CASA Class G Discussion Paper

[Dick Smith]

There is nothing that stops a person from posting under their real name on this site. Yes. There are times when anonymity is necessary to protect an individual who is whistle blowing

But discussing airspace! Come on.

I once explained to a FAA ATC and airspace expert how a few concrete minded dopes in Australia had converted ICAO E airspace into a nightmare that could not work.

I explained that in Australia it was a mandatory requirement for VFR to have radio in E and not only monitor the ATC frequency at all times but also to call an IFR aircraft directly on the ATC frequency if they thought they were “ traffic “ .

I explained that for this to work we had to show the ATC sector boundaries on the charts so the VFR pilots would be on the “ correct “ frequency. I explained that this was a hangover from the days when IFR and VFR flew at the same flight levels and used “ radio arranged separation” with the Air traffic service provider ( not a controller )just looking on and not actually providing a control service .

The FAA person was rolling on the floor.

He asked. “So in your system I could be responsible for giving an IFR separation service to a pilot that at the same time on the same frequency was self arranging separation from a VFR aircraft?

I said. Well yes. That’s how it is supposed to work but I have never actually heard of such a situation as our aviation sector is so stuffed there are hardly any aircraft!

So we have a situation where our E is supposed to operate in a way that would make an ATCs job impossible.

This has come about because a few really dumb people have not been prepared to ask advice and copy the best.