SID and STAR experience in Australia and New Zealand

Overview

We’re surveying pilots and air traffic controllers across Australia and New Zealand on your experience with using Standard Instrument Departure (SID) and Standard Instrument Arrival (STAR) procedures.

The survey includes questions about SID and STAR phraseology and constraints while providing an opportunity to suggest improvements. It should take approximately 15 minutes to complete.

Background

In 2016, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) introduced significant changes to the air traffic control (ATC) procedures for SIDs and STARs. Both Australia and New Zealand implemented the changes in 2017.

In the regional context, there were some operational issues associated with the procedures, including confusion about the various forms of speed restrictions/ instructions and uncertainty about instructions for commencing a STAR. Guidance on the procedures has been amended periodically to address those issues. While many overseas countries have implemented the ICAO procedures, several major aviation countries are yet to do so.

References to SID/STAR procedures and phraseology

Within this survey, SID/STAR procedures and phraseology are as specified in current versions of the following documents:

• Section GEN 3.4 of Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP) Australia
• Section ENR 1.5 of AIP Australia
• Section ENR 1.5 of AIP New Zealand
• New Zealand Advisory Circular AC91-9-AC172-1 - Radiotelephony Manual

Why your views matter

Australia participates in ICAO’s Air Traffic Management Operations (ATMOPS) Panel. The panel is responsible for the ATC aspects relating to SID and STAR.

This survey, which was developed and first carried out in Thailand, aims to gather information on the SID and STAR experience in Australia and New Zealand. The information will inform future work on phraseology. Several other countries will be conducting a similar survey. There are 23 questions in this survey, generally in the form of check-boxes or rating scales.

The survey is anonymous, however we do ask for your home region and postcode.

The results of this survey will be shared with the ICAO ATMOPS Panel to help them determine:

• levels of understanding of the procedure
• issues associated with the SID and STAR phraseologies
• opportunities to improve awareness.

What happens next
Once the survey has closed, we will:

• review all comments received
• publish a summary of the results
• provide the results to the ICAO ATMOPS Panel.