Some are claiming that the CASA proposals put forward in the NPRM 1712AS “Frequency use at Low Level in Class G airspace” have now been dropped. However I have other information that CASA is just going ahead and will be introducing the 40 nautical mile diameter, 5,000 CTAFs – in a similar way that many people warned about the enormous costs of Part 61, but CASA went ahead anyway.
Everyone has to understand this is quite a dysfunctional organisation. It appears to have no one in charge with any substantive aviation knowledge – especially of international aviation procedures.
For some reason the organisation must encourage those who are responsible for decision making to be completely anonymous. They never actually put their name to anything.
Readers of this site may remember that the CASA Risk Assessment Brief (Annex A to the original Discussion Paper) had the names of those CASA personal involved in that safety study actually blacked out – or as they would say in ASIO papers, “redacted.” They had so little confidence in their decision making that they insisted that their names not be shown.
Below is a chart prepared by the Southern QLD RAPAC showing how the 40 nm CTAFs will overlap. Remember this chart just shows the airports that have a discrete frequency allocated. If you put in the 126.7 MULTICOM airports it would become even more of a nightmare.
The whole CASA proposal is simply ridiculous.
Under the Federal Cabinet approved NAS, we were to go to the North American system which is utter simplicity. Aircraft flying enroute in the approach and departure airspace of an aerodrome are recommended to monitor the aerodrome CTAF. No dimensions are given for obvious reasons. In some cases, where there are conflicting approach paths, the pilot would actually have to use good judgment and common sense to decide which frequency was the most appropriate to be on.
The CASA personnel did not propose this system in the NPRM because it is clear they simply did not understand how it worked, and possibly don’t even want to know.
The reason I am putting this post on is that you will probably find at any moment there will be an announcement that CASA has decided to go ahead with the 40 mile, 5,000 foot CTAFs – as I mentioned before, just as they did with Part 61.
Then no doubt, hundreds of dispensations will be given to airports where it won’t work.
Once again, an almighty great stuff-up, and no one will be linked to it. Of course, we won’t be able to blame the CASA DAS, Shane Carmody, because he will rightly say that he has no knowledge of such aviation issues. He is from the Army and then the bureaucracy, he has never been a pilot, an air traffic controller, or advised in aviation in an operational way – how could he possibly be blamed?