 2019, 18 separate suburbs recorded concerns with aircraft operations from Parafield Airport. Five suburbs recorded a single complainant.
Chart four provides the six suburbs recording the most complainants of 2019 with a comparison of complainant numbers in these suburbs for the previous three years.
Mawson Lakes has consistently recorded the most complainants each calendar year, with a significant increase in 2019. Thirty-seven or 80 percent of Mawson Lakes’ complainants were new complainants in 2019. Mawson Lakes is located under the crosswind and downwind legs of the circuit; these areas of the circuit record the greatest number of complainants. This is not unique to Parafield Airport; it also occurs at the major secondary training airports across Australia.
Sixteen suburbs recorded new complainants in 2019. Besides Mawson Lakes, the other suburbs recording the most new complainants were Parafield Gardens (11), Gulfview Heights (10), Pooraka (7), Salisbury (6) and Para Hills (5).
Chart 4: Suburbs recording the most complainants of 2019 with complainant comparison 2016 to 2018
Chart 5: 2019 trend of complainant numbers of suburbs affected by fixed wing circuit training, compared with 2016, 2017 and 2018
Complainants
There were 35 complainants during quarter three 2019. This is a decrease from 46 complainants in quarter two, but an increase from 17 complainants for the same period in 2018.
Forty-six percent of complainants in quarter three were new complainants or residents who have not previously contacted the NCIS. The suburbs of Parafield Gardens and Mawson Lakes accounted for 50 percent of new complainants. These suburbs are not newly overflown.
Chart 1: Number of complainant’s comparison
Issues
The main issue remains fixed wing circuit training affecting 31 complainants. A further three residents were concerned with rotor wing circuit training. The percentage of complainants raising circuit training remains at 94 percent, which is comparable to quarter two.
Parafield air traffic control advised that circuit training had increased and been extremely busy over the quarter. Training operations had increased by both the local training schools and other operators. This increase was observed in both fixed and rotor wing training.
Other issues raised included General aviation traffic, emergency services helicopters and a property enquiry, each with a single complainant each.
Suburbs
Quarter three recorded complainants from 12 separate suburbs.
The suburbs recording the most complainants were; Mawson Lakes with seven complainants, Parafield Gardens with six complainants, Gulfview Heights with five complainants and Brahma Lodge with four complainants.
All of these suburbs were affected by fixed wing circuit training. Parafield Gardens’ residents and Mawson Lakes residents were also concerned with rotor wing circuit training. Gulfview Heights residents were also affected by standard operations to and from the airport.
Four suburbs recorded a single complainant.
Complainants
There were 46 complainants during quarter two 2019. This is a decrease from 64 complainants in quarter one, but is an increase from 35 complainants for the same period in 2018.
Sixty one percent of complainants in quarter two were identified as new complainants; or residents who has not previously contacted the NCIS. The suburbs of Gulfview Heights, Mawson Lakes, Parafield Gardens and Salisbury, accounted for 75 percent of new complainants. These suburbs are not newly overflown.
Chart 1: Number of complainant’s comparison
Issues
The main issue remains fixed wing circuit training affecting 41 complainants. A further two residents were concerned with rotor wing circuit training. The number of complainants raising circuit training increased in February and March with the commencement of the new educational year. This trend has continued in quarter two.
Other issues raised included General aviation traffic with four complainants, and Environmental Concerns and Other were raised by a single complainant each. Aircraft emissions and WebTrak were the concerns to the latter complainants.
Suburbs
Quarter two recorded complainants from 14 separate suburbs.
The suburbs recording the most complainants were; Mawson Lakes with 14 complainants, Salisbury Downs with six complainants, Parafield Gardens five complainants, and Salisbury, Gulfview Heights, Pooraka and Brahma Lodge with three complainants each.
All of these suburbs were affected by fixed wing circuit training. Parafield Gardens’ residents were also concerned with rotor wing circuit training. Brahma Lodge residents were also affected by standard operations to and from the airport.
Five suburbs recorded a single complainant.
Complainants
There were 64 complainants in quarter one 2019, which is an increase from 24 complainants in quarter four 2018.
The increase in complainants in quarter one was recorded for the issue of Training, as can be seen in chart two.
