Senator O'Brien asked the Minister representing the Minister for Transport and Regional Services, upon notice, on 11 March 1999:

(1) How many aircraft were required to do "go arounds" at Sydney Airport: (a) in the 1996-97 financial year; (b) in the 1997-98 financial year; and (c) since 1 July 1998.

(2) On each occasion what: (a) was the reason for the aircraft being forced to do a "go around"; and (b) who made the decision that the aircraft should abort its landing.

(3) What grading did the Bureau of Air Safety Investigation give to each incident.

Senator Ian Macdonald (Regional Services, Territories and Local Government) —The Minister for Transport and Regional Services has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

(1) (a) 272 in the 1996-97 financial year.

(b) 302 in the 1997-98 financial year.

(c) 144 in the seven month period 1 July 1998 to 31 January 1999

Minister Sharp provided the following information in response to a similar question from Mr McClelland (Question upon Notice 1734) in August 1997.

In 1992 there were 247 aborted landings. In 1993 there were 271 aborted landings. In 1994 there were 313 aborted landings. In 1995 there were 289 aborted landings. In 1996 there were 293 aborted landings.

(2) Airservices Australia has advised that "go arounds" are a normal part of the air traffic management safety system, and form a routine element of pilot training. They may be initiated by the pilot or under the direction of air traffic control and can occur for a variety of reasons such as weather conditions, mechanical circumstances and air traffic management. Unless an air safety incident is associated with a "go around", no formal incident report is required to be submitted. As a result, the only way of answering the questions comprehensively and properly would be for Airservices Australia staff to extract the details of each "go around" from the tower log books. I am not prepared to authorise the considerable use of resources and staff time that would be needed to generate the information.

(3) BASI is not normally notified of each "go around", unless the "go around" is associated with an incident. In those circumstances, the majority of occurrences reported to BASI are assessed as category 4 occurrences. Category 4 occurrences are those where the facts do not indicate a serious safety deficiency.