Tamworth Regional Airport, New South Wales, Australia

ACG undertook the engineering design and construction (Head Contractor) for this project, which required the addition of new sealed parking space to meet CASA Manual of Standards part 139 (MOS139) for aircraft up to 20m wingspan. This project allowed unrestricted operations by Code B aircraft up to 20m wingspan into the new apron and was part of an incremental upgrade to the General Aviation area to meet new standards and increase capacity.

The subject area required stormwater and surface pit installation to replace existing open, unlined drainage features and headwalls, and the identification and protection of some existing services including the Taxiway lighting primary circuit and an Airservices Australia communications cable in the vicinity of the satellite ground station.

The concept was to provide a nominal 12,500m2 of pavement with a nominal 400mm cover over subgrade, containing a defined parking area, able to accommodate five x Code B aircraft with wingspans up to 20m, while providing a 3.0m minimum wingtip clearance per Mos 139. The parking area was to be bounded on four sides by a Code B taxi lane. The centreline of Taxiway Golf was to be relocated to the west, to maintain Code B taxi lane clearance from the existing sealed parking positions P1, P2 and P3 and to standardise length restriction imposed on those bays. Taxiway Golf needed widening for its full length to the intersection with Taxiway Hotel to the south as part of this project to allow for the displaced centreline.

The constructed apron and additional taxi lane section was designed to accommodate aircraft up to 13,000kg and bogie drive vehicles up to 20 tonnes GVM. The seal coats could accommodate the critical aircraft weight at tyre pressures up to 1,100Kpa.

Project Capital Cost: $1.8m

Head Contractor

Underground water – During construction, subsoil drains were installed to manage excess water and prevented the accumulation of moisture that could weaken the pavement structure over time.