Irregular aviation movements and ATC

[Arthur T]

There are heaps of special aviation movements around Sydney and even some on the departure/arrival track.

These are the balloons which often attach some advertising material (I saw one at Coogee Beach, right on the departure track) and on Sydney Harbour on NYE, including the flying performance and another plane up high writing words.

So I want to ask how do ATC control these movements? Do they need to close the airspace to allow those?

Thanks.

[Phil M]

Mostly a problem for the Sydney Traffic Manager and/or SACL. For things like cranes, SACL organising the approvals and restrictions/requirements for their operation. I have seen a couple of balloons (ones for taking photos of real estate etc) treated in the same way and are generally OK up to 300' (or so?) as long as they are not right next to the airport.

If it is for advertising or similar they will generally not be approved if they interfere with the airport's operations, but if they are something like the new signage on centrepoint, or special media requirements for a short period, the traffic can be managed via NOTAM and then the appropriate runway selection and/or departure tracks.

As for the Coogee beach example, considering how far it is from the airport, I would imagine SACL would have approved it to operate up to something like 300' with no traffic management required. But that is just an educated guess from my experience.

[Nigel C]

And if they're not approved and get seen, the operator can be assured of a visit politely asking that they be pulled down.

[Arthur T]

Then how about those planes writing words in the clear sky?
I think they are heaps higher than 300ft tho...

[Mick F]

They would be cleared to operate in a block level and ATC would just work around them. I'm not 100% sure of the heights they'd be at, but I'm guessing somewhere around 6-8,000ft.

Mick

[Richard U]

Correct Mick.Our regular customer over Sydney usually operates in a block from A100 to flight level 130