XDSI - 7. XD Ch 7

While the work was been done to the runway, taxiway and parking apron, I met with the Shire of Northam to work on some minor projects, one being my suggestion to sink Goomalling Road, for a distance of 800 metres, so that the runway can be extended a further 420 metres to 3,120 metres total.

This will make it the second longest runway in Western Australia, and as such is ideal as an emergency airport in case things get bad at Perth Airport. A few months later, I was summoned to meet with the Premier and Deputy Premier at their offices in West Perth and they asked me if I would be able to get my airport to a security level that it could be used for accepting International Aircraft and passengers in case of an emergency.

I suggested that my airport terminal be used for emergencies of domestic flights only, as I felt that there are other airports that are better suited for international flights, like Broome or Darwin, and after that response, I was asked for an update on the progress of the new airport.

I informed them that I was currently working on fitting out the terminal with all of the security, electronic and communication equipment, as well as weather satellite & radar equipment, plus all of the furniture needed for all administration, terminal staff and general patron areas.

After the meeting, I headed home to rest, as the past few weeks have been quite busy, and it was getting busier with the airport project nearing completion. As well as the fitting work in the terminal happening, I had also been meeting regularly with the shire, arranging new road signage, from the centre of town to the turnoff on Goomalling Road.

I am also assisting the shire with selecting locals and training them as new staff for the terminal, and with monitoring the sinking of Goomalling Road to allow for the extension of the main runway, and the installation of the culverts into the Mortlock River.

There are a number of positions that could not be taken by local people, that being ATC’s - Air Traffic Controllers, and with the assistance of Sebastian and his broad list of contacts, he was able to employ eight qualified ATC’s to work at Northam.

Three are Ex-Australian Military; one is ex- New Zealand Military, two are Australian civilian ATC’s and the final two are Swiss ATC’s. With the land that I own located on the east side of Irishtown Road, west side of Goomalling Road, and south of the highway, I purchased a total of six modular homes.

Each home will have solar panels and storage batteries, and freshwater tanks included, so once the homes were in place and everything is installed, all that was needed to be done is install septic tanks, and connect power and water to the homes, with gas bottles connected for the hot water heater.

An access driveway would be made coming off Irishtown Road, leading into the 305-acre paddock, which would be split in half with a new fence. Once that is done a higher ringlock fence would be installed 40-metres in from the boundary fence that will be electrified, by solar power chargers near each corner, with adequate warning signs on the fence, fifty metres apart.

Once the new fence is in place, with an electronic lock on the gate to allow for automatic opening with the assistance of a remote button, which each resident will have two of, I had additional semi-mature blue gum trees planted 20-metres inside of the boundary fence line, and halfway to the second fence, to provide privacy and blocking some of the noise from air and vehicle traffic.

When the sinking of Goomalling Road was completed and open for traffic again, the security Garrison fence was extended over the south end of the tunnel, and runs along the southern boundary of the paddock to just 50 metres from the new boundary fence;

With the off ramp been moved to the north side of the highway, with a roundabout installed, to allow traffic to head south, to get to the airport, the northern boundary of the airport land was now 50-metres from and along the south side of the highway, and crosses over the tunnel just as it appears just below the highway cross over bridge.

From there the fence runs along the highway until just before the river, and follows twenty metres in from the riverbank, along the eastern side of the original airport, and link up with the current garrison fence on my southeast boundary.

This allows additional security to be upgraded to include both runways, with another fence running along the sides of the hangers and sheds, so that only authorised personnel enter the airside of the airport, especially with the Air Traffic Control Tower soon to become active.

Sebastian himself had done all of the interviewing of the ATC’s, to make sure that they are qualified and fit for duty, and out of those eight people only two were women, and he selected one of the Australian ex-military and one of the Swiss ATC’s, who are the most qualified and experienced to be the Traffic Control Supervisors.

With this project nearly over, and with the East Perth tower now open to the public with suitable business tenants in place, I was wondering what to do with all of my spare time. Since I was now getting fairly low in funds, and I would have to rely on the rental money from the residents in the East Perth Apartments, as well as the tenants of the East Perth tower businesses as my only source of income, until I can build up my profits some more.