Chart 1: Number of complainant’s comparison
Issues
The main issue raised in quarter one was Training, raised by 57 complainants. The main concern of these complainants, 96 percent, was fixed-wing circuit training. The other four percent were concerned with helicopter circuit training. The number of complainants raising circuit training increased in February and March with the commencement of the new educational year.
Additionally aircraft movement numbers increased considerably in January from December. January recorded 23 866 movements while December recorded 18 294 movements. February and March movements are not yet available, but will be updated here.
Other issues raised included General aviation traffic with six complainants, and Helicopters and Ground running with one complainant each.
Chart 2: Issue comparison Quarter 1 2019 with Quarter 4 2018
Suburbs
Complainants were recorded from 13 separate suburbs in quarter one.
Mawson Lakes recorded 21 complainants, while Pooraka recorded nine. The majority of Mawson Lakes and Pooraka complainants were concerned with fixed wing circuit training. Helicopter circuit training and helicopters conducting emergency services operations was a concern to two separate complainants in Mawson Lakes, while one complainant in Pooraka was concerned with general aviation traffic, tracking on standard routes.
Gulfview Heights and Salisbury Downs recorded six complainants each, and Para Hills recorded five complainants. All complainants were concerned with circuit training.
Two suburbs recorded a single complainant.
Complainants
There were 69 individual complainants in 2018. This is an increase from 57 complainants in 2017.
In quarter two 2018, the NCIS recorded 20 new complainants in suburbs surrounding Parafield Airport. These suburbs are affected by fixed wing circuit training and were not newly overflown. No specific cause for the rise in complainant numbers was identified.
The following chart shows that although complainant numbers increased in 2018, numbers have remained fairly consistent in the preceding years.
Chart 1 Complainant numbers 2016 to 2018
Issues
Fixed wing circuit training continued to be the main issue of concern to complainants again in 2018, with sixty complainants raising this issue. General aviation traffic recorded eight complainants and residents were equally concerned with standard flight routes and aircraft conducting airwork. Airwork includes activities such as aerial surveys and aerial mapping. Less than one percent of complainants raised other issues.
Chart 2: Main issues of 2018 with comparison of complainant numbers for 2016 and 2017
Suburbs
During 2018, 16 separate suburbs were affected by aircraft operations from Parafield Airport. Four suburbs recorded a single complainant.
Chart three provides the suburbs recording five or more complainants in 2018 with a comparison of complainant numbers in these suburbs for 2017 and 2016.
Mawson Lakes and Pooraka have consistently recorded the most complainants each calendar year. Mawson Lakes and Pooraka are located under the crosswind and downwind legs of the circuit, historically it is these areas of the circuit that record the greatest number of complainants. This is not unique to Parafield Airport; it also occurs at the major secondary training airports across Australia.
Chart four provides the trend of complainants in the suburbs affected by circuit training in 2018 compared to 2016 and 2017.
Chart 3: Suburbs with five or more complainants 2018 with complainant comparison 2017/2016
Chart 4: 2018 trend of complainant numbers of suburbs affected by fixed wing circuit training, compared with 2016 and 2017
Complainants
There were 24 complainants in the fourth quarter of 2018, which is an increase from 17 complainants in the third quarter.
An increase in complainants was recorded across all issues in the fourth quarter. Complainants were more concerned with operations in October and November, with a decrease of complainants recorded in December.
Chart 1: Number of complainants’ comparison
Issues and Suburbs
The main issue raised in quarter four was Training, raised by 20 complainants. Complainants also contacted about General aviation traffic (4 complainants) and Helicopters (1 complainant).
Fixed wing circuit training was the main concern to residents. As the training schools follow an educational calendar year, operations increase in the final months as students finish their syllabus. The decrease in complainants in December, confirms the cyclical nature of this activity. Historically, complainants decrease in December and January and begin to increase in February and March as the new educational year commences.
Nine separate suburbs recorded complainants in quarter four.
Pooraka and Mawson Lakes recorded the most complainants, with five and four complainants respectively. Para Hills West and Ingle Farm recorded three complainants and Salisbury, Brahma Lodge and Para Hills recorded two complainants each.
