Moorabbin Control Tower

	Tower Information, Views and History Location - Moorabbin Airport, Melbourne, Victoria Postal Address - GPO Box 1093, Tullamarine, VIC 3043 Height - 18m Date Constructed - 1975 - 1977

The Moorabbin Tower, which was commissioned in 1977 was the first of a group of tower constructions designed with cost saving in mind. Others built in a similar style included Avalon and Port Hedland. Moorabbin Airport is 14 nm southeast of the city of Melbourne, 2 nm from Port Phillip Bay and is surrounded by urban and light industrial areas.

The tower is located on the western side of the aerodrome overlooking a complex system of multiple parallel and crossing runways and taxiways.

A total of seven air traffic controllers work at Moorabbin on rotating shifts three hundred and sixty three days per year (closed Christmas day). Three controllers are rostered on each day working a ten hour roster.

Moorabbin operates according to the General Aviation Airport Procedures, a system designed to cater for the high aircraft movement rate at such airports. At one time considered the busiest airport in the southern hemisphere, movements peaked at in excess of four hundred thousand per year in the late nineteen eighties. With a reduction in hours of ATC coverage and a reduction in staff numbers, movements are now around two hundred and fifty thousand to three hundred thousand per annum.

Facilities

Moorabbin Airport has parallel runway complexes in the 13/31 and 17/35 directions and a single runway 04/22. The longest runway is 17L/35R at 1335 metres. Moorabbin has an NDB. Non-precision instrument approaches include GPS to Runways 17L and 35R, VOR/NDB and NDB. GPS arrivals are also available.