Circuit Training

How circuits are conducted

Sixty per cent of movements at Jandakot Airport are undertaking circuit training, including both fixed wing aircraft and helicopters.

A training circuit consists of five legs – the take-off, crosswind, downwind, base and final approach to the runway.

Aircraft take off into the wind, climb to 500 feet and then turn onto the crosswind leg. They continue to ascend to 1000 feet and turn onto the downwind leg. Having turned onto the base leg the descent commences. After turning onto the final leg and lining up with the runway the aircraft will touch down and take off again.

The preferred runways under the noise abatement procedures for circuit training are Runways 06 Right and 24 Left. This means most of the aircraft undertaking circuit training operate south-east of the airport.

“Left-hand” circuits will be conducted when Runway 24 Left is in use and “right-hand” circuits when Runway 03 Right is in use. For left-hand circuits, the pilot turns left after take-off and flies anticlockwise. For right-hand circuit, the pilot turns right and flies in a clockwise direction.

A simplified representation of a left-hand circuit is shown at right. The take off and final stage of the circuit is flown into the wind, as this is the safest way for an aircraft to operate. The aircraft symbols and dotted lines indicate recommended ways for an aircraft to join the circuit pattern. Click the image to enlarge it, and use your browser “Back” button to return to this page.

Jandakot Airport’s voluntary Fly Neighbourly Agreement asks signatories to keep circuits as narrow as possible. However, because the student pilots performing circuits are so new to flying, this is not always achievable.

More information about circuit training is found here.

Animation of the Jandakot circuit

The animated aircraft below and the static tracks shown in blue are created from actual tracks flown by aircraft in the circuit. This illustrates the degree of variation that will occur in the way student pilots fly circuits. The altitudes above mean sea level of the aircraft are also shown.

You can enlarge to full-screen by clicking the square-shaped button in the bottom right-hand corner of the player.

To replay the animation press the “Replay” button in the bottom left-hand corner of the player.

Effects of runway direction

Air traffic control will determine which runways are used at any given time depending on the direction of the wind – this is because aircraft must generally take off and land into the wind for safety reasons.

Depending on which runway direction is in use, different suburbs will be affected by different legs of the circuit. The Noise Complaints and Information Service tends to receive more complaints from suburbs under the crosswind and base legs of the circuit. This is the case at all airports where circuit training occurs.

The flight training circuits extend up to five kilometres from the airport. When Runway 06 Right or 24 Left are in use affected suburbs include Canning Vale, Jandakot, Banjup, Atwell, Success and Cockburn Central. When Runways 12 or 30 are in use affected suburbs also include Piara Waters, South Lake, North Lake and Leeming.

Circuit training hours

Training during both day and night is important for developing pilot competencies, as is experience with using different types of navigational aids.

Circuit training times are set out in the noise abatement procedures for Jandakot Airport and are:

Weekdays: 7:00am – 10:30pm
Weekends: 8:00am – 6:00pm

Please note that these times above apply only to circuit training, and not to arriving and departing aircraft which may operate 24 hours a day.

While there are set times for circuit training it is important to note that when aircraft are arriving outside control tower hours they are required to fly a circuit before landing for safety reasons. Therefore it may seem like aircraft are flying circuits outside hours when this is not the case.

Altitudes

Aircraft aim to fly at 1000 feet on the downwind leg. Helicopters will fly at 800 feet to separate them from the fixed wing aircraft which will usually fly faster. Note that these altitudes apply only to the downwind leg. This is because aircraft are ascending on the take-off and crosswind legs and descending on the base and final legs.

While attaining 1000 feet on the downwind leg is the aim, in reality the altitudes of aircraft that are conducting circuit training will always vary. Part of the reason for this is that the trainees are new to flying and factors such as their level of experience and even their degree of nervousness will affect the altitudes they can achieve. Unfortunately the nature of circuit training is to teach new pilots and therefore this variation cannot be avoided.

The tracks in the following images are coloured according to altitude:

April - June 2022