I would also be earning some income from the landing fees from the airline companies, using the airport, with the Aero Club being exempted, and the air terminal tenants who will be operating shops in the terminal, but I also had expenses to pay.

Thankfully, Sebastian had agreed to pay the wages of the ATC’s and the twenty terminal staff, which includes security, cleaners and the airside workers. Sebastian had also invested in two brand new fire trucks for the airport, which will be operated by eight senior members of the local volunteer fire service, who have been given additional specialist training to deal with aircraft and highly flammable fires.

The many solar panels on the roof of the terminal would also assist with cutting down costs for power, and I only had to employ a team to manage the airport terminal, which I had decided to do myself, with Wyatt as my assistant, leaving Rebecca back at the office to handle running my business office in East Perth.

The Airline would provide its own staff, which would relocate from the Perth Terminal to the new Avon Valley Airport, as it is to be known. A second airline that is based in the Northern Territory and provides one service each way per day, has committed to using the new airport, for its flights to and from Kununurra.

Meanwhile a third airline that also does regional flights, mainly to Albany, Esperance, Wiluna, Shark Bay and Carnarvon, with seven flights each way per day, is also expressing interest, but is still working on the logistics of moving locations.

Working with the local shire, we have assisted with establishing a community based bus transfer company, which will employ six drivers, and four additional staff to transport passengers from the airport to Northam and onwards down to Midland, with those who choose too, can take the train journey to Midland, which takes a bit longer in travel time.

Although the Northam Shire and the WA State Government wanted a large official celebration opening of the new airport, I wanted none of that, and since I own the new terminal and the main runway, I ignored that request. After the official inspection and certification by the Air Services Australia, I quietly let the two airlines the start date for the beginning of flights arriving and departing from Avon Valley Airport, with a day of orientation the day before.

The day before orientation, all of the airport staff that I would be in charge off as the CEO and Operations Manager of Avon Valley Airport, I asked to be at work at 10 am for Orientation and for a briefing on how I want the airport and air terminal to operate.

Already for the past week, the air traffic control tower has been operational, with the Aero Club and the Air tour company required to submit flight plans, and abide by the rules and orders of the air traffic control tower, which they found quite annoying, and they continued to express their views on the matter.

Also before the orientation day, the main airline using the terminal has three of its aircraft flown in, ready to begin flights from the new location.

For the first five days of operation, everything was going well. Wyatt and I would travel to Northam by vehicle each morning, arriving shortly before 7am, with the terminal opening at 4.30 am each morning, in time for the arrival of the Avonlink train, and the first flight leaving at 5.10 am.

On the first Saturday morning since beginning full operational, with this day being the busiest for the Aero Club and the Balloon Adventures Company, the Air Traffic Control tower received multiple flight plans, for which some had to be delayed due to incoming and outgoing flights that take priority, much to the annoyance of the aero club.

On Monday morning after reading the reports sent by the Supervisors of Air Traffic Control, I forwarded them to the Northam Shire, with an additional note from myself. “Northam Shire, Subject Northam Aero Club complaints.

Sir, it is my belief that if the Aero club is not happy with having to abide by federal regulations regarding controlled airspace, which they now must operate by, then it is my recommendation that they relocated to another location, possibly Brooklands Aerodrome just north of York.

I will be happy to purchase all of the sheds that they own at their current location, at a current independent value price, to assist with their relocation. Regards, Alexander Devonport.” I was a little surprised to receive a response within 45 minutes of sending the email.

“Dear Mr Devonport, thankyou for your reports and your note, we are aware of the situation as the Aero Club has submitted it’s own complaint in regards to having to deal with Air Traffic Control. I am in the process of writing a response, simular to your recommendations, and I will add your offer to purchase their sheds and aircraft hangers, at an independent valuation, so they may relocate to an area that is out of controlled Perth and Pearce airspace.”

I was pleased to have the support of the shire on this matter, especially when there are a few airspace zones within the Perth area. Apart from the 36 nautical mile airspace of Perth Airport, which includes Jandakot, there is also Pearce Airbase, which has a 15 nautical mile restricted airspace.

