ADS-B mandate – huge misallocation of resources
Last week I flew the Cessna C208 from Bankstown to Gundaroo, Swan Hill, Kingscote on Kangaroo Island and the return trip via Echuca and Gundaroo to Bankstown.
As I always do, I monitored the correct “area” frequencies all the way. I perhaps listened to over 100 calls, not one relevant to me. They were mainly high flying airline aircraft not giving position reports. Some of the calls I heard were clearly from Tasmania. It is clearly a ridiculous “cry wolf” system that is over complicated.
Interestingly enough, in the Victorian area I received a number of calls from what was obviously students from the Chinese flying schools – they were practising their English, giving position reports. Good on them. It is amazing how the Chinese Communist Government is doing everything it can to get more pilots trained.
What I noticed – and something I have noticed in flying for the last three or four years – was that there was virtually no other traffic around at the airports at which I landed. At Kingscote I was told not to park on the sealed apron. I like to park there because helps to reduce rocks being picked up in the propeller, however I parked around in the general aviation section. I noted that when I arrived at Kingscote, and when I departed, there was not one aircraft on the huge apron at all.
The Caravan has the very latest Garmin ADS-B equipment so I wanted to check that it was working. When I departed Sydney I called Sydney Centre 124.55. I also called Canberra Approach 124.5 when going into Gundaroo, and called a controller on one of the Adelaide frequencies when flying past the Adelaide controlled airspace. Each time I was told that the controller had no method of receiving ADS-B.
Can you imagine that? These people at CASA – and I understand they are still there, receiving enormous salaries – pushed ADS-B on the general aviation community for IFR aircraft, yet didn’t require Airservices to at least fit ADS-B in their terminal radar facilities.
Here you have a $1 billion company saving a bit whilst clearly reducing safety – whilst the Clamback and Hennessy company owners had to take out a second mortgage out on their house to pay for ADS-B.
The Sydney radar operator on 124.55 was most helpful. He said to me, “We don’t have ADS-B because we have excellent SSR coverage in the Sydney area.” Presumably that is also why they haven’t fitted it to Canberra Approach, or the Adelaide Approach facility.
Understand the sheer bastardry of this. CASA forced ADS-B onto GA non-pressurised aircraft, whilst Airservices put coverage right across Australia above 30,000 for enroute airline aircraft. The claim was that up to $30 million would be saved by direct tracking of aircraft. It looks as if the airlines are not getting any appreciable change in direct tracking, and general aviation normally flies directly in uncontrolled airspace anyway.
I wrote many letters to try to stop the ADS-B mandate and to point out the lies in the ADS-B NPRM prepared by CASA. I got absolutely nowhere – meanwhile some GA operators have been forced into debt or gone to VFR only because they can’t afford to upgrade.