All of these suburbs were affected by fixed wing circuit training. Para Hills West residents were also concerned with general aviation traffic, tracking on standard routes.
Complainants
There were 17 complainants in quarter three 2018, which is a decrease from 35 complainants in quarter two. In quarter two we were unable to identify why there was a significant increase in complainant numbers. The total of 17 complainants in quarter three represents a normalisation of complainant numbers.
Chart 1: Number of complainants’ comparison
Issues and Suburbs
All complainants were affected by circuit training by fixed wing aircraft with one complainant also affected by an aircraft conducting airwork.
Complainants were recorded from 7 different suburbs in quarter three. The suburbs recording the most complainants were Mawson Lakes with five complainants. Parafield Gardens, Pooraka and Salisbury Downs with three complainants each.
Complainants
There were 35 complainants during quarter two 2018, which is an increase from 18 complainants in the first quarter of 2018.
There have been 45 individual complainants for the year to date.
In quarter two, 20 new complainants were recorded in suburbs surrounding the airport. These suburbs are affected by fixed wing circuit training and are not newly overflown. No specific cause for the rise in complainant numbers was identified, while there has been an increase in training activities, there has been no change in training procedures.
Chart 1: Number of complainants’ comparison
Issues and Suburbs
Fixed wing circuit training affected 91 percent of complainants in quarter two. Three complainants were concerned regarding General aviation activities such as arriving and departing the airport and overflight of residential areas.
Complainants from 13 separate suburbs recorded complainants in quarter two. Four suburbs recorded a single complainant.
The suburbs of Pooraka and Mawson Lakes recorded the most complainants with five complainants each. Salisbury and Salisbury East recorded four complainants. All four suburbs were affected by circuit training operations and are located within a one kilometre radius from Parafield Airport. Complainants from these suburbs comprised 51 percent of all complainants.
Chart 2 below provides a comparison of the suburbs of the new complainants and existing complainants in quarter two 2018. All of these complainants were concerned with circuit training.
The majority of these suburbs are located below the crosswind and base legs of the training circuit. The NCIS receives the greatest number of complainants in these areas, across all secondary airports in Australia. This is because in these areas of the circuit, aircraft are either climbing or descending and turning, all of which require more power. More information can be found on the Circuit Training tab.
Chart 2: Comparison of new complainants and existing complainants in Q2 2018
Complainants
There were 18 complainants during quarter one 2018, which is an increase from 16 complainants in quarter four of 2017 and a decrease from 27 complainants in quarter one 2017.
Chart 1: Number of complainants comparison
Issues and Suburbs
The number of complainants concerned with circuit training this quarter remained constant with quarter four 2017, at 15 complainants. A single complainant was concerned regarding each of the following issues:
• General aviation traffic
• Helicopters
• Night Movements
Eight separate suburbs recorded complainants in quarter one. Camden Park was affected by a media helicopter and Henley Beach was affected by shark patrol aircraft. All other suburbs were affected by fixed wing circuit training as shown in Chart 2 below. Brahma Lodge was also affected by aircraft arriving in the early morning hours.
Chart 2: Suburbs and percentage of complainants affected by fixed wing circuit training
Complainants
There were 57 individual complainants in 2017. This is a decrease from 62 complainants in 2016.
Issues
Fixed wing circuit training continued to be the main issue of concern to complainants in 2017; 46 complainants raised this issue in 2017, down from 51 complainants in 2016. Nine complainants were affected by general aviation aircraft, and the majority of these were affected by aircraft involved in airwork. Airwork includes activities such as aerial surveys and aerial mapping.
Chart 1: Suburbs and number of complainants affected by fixed wing circuit training
Suburbs
Twenty-two separate suburbs were affected by aircraft operations from Parafield Airport during 2017. Ten suburbs recorded a single complainant.
Chart two provides a complainant and suburb comparison for the calendar years 2017 and 2016.
In both years Mawson Lakes, Para Hills, Pooraka, Salisbury Downs and Salisbury East recorded the most complainants. Mawson Lakes, Pooraka, Salisbury Downs and Salisbury East are located under the crosswind and downwind legs of the circuit, historically it is these areas of the circuit that record the greatest number of complainants. This is not unique to Parafield Airport; it also occurs at the major secondary training airports across Australia.
