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)Residents concerned they will be affected by aircraft noise from the Western Sydney Airport have complained they still have not seen draft flight paths, five years after the project was approved.
Indicative flight path maps were included in the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) released in 2015, but those plans haven't been firmed up and released publicly, after an outcry that planes would converge over the Blue Mountains town of Blaxland.
By the time the final EIS was released in 2016, a white box had been added over the area of concern with the words "indicative only — final flight paths not yet determined".
The document stated there would be no convergence point of arriving planes over Blaxland or any other single residential area, noting the strong community concern.
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)Marie Sitter has lived in Blaxland since 2014 and is a member of the Residents Against Western Sydney Airport group.
She is particularly concerned about possible aircraft noise because, unlike the existing Sydney Airport, there will be no curfew.
"Imagine what it's going to be like for school children, how on earth are they going to be able to sleep, to study, to do anything.
"I go bushwalking, I can't imagine what it's going to be like for people coming to a world heritage area for bushwalking and having planes thundering overhead."
The flight paths started being developed in 2017 and will be finalised in 2024, two years before the airport opens, according to the Forum on Western Sydney Airport's website.
ABC News: Western Sydney Airport website
)Flight paths have to go through a separate environmental approvals process and the plan will be open for consultation with residents as part of that.
Blue Mountains Mayor Mark Greenhill said he was worried the flight paths would only be released once it was too late.
"Seeing what happened again in 2015, they're racing to construct the airport," Mr Greenhill said.
"Not telling the community where the planes are going to fly, not being upfront with them and hoping by the time they release the flight paths the airport will be built and it will be all too late.
"It has a terminal design, it has a name, but no flight paths."
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)Susan Templeman, the federal Labor MP for Macquarie — which includes the Blue Mountains — shares Mr Greenhill's concerns.
"We know they have to come over the Blue Mountains at some point and we want to know exactly where and exactly how," she said.
"There is a real fear that the entire way we live in the Blue Mountains will be impacted by the flights … people are really worried but now they're really angry they're being denied the information."
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)Lecturer in air traffic management at UNSW Ken McLean said it was not surprising that the flight paths were not ready yet.
However, he said the community should be able to see them at least two years ahead of the airport opening.
"I would expect it within a year and the earlier the better to develop those flight paths so the community can have adequate input into it so changes can be made," he said.
"[But] you don't want it too far out because aircraft types change."
Draft flight paths are expected to be put out to the public this year.
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)In response to a number of questions from the ABC, a spokesperson for the Department of Infrastructure would not confirm when they would be released.
"The flight path design for Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport is progressing well and is on track for the airport's scheduled 2026 opening," the statement said.
"Flight path design is a complex process that takes considerable time.
"Proposed flight paths will be shared with the community and industry for comment and refinement."
