Aviation State Engagement Forum
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This was an initial scoping exercise to ascertain some feedback from the civilian flying community should Defence decide to decommission the YMES NDB. At the time of the AvSEF submission, no decision to decommission the NDB had been made.
After a long period of issues surrounding the YMES NDB, the question was posed as to why it is being retained as the military are not using it for training and have other precision Instrument Approach procedures available at YMES. The YMES NDB has been subject to NOTAM for many months with various technical issues that are ongoing and still under fault-finding and investigation.
Thank you to those who have provided your concerns and comments. They are valid concerns and all are noted. Some of the primary concerns are summarised and noted below.
- Noted - that the YMES NDB is part of Australia's Backup Navigation Network with the next two nearest NDBs being located at Latrobe Valley in VIC and Merimbula in NSW.
- Noted - that the majority of Instrument Approach procedures at YMES including the new RWY27 ILS are not for civilian use at this point in time.
- Noted - that various Airservices Australia stakeholders will need to be consulted with should Defence wish to consider proceeding further down the decommissioning route and it is also noted that multiple actions would be required regarding AIS products, ATS route changes, waypoint changes and NOTAM considerations.
Where to from here? - all pertinent concerns will be forwarded to 453 Squadron Headquarters for their evaluation and ongoing discussion with other Defence units and decision makers.
Outcome - no decision has been made to decommission the YMES NDB at this point in time.