I despair regarding Warnervale.
An experienced pilot was recently prevented by smoke from heading towards Maitland and was forced to come back and land at Warnervale. Yes the Council made it clear in a letter to me that in times of emergency, people could land without any repercussions, however this is the wording that the pilot was sent after his landing:
“No problem, however for future reference, there will not be any short notice approvals even though this was partially due to conditions, this was a once off. The fact that enough time was not allowed for to fly diversion around the smoke before last light will need to be taken into account as no further short notice (less than 24hrs) approvals will be forthcoming.
If we make an exception for one everyone will expect it.”
Of course, more and more aerodromes will start copying this 24 hour prior notice principle and general aviation will be further destroyed.
What a joke! People wonder why I advise business operators to get out of general aviation before they lose everything.