Originally Posted by
Aussie Bob
I regularly operate from farm strips, strips not marked on charts (including my own) and clearings where there is no airstrip. I would suggest there is no solution. A broadcast on area from many places I operate would be meaningless because all I could do is give a reference and a town name most pilots would not have heard of. If I broadcast I might as well say "all stations (at my) Granny's farm".
My solution: Look, look and look some more, listen on the area. As others have suggested, 126.7 is unworkable because of the sheer volume of often totally unnecessary broadcasts by pilots who often don't even bother to properly identify where they are.
The conundrum really is; how do we shut up the meaningless running commentaries we consistently hear on CTAF and 126.7? The conclusion I have reached is that we can't. Pilots simply are convinced that a running commentary at an empty airstrip is somehow a safe thing to do. At a recent CASA safety seminar where this was supposed to be debated the delegates from CASA effectively stymied the debate by announcing prior to it starting that pilots were within their rights to make any CTSF broadcast they thought necessary for the safety of their flight. To the majority of participants this simply endorsed their running commentaries that often block others transmissions..
I hear you, Bob. (Pun intended.)
Some folks have forgotten - or maybe never learned - that:
- Sometimes a broadcast adds nothing to safety.
- Sometimes a broadcast detracts from safety.
- Sometimes we're mixing it with aircraft with no radio or one tuned to the wrong frequency (but, as a consequence of the most recent development in this farce, who'd know what the 'correct' frequency is for use in the vicinity of an uncharted aerodrome?)
As you say, if a broadcast is made at a stated location that is not readily identifiable by others monitoring that frequency, the broadcast adds nothing to safety. And "running commentary" syndrome seems to be spreading. "Look, look and look some more" remains the only solution to the no radio/wrong frequency traffic risk.
CASA's attitude at the Seminar is disappointing but - sadly - unsurprising. I reckon they're the 'meat in the sandwich' on uncharted aerodrome frequency issue if the most recent development in this farce was a consequence of Airservices' human resources management practises.