Calga NDB

The facility was not an airport, but a Non-Directional Beacon (NDB) used for aircraft navigation. It was closed due to technological obsolescence. Its decommissioning was part of a nationwide 'Navigation Rationalisation Project' by Airservices Australia, which phased out older, high-maintenance ground-based aids in favor of more accurate and efficient satellite-based navigation systems (GNSS/GPS).

The site is decommissioned and inactive. Satellite imagery of the location shows the cleared area where the beacon was located, along with a small service building and concrete footings for the antenna. The primary transmission equipment has been removed. The land is currently unused and sits adjacent to the Pacific Highway in a semi-rural area.

Calga NDB was a crucial piece of aviation infrastructure, not an airport for takeoffs and landings. Its purpose was to transmit a continuous radio signal (Identifier: CG, Frequency: 380 kHz) that aircraft equipped with an Automatic Direction Finder (ADF) could use to determine their bearing. It served as a key navigational waypoint for aircraft flying under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) in the busy Sydney airspace and along the coast of New South Wales. Pilots used it for en-route navigation, holding patterns, and instrument approaches to nearby airfields.

There are zero prospects for reopening. The NDB technology is considered obsolete for modern aviation navigation, which now relies almost entirely on satellite systems. Since it was never an airport, there are no plans for it to be converted into an airfield.