A visual terminal chart depicting the updated Sydney airspace

Cleared for take-off? Get ready for Sydney’s new airspace

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If you fly in or around Bankstown or Camden, or transit the Sydney basin, your operation changes on 9 July 2026. We asked Airservices Australia what a pilot really needs to know to fly in this area.
A pilot talking on their radio

Talking to the tower in controlled airspace

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With airspace changes taking effect across the Sydney basin on 9 July, and controlled airspace set to be introduced at Ballina the same day, more general aviation pilots will find themselves talking to ATC more often. An Airservices Australia controller explains why early calls, honest questions and asking for clarification work in every pilot's favour.
Two magazines on a table

What you can learn about safety promotion from other operators

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How you communicate safety can make the biggest difference to how well your SMS actually works. While policies and procedures set expectations, it's what you do day-to-day that makes safety stick.
Aerial view of an aerodrome surrounded by green fields

IFR quiz: Autumn 2025-26

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Test your knowledge with this quiz
A set of tools sitting in their individual spaces in a red toolbox

That last step before releasing an aircraft or component to service

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It's easy to think of the release to service step as 'just paperwork'. But if you've ever found a stray rag, a loose zip-tie tail, or a missing pen lid after the job is closed out, you'll know how quickly that thinking can come back to bite.
Man with beard in blue shirt standing on the side of green aeroplane

Safety in action: making SMS work in the real world

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A practical safety management system (SMS) helps operators spot risks early and make safer decisions. It supports smoother operations, fewer surprises and more consistent safety outcomes. These benefits grow as an organisation grows.
A man is working on an aeroplane engine, which is purple and white.

Putting the pieces together: modular engineer licensing

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A new approach to gaining engineering qualifications aims to boost supply in this important trade.

Imposter syndrome

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One of the many affectionate jokes about the seemingly immortal Douglas DC-3 is how on many surviving examples the aircraft data plate is the...
An aeroplane spraying a field, with an airspace map superimposed over the sky behind it

Mix-up in the salad bowl

Unchallenged assumptions about controlled airspace procedures put this pilot in a potentially very dangerous situation.
A cockpit with gauges and a GPS.

Perfectly gauged response

A newly minted pilot faces their first emergency, with the added complication of it happening in tightly controlled airspace. Spoiler: it ended well.

Believe it can happen

About 8 years ago on a perfect winter's morning, I was conducting a flight from a Class D aerodrome. It was an IFR flight...

Don’t stop now!

When nothing goes right, distraction and frustration open the door for error.

Tanks for nothing

With up to 70-knot westerly winds forecast at higher altitudes, I calculated a longer-than-usual flight from Bankstown to Griffith in NSW. It would also...

And then I got high

A glider pilot is shaken by an encounter with the sheer power of nature