Flying in controlled airspace

Imagine having over 37 years of flying instructor experience. Every airspace change, every nervous student, every teaching moment in the sky – witnessed, absorbed,...

New Class D airspace in Sydney will bring many changes to pilots, one of them being the requirement to carry and use a transponder.

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.

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.

Performance anxiety can grip any of us on arrival at a busy controlled aerodrome because these places are the aviation equivalent of theatre in the round. The solution is to do what actors do, that is, research, rehearse and relax.

Pilots check weather, fuel and NOTAMs before every flight; for greater safety, sharing your flight details ensures someone else knows your plan, but some flights require a flight notification.

NOTAMs are essential yet they remain one of the most overlooked elements of flight planning

Back in 2009 when I was learning to fly at Camden, I made an embarrassing student mistake