Originally Posted by
43Inches
So does any of that stop a repeat of Jetstar vs Jabiru, yes and no...
7. Basically says class E airspace above Ballina, down to what altitude? VFR are still uncontrolled. All aircraft will be sequenced to land at Ballina, well Jabiru was not landing at Ballina, it was low away from the circuit transiting to Evans Head. So a big NO for that one.
8. Class D airspace, OK, some limited value it will reduce the chance of VFR conflict with IFR, but since we have already seen that conflict happen at other class D, marginal value.
9. is just piss farting around with airspace, which assumes a tower stack above Ballina, but still lots of VFR fanging around the area meaning chance of violations high and conflict.
So back to the original problem of identifying rogue aircraft in close proximity and mitigating collision chances. Where is the talk about increased ADSB coverage and Transponder mandating? Item 2 describes putting in a receiver at Ballina, down to runway surface, but whats the point if aircraft in the area are not squawking.
I have today that I don’t agree with assessment.
Given the time it takes to get a tower built, an interim step with Class E is a positive and incremental improvement of SFIS.
In terms of Class D, this is much more than ‘limited value’, and is again, a larger incremental improvement over the situation today. In terms of airspace infringements and the like, why does that work at places like Albury, Hamo, Bankstown? Training, education and pilot professionalism. Class C has the same failings when you consider the lack of primary radar. This step will give the air transport operators a lot more assurance, which is what they need.
Remember also, for every incremental improvement the cost increases exponentially. And who’s gonna pay for something like mandated transponders, ads-b, class C levels of service. It’s not gonna happen and it’s not needed.