CASA backs down on unpopular move to expand common frequencies
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...efb6ca284a0ff3
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority is set to issue a new proposal on radio frequencies used by light aircraft at some small airstrips after backing down on the controversial plan to expand the common traffic advisory frequency broadcast areas near non-towered aerodromes.
After a backlash, CASA has abandoned its proposal to increase the radius for the common traffic advisory frequency broadcast areas that pilots use to announce their position and intentions at non-controlled airfields. But CASA has broad support for another key part of the proposal: to tell light aircraft pilots at some small airstrips to use the 126.7Mhz “multicom” frequency.
The safety authority is expected to release a “new option” soon that will then be the subject of further consultation.
CASA chief executive and director of aviation safety Shane Carmody said the agency was looking at “whether there is another way”.
This could include effectively returning to the practice before contentious changes in 2013.
Before those changes, pilots used the multicom when near unchartered aerodromes that did not have a discrete frequency.
“There’s no one-size-fits-all here,” Mr Carmody told The Australian yesterday.
“How do we get the mix right and make it simple for people who are flying in the same sky being able to talk to one another?”
The backdown by CASA is significant as the issue of radio frequency use at low levels in uncontrolled airspace was an area that Mr Carmody had previously said was being pushed towards a resolution.
Critics of the CTAF proposal included aviator Dick Smith, the Regional Airspace and Procedures Advisory Committee and Recreational Aviation Australia.
This week, CASA revealed that of the 1064 survey responses to its consultation on the proposal, it was rejected by 57.2 per cent of *respondents.
While most favoured the use of multicom, a “substantial” number did not want the CTAF expanded from 10 nautical miles to 20. Concerns included the prospect of overlapping CTAFs, causing confusion about which frequency to use, and congestion.
According to a summary of consultation released this week, there were fears that multicom could be misused as a “chat *channel”.
Also, paragliders and hang gliders had been worried they would have to carry a radio or monitor two frequencies.
Mr Smith said that North America, Europe and the UK had a simpler system, without prescriptive giant CTAFs.
The chairman of Recreational Aviation Australia, Michael Monck, said his group wanted a true solution that “doesn’t compromise safety of the frequency users of airfields in favour of the odd RPT (regular public transport) aircraft”.