Picture this -
1985, the CAA anounce that there is a new system coming on line called GPS and every powered aircraft will be required to have one from 1/1/1990.
I can picture the outcry.....how dare the CAA restrict our freedom to navigate as we wish.....aren't there enough VORs and NDBs for those who want sometning to back up visual navigation? Our freedoms are being stripped away.
Here we are some years later and those pilots who have never used GPS are very small in number and most operators have not only purchased a GPS (yes even those who have no electrical systems in the aircraft) but they have in many cases upgraded the model several times. Total costs in many cases well over £1000 and that is before we consider database revisions!!!
It's a funny world isn't it!!
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2Donkeys has hit the nail on the head.
Most people (unfortunately including AOPA at the moment) do not understand the rationalle behind or the benifits of the introduction of mode S.
Perhaps people would better spend their time by pressing for more suitable airspace classifications to be introduced at the same time as mandatory mode S.
How would the pilot seeking freedom, who in the area arround duxford can be restricted by very low class A airspace levels, like a UK airspace map similar to France where most airspace outside the London TMA was class E up to FL115.
I operate both VFR and IFR in the UK, both in and outside controlled airspace. While the cost is a pain in the but, what I would like to see is all enroute airspace from FL55/1000ftAGL up to FL115 made class E. Yes that restricts the class G flyers, but if VFR then there is no significant difference. For the IFR flyers, it affords some protection while at the same time providing more direct routings thus removing many bottlenecks in the system.
Regards,
DFC
PS, those European people who gave their lives to protect freedom over the past centuries when Empire building was taking place did so looking to the future not for self gratification!