Now over 27 years since the AMATS changes came in
I was looking back in an old diary and I saw some of the notes in relation to the incredible resistance to change to bringing in the AMATS reforms. I had been appointed Chairman of CAA and Bob Hawke, the Prime Minister at the time, made it very clear that he would support major changes.
What a difference that made with the bureaucracy compared with the time I was Chairman of CASA! John Anderson had no understanding and gave no support for any change at all.
Of course the AMATS changes were far greater than the reforms that have been attempted to be made at later dates – such as removing the frequency boundaries from the charts so we can follow the international system, and VFR pilots can fly along without having to listen to a “truck channel” during every flight.
Before the AMATS changes came in, IFR and VFR aircraft flew at the same level – imagine that. It was called the “quadrantal rule”. If you flew more than 50 miles or above 5,000 feet you would need to mix with IFR traffic so you had to go “full position reporting”. In fact, you were given traffic on other aircraft and it wasn’t mentioned whether they were IFR or VFR – that was irrelevant.
I remember my flights in my Twin Comanche to search for the Kookaburra aircraft in 1977, before the AMATS changes. There was not only full position reporting, but ops normal calls every 30 minutes. If you saw something interesting off track, you had to report to “the Government” if you dared alter course to view it.
With scratchy old HF way out near Jervois in the Northern Territory, I remember great difficulty in getting communication through.
The cost to Australia was enormous, with hundreds of flight service officers giving a duplicated low level full position service – while at the same time, air traffic controllers with a duplicated radio network were giving a service generally above I think FL240. I’m not sure of that one – can someone remember?
I remember the enormous difficulty I had in pushing to bring in the CTAFs. In those days, every small aerodrome was on the “area” frequency, or on an AFIZ frequency.
At the start of my solo helicopter flight around the world, I remember in August 1982 attempting to put in my full position VFR flight plan with the flight service office at Meacham Field in Texas. The officer was absolutely amazed when I explained what happened in Australia.
I quickly learnt to cruise at the 500 foot hemispherical cruising level and fly along in blissful silence. I must admit it seemed dangerous at the time, but by the time I got through to Australia and found every other country was different to us, I realised the need for change.
I remember at the time having tremendous support from Ron Cooper and John Wright. Does anyone know if John Wright is still around? I would love to hear from him.