Buster the Bear said "
posted 6th July 2004 20:56
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valenii, who is going to pay for this protection? Nothing in life is free, well apart from obtaining an ATC servive in the FIR?
If you want radar coverage someone will have to provide it for you, so are you and all other private flyers prepared to pay for such a service?
Probably no? Anyway, there are not enough validated radar ATCO's available in the UK to provide airport radar, let alone LARS and if you expect the MOD/Smiler Blair/You & I as tax payers to foot the bill, think again.
10/20 years ago life was different. Sadly today, airports and ATC units are there to maximise profits for airport operators and until such time TCAS is mandatory for ALL flyers, Mark 1 eyeball is all that can be relied upon."
Well Buster ALL airplane users pay a significant amount in taxation (duty as well as VAT). As we dont yet have hypothecation here then we must assume those taxes may be used for services to GA and CAT alike. There are many many arguments about this of course and one major problem is the extent of controlled airspace that may or may not be used except on occasions. If we are going to all have to pay for that which we use then perhaps we should be looking at the airports paying a "rent" on the VOLUME of airspace they wish to control. I bet that would reduce the amount of controlled airspace where one can be told on first contact "keep clear"