Proposed temporary restricted area 'KOOMOOLOO' in the Flinders Ranges

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    Open consultation
    SA
    Less than a day
    Start 25/03/2025
    AEDT 11:00
    End 08/04/2025
    AEST 17:00

    Submit feedback to

    Joint Airspace Control Cell  Royal Australian Air Force
    Australian Defence Force

    Joint Airspace Control Cell (JACC) requests feedback on the proposed temporary restricted area (TRA) ‘KOOMOOLOO’ in support of Defence activities in the Flinders Ranges.

    The issue

    • Activation of TRA ‘KOOMOOLOO’ to support Defence aviation activities throughout 2025.
    • Conditional status of the TRA will be restricted area (RA) 2; transit conditions contained below.
    • No activation over weekend periods to reduce impact to local aviation community.

    Purpose

    Defence proposes the establishment of a single TRA in the Flinders Ranges region to support Defence aviation activities throughout 2025.

    Proposal

    TRA ‘KOOMOOLOO’ is proposed to facilitate continued test and evaluation aviation activities in support of the Australian Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA). The nature of the assets being employed in these activities lead to an inability to comply with broadcast requirements nor see and avoid principles in class G airspace.  These characteristics preclude Defence from ensuring safe operation of the assets with other airspace users and necessitate the use of TRA to safely segregate the activity from non-participants.  Sanitised airspace is also required for the planned activities in order to assure successful completion of the mission profiles without interference.

    This is the second proposal for TRA ‘KOOMOOLOO’, containing the remainder of the proposed activation dates for 2025 with the intent of providing the aviation community significant notice of the planned activities.

    The first activation of TRA ‘KOOMOOLOO’ is scheduled for the 31 March with the dates below intended to continue following the initial period of activations notified in a previous Aviation State Engagement Forum (AvSEF) consultation.

    The condition status of TRA ‘KOOMOOLOO’ will be RA2 with transit only approved for the following reasons: 

    • aircraft experiencing an in-flight emergency
    • aircraft with priority status engaged in the preservation of life or property (medical evacuation, search and rescue and flood and fire relief)
    • aircraft who pre-arrange clearance with the controlling authority prior to departure.

    Some feedback received regarding TRA ‘KOOMOOLOO’ has been taken into account and for activations after the initial date period notified above.  Defence will not be proposing activation over weekends and will be able to continue to offer transit of the TRA for flight crews that pre-arrange clearance prior to departure.  

    Notice to the aviation community will be provided through an Aeronautical Information Publication Supplement (AIP SUP) and associated Notice to Airmen (NOTAM).  These publications together will detail the dimensions, activation dates, timings, transit procedures and controlling authority contact details.

    Initially Defence provided advice that TRA ‘KOOMOOLOO’ would be activated approximately two weeks out of every six weeks.  After a review of required activation times, the following table contains the proposed periods for activation of TRA ‘KOOMOOLOO’:

    Table 1: Planned activation timings for TRA 'KOOMOOLOO'
    Date Start (Local) Date End (Local) Time (Local)
    23 June 2025 27 June 2025 0700 - 1700
    21 July 2025 25 July 2025 0700 - 1700
    18 August 2025 22 August 2025 0700 - 1700
    15 September 2025 19 September 2025 0700 - 1730
    23 September 2025 25 September 2025 0700 - 1730
    29 September 2025 3 October 2025 0700 - 1730
    13 October 2025 17 October 2025 0700 - 1900
    10 November 2025 14 November 2025 0700 - 1900
    8 December 2025  12 December 2025 0700 - 1900

    Dates and times notified above are notional and subject to change dependent upon both internal and external factors.  The associated AIP SUP and NOTAM will specify the exact dates and timings once confirmed.

    The proposed NOTAM will display as follows:

    YMMM/TRA ‘KOOMOOLOO’
    Conditional status: RA2
    Military flying
    Lateral limits: 331740S 1392532E – 331809S 1394202E – 334136S 1394159E - 333813S 1391240E – 331740S 1392532E
    Vertical limits: SFC – 4500
    Hours of activity: NOTAM
    Controlling authority: Australian Strategic Capabilities Accelerator
    Figure 1. TRA 'KOOMOOLOO' overlaid on enroute chart
    Figure 2. TRA 'KOOMOOLOO' overlaid on visual navigation chart

    AvSEF members are invited to provide feedback to adf.airspace@defence.gov.au by 8 April 2025.

    Submitted by

    Joint Airspace Control Cell Australian Defence Force
    adf.airspace@defence.gov.au