PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - MEL Tower — Go Slow?
View Single Post
Old 12th May 2018, 12:20
  #77 (permalink)  
josephfeatherweight
 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: The wrong time zone...
Posts: 839
Received 48 Likes on 21 Posts
Just my two bobs...
I reckon the guys and girls at the other end of the radio in Aus are really good value - returning home from O/S I am always glad to switch to Brisbane on HF and then my first contact on VHF. I always find the individuals are helpful and put in a maximum effort to assist with all sorts of stuff (CPDLC login issues/random requests/etc) within the confines of the system under which they work. In fact, most go out of their way to cheerily assist. I enjoy talking them, and I think they do a very good job.
Having said that, the ATC "System" in Australia is convoluted to the extreme, slow and inefficient. Eg Required time at fixes - particularly when one has smashed their way across the Great Australian Bight, only to be told to now do min speed to a relatively near fix. The traffic density in Aus does not justify this - the system should be smart enough to slow us an hour out, if it is REALLY required.
The separation requirement for lining up ahead of an aircraft on finals - in Australia, is this double that of the rest of the world? We often make the comment that we could have taken off twice before the aircraft on 10 mile final landed...
And, yes, in my experience, all of the above is exaggerated further in Melbourne - not sure why. Again, it's NOT THAT BUSY.
Some posters here have degenerated to a bit of "us" and "them" - it doesn't need to be like that, we need to work together to make it better.
josephfeatherweight is offline