Chart 2: Suburb and Complainant comparison 2017/2016
Complainants
There were 16 complainants during quarter four 2017, which is an increase from 12 complainants in the third quarter. There were a total of 57 individual complainants in 2017.
Chart 1: Number of complainants comparison
Issues and suburbs
The increase of complainants over this quarter is due to an increase in circuit training. This is expected to continue into 2018.
The suburb of Mawson Lakes recorded an increase of two complainants this quarter. While no complainants were recorded from the suburbs of Wynn Vale, Pooraka and Golden Grove in quarter three, during quarter four each registered four complainants. With the exception of Pooraka, these suburbs are at the outer edges of the circuit and may be affected by faster aircraft types, or when pilots are just commencing circuit training and are less skilled. Additionally residents of Wynn Vale and Golden Grove may be affected by aircraft tracking to join the Dam Wall arrival route and/or the Substation Departure route.
Chart 2: Suburbs affected by fixed wing circuit training
Complainants
There were 12 complainants during the third quarter. This is a decrease from 16 complainants in the previous quarter. There have been 46 individual complainants for the year-to-date.
Chart 1: Number of complainants comparison
Issues and suburbs
Complainants continued to be affected by fixed wing circuit training during quarter three. One complainant was affected by low flying general aviation aircraft.
Despite the decrease in the number of complainants over the quarter, the suburbs of Mawson Lakes and Parafield Gardens registered an increase in complainants. This is because there was an increase in circuits conducted to the western side of the airport in this quarter (43 percent to the west in quarter three compared to 30 percent to the west in quarter two – compare the quarterly charts on the Circuit Training page).
Chart 2: Numbers of complainants raising the issue of fixed wing circuit training from each suburb
Complainants
There were 16 complainants in the second quarter. This is a reduction from quarter one. For the year-to-date there have been 39 individual complainants.
Chart 1: Number of complainants comparison
Issues and suburbs
All but one of the complainants were concerned about circuit training by fixed wing aircraft. The remaining complainant was concerned about airwork conducted by a helicopter.
Chart 2: Numbers of complainants raising the issue of circuit training from each suburb
Whilst the number of complainants has decreased over the quarter, the suburbs of Salisbury Heights, Salisbury East, Salisbury Downs and Gulfview Heights have registered an increase of complainants from quarter one. This can be attributed to an increase in the use of the single engine aircraft circuit for the north south runways. For several weeks during the quarter the maximum of six aircraft were operating continuously over the day.
Complainants
There were 27 complainants during the first quarter. This is a significant increase from the fourth quarter of 2016.
Chart 1: Number of complainants comparison
The rise in complainants compared to quarter four of 2016 is due primarily to the weather. In the last quarter of 2016 inclement weather affected circuit training operations, which can only occur in fine conditions. During quarter one of 2017, the weather was generally fine which increased the availability of training operations.
Additionally, one of the training schools located at Parafield reported a significant increase in their operations during the quarter.
Issues and suburbs
Nineteen complainants were concerned about circuit training and six were concerned about airwork.
Chart 2: Numbers of complainants raising the issue of circuit training and their suburbs
Six complainants were concerned about an aircraft conducting aerial mapping from 25 – 27 January 2017. This is classified as airwork. Airwork is permitted and will occur from time-to-time but this type of activity can be disturbing as it involves multiple passes in a grid formation. This was raised by three complainants in Tea Tree Gully and residents in Magill, Happy Valley and Banksia Park.
Complainants
There were 62 individual complainants in 2016.
Issues and suburbs
In 2016 the issue raised most frequently was circuit training by fixed wing aircraft. This issue was raised by 51 complainants who came from fourteen different suburbs.
Chart 1: Numbers of complainants raising the issue of circuit training and their suburbs, 2016
When all issues are considered, the suburbs that recorded the most complainants for the calendar year were Mawson Lakes (9 complainants), Para Hills (7), Salisbury Downs and Salisbury East (7 each), and Gulfview Heights and Pooraka (6 complainants each). All of these suburbs are located either directly adjacent to the airport and/or directly under the circuit flight path.
In total the NCIS was contacted by complainants from seventeen separate suburbs.
Note that some complainants raised more than one issue.