Hi there,
I am in favour of NAS changes in Australia, but I should disclose my interest: as a UK resident holding a UK/Euro JAR-PPL, I welcome the changes which make Australia less different to ICAO norms. I fly (VFR only) in a number of territories besides the UK including several European States, the US and last Christmas back in Australia. All of these territories have their own regional peculiarities that the VFR pilot needs to be aware of (e.g. LARS services and MATZ in the UK), but generally speaking are pretty close to ICAO norms. I found Australian airspace and charts etc. to be the most peculiar compared to the norm.
Of course, Australia is an island state and I understand that many of us think that the rest of the world is so far away as to not matter, and I have declared my interests as an ex-pat occasional visitor up-front, so I understand that these considerations might not seem important to all of you guys back at home. Bear in mind though that there are benefits to having a less peculiar approach. These include a more internationally standard environment for flight schools who earn foreign exchange by training foreign nationals, an easier transition to foreign airspace when you blokes rent an aircraft in the US, UK or eslewhere when on holidays, and (lastly!
) an easier time of it for blokes like me visiting home (OK I accept the last one won't convinve you guys that its worth the effort!!)
If you accept that safety is not diminished by the changes (I appreciate that this is being debated, but experience elsewhere indicates the more standard approaches are not realtively unsafe) then I think the main problem is just the need for education and for everyone to get used to the new arrangements: change can often be difficult to accept at first, so its not surprising this is hacking people off...
So, I agree with what
Duke16,
eta23 and others have said.
I have flown extensively in the U.S. in various capacities and am amazed at the preoccupation Australian pilots have with pilot to pilot talk on ATC freqs.
Likewise, here in the UK we rarely get to speak to each other air-to-air on ATC frequencies, except when making blind calls say at an airfield which is unmanned and some other rare circumstances. We also don't have blanket radar services here - yet we have MUCH greater traffic density, especially in the class G under and around the class A London extended TMA/CTR areas (these cover half of southern England) where we are restricted vertically and horizontally and we have a mix fo IFR and VFR traffic. Someone asked if they have blanket radar coverage in the US: they do not (although it is extensive, but only in areas with high traffic density which I don't see as comparable to most of Australia).
I agree with
Capn Bloggs: the sooner everyone gets a transponder the better (although we rue the fact that we are having to shell out for mode-S over here and envy that you are maybe getting ADS/B surveillance over there!)... flying last weekend in a friends new Cirrus SR-22 which has a large multi-function display with an overlay of traffic information on the map was a real eye opener as to how valuable transponders can be: must be even more important for our ATPL colleagues flying IFR to be able to see us. Ultimately I think this is the best and most efficient way to keep IFR/VFR alert to each other's presence in shared airspace such as class E. Of course you still have to have your head up and your eyes looking out of the window mostly!
In summary, I think you guys will get used to it and eventually appreciate some of the benefits. I wish you a safe transition!
Best to all,
Andy
p.s.
kimwest: a) does the RPT have TCAS? b) does the VFR a/c have Mode C? Problem solved...