Lifted verbatim from Dick's website. My two year old shows more maturity than this man.
Direct link:
http://www.dicksmithflyer.com.au/Con...?ContentID=302
Every time you talk to an air traffic controller, congratulate the controller for screwing you. Every time you hear a Qantas or Virgin pilot, congratulate them for screwing the general aviation industry.
Yes, congratulate them for their victory. Remember how much they must be gloating because with their excellent salaries, they can all head off to the USA for their skiing trips, flying in the US airspace and benefiting from the freedoms and lower costs of that country.
Even Qantas has John Travolta as their spokesman. Travolta loves the US airspace system and revels in its freedom – whilst Qantas prevents the US system from being introduced here, and destroys general aviation in Australia.
Next time you talk to these pilots or controllers, tell them how proud they must feel.
I would suggest to all small aviation business owners that you now look at getting out of GA before you go bankrupt. I would say there would be at least another 5 or 10 years of exploitation by the big airlines, pilots and air traffic controllers. As I predicted previously, it will then get so bad that someone will step in and fairness will prevail.
I think it is a great example to all that when people become powerful, and with weak leadership, they exploit. “Absolute power corrupts”. Remember all that the general aviation industry wanted was the balance of safety and freedom that US pilots already achieve. That is, we wanted the same classifications as used in the USA for radar covered airspace, and the same classifications as used in the USA for non-radar covered airspace. Nothing more, nothing less.
Don't believe the claptrap that NAS was greatly different to the US system. The differences were very minor and always added to restrictions and costs. For example, GA agreed to a mandatory transponder requirement in all Class E airspace - this requirement doesn't exist in the USA - and GA agreed that Class D airspace would go to 4,500' AGL - in the USA it goes to 2,500'. The differences were minor and were all agreed by compromise so GA could get a far less expensive and more efficient airspace system in Australia.
It is extraordinary how well the airlines have done with their ruthless power. They have kept virtually every one of the greater restrictions agreed to (i.e. the mandatory transponder requirement just about everywhere) and then removed the freedoms (i.e. Class E airspace over Class D).
Coupled with this, there is an interesting historic fact. When Qantas owned Lizard Island, GA aircraft were not allowed to fly into the airspace within 30 minutes of the Qantas flight - even though the Qantas flight was a twin engine Cessna! Yes, I kid you not - this is how they run things when they have the power. Qantas have now forced the owner of Avalon Airport to ban all GA aircraft from landing.
Remember, this is very much a one way trip of exploitation.