A major concern is controllers in Melbourne will not be as familiar with Sydney’s geography, which could potentially impact on small aircraft.
“It is not so much the international or domestic aircraft – it is the general aviation community. Those are the scariest emergencies for us because we are dealing with less trained pilots and older aircraft. The knowledge of the controller becomes such a key factor,” the controller said.
Well I’ve seen this argument put forward multiple times in the past 40 years, Tassie, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth, Cairns- not saying it doesn’t have some validity- but it’s eventually been ignored in every case.