On occasions, there are a number of additional military air space areas. The Navy with its airspace around Fleet Base West, Garden Island, RAAF Airport Gingin, plus the Naval / Airforce Practice range just north of Lancelin. Luckily, Avon Valley is just out of those areas.

The Perth Controlled airspace boundary is located just 8 ½ kilometres to the west, and all aircraft leaving from our new airport are flying inland to avoid those areas. As part of the certification, Air Services Australia issued us with a 10 nautical mile controlled airspace area, to the north, south and east of Avon Valley Airport, and just 4 nautical miles to the west.

With both runways running close to north and south, this made work easy for the air traffic controllers, with all air traffic to approach from the north, or go around from the east side to land from the south. With Brooklands Airport located 12.5 nautical miles south of Avon Valley, and just out of our controlled airspace, we decided that the Sky Diving Club did not need to register flight plans, but they did need to land from the south and take off from the north heading south.

They also need to fly to the east, southeast or south of the airport, to stay out of the way of aircraft departing or landing from Avon Valley, and they were happy with abiding by these directions. After some negotiations, the Aero Club accepted the offer that I made to purchase their sheds and aircraft hangers, as they would be relocating east to the Brookfield’s Airport, even though it only has a dirt runway.

Once the aero club had vacated Northam, I had the twelve back sheds plus the 13 aircraft hangers dismantled, and sold off, and once that was done, I had six large aircraft hangers, with workshops and offices at the back, constructed, so that the current and future airline companies using the airport, have places to keep their aircraft undercover.

“When the first two hangers were completed, they were immediately leased to the main airline company that uses the airport, and when the next two were completed, one was leased by the Northern Territory airline company. With just the Balloon Adventure company and the Aircraft Maintenance company located on the east side of the airport, I didn’t need to worry about receiving the regular complaints, as the two other companies were very happy staying where they are, and I even agreed to pay for enlarging and upgrading their facilities.

I began to enjoy my new role as a CEO and Operations Manager of an airport, even thou it involved a lot of paper work with reports to Air Services Australia, and regular contact with Perth Airport, and RAAF Base Pearce.

Although our airport has taken some of the work load off Perth Airport, they still remained very busy, and with us having 32 aircraft movements per day, that would soon increase when the third airline company decided to move their aircraft to our airport, giving us a further 14 aircraft movements per day.

This is far less than Jandakot airport, which has an average of 756 aircraft movements per day. Now that the Aero Club was out of the way, I could work on extending the length of the original runway from 1,150 metres to 2,180 metres, which will allow for a greater expansion of services, especially with it being just over ten metres longer than the secondary runway at Perth Airport.

Another good thing with the Aero Club now being our of our airport, is that there are only a few flights in an out on Saturday’s and none on Sundays, which allowed all of the airport some additional social and recreation time with family and friends. It also meant that I could also have some time to myself as well, and I was now choosing to do that onboard my yacht, often going over to Rottnest for an overnight stay.

When I returned home from an overnight stay at Rottnest Island, we were cruising up the river having just passed the Fremantle Jetties, when I was unexpectantly, called to the Bridge by Captain Anton. Wyatt came with me, as we headed up to the Bridge deck.

“You called me Captain? Is there a…” I said as I stopped short, when I saw why I was being summoned, as I saw a yacht tied up to my jetty. “MV Toodyay to the yacht moored at the private jetty, do you copy, over?’ We heard Captain Anton say into the radio.

An unexpected reply came from a familiar voice, but in Italian not English, “Captain, please inform your boss that I expect him and his staff member on my yacht for dinner at 1800 hours, over” and as my mouth dropped open in surprise, Captain Anton smiled broadly. Also in Italian, he said the message has been received, and already passed on to his boss. I smiled and nodded my head before heading to the upper saloon.

“That sounded like Mr Sebastian’s voice, is that his new yacht?” Wyatt asked me, as I sat down, “Yes, it appears that Sebastian and Sir Lewis have a new yacht. I wonder what they have done with the Southern Explorer?” I replied, and we chatted for about fifteen minutes before Wyatt suggested that we get ready for dinner.