WARNING - this is probably going to ramble off topic, but I had a hard day at the office avoiding bloody military jets playing around Advisory Routes ........
Jack-oh wrote
As far as I was aware the Mode s was going to be a mandatory requirement as is Mode C, I am sure there are going to be loads of people trying to wriggle out of it but this is always the case.
Hmmm ...? I rather take exception to the 'wriggle out of it' jibe - wriggle out of what? A system that is not there to help the majority of C of A holders. I'm afraid this smacks of over-controlling, which a lot of people do (but often with the best of intentions).
Let me explain.
There are some 10000 private aircraft in the UK and about 1000 commercial. Mode S requirements will force all these owners (I am one) to spend some £4000? on a new piece of electro-kit. Now would someone please explain the benefits to me?
I have just recovered from having to fit an 8.33 Khz spacing radio
(cost minimum £2500) so that I can legally train to fly IFR in Class D. But will we ever actually have 8.33 use below FL150 ? Doubt it. Another burdensome cost, that benefits someone else (the commercial operators in high level sectors).
But doesn't it create a known traffic environment? Well, currently, radar screens are so cluttered in many of the high density areas that it is well nigh impossible to rotate labels fast enough to get a clear picture (and that is if the software hooks the target in the first place). So how impossibly cluttered will that become if every microlight, balloon (beancounter or otherwise) or aeronaut must carry one ? I shudder to think.
And then, you could well get a lot of pissed off aviators thinking - "right if they want to know where I am they can bloody speak to me as well ......" ..... how blocked will all those frequencies become ? How many extra ATCOs/FISOs will need to be employed to 'satisfy the demand'?
Cost? If the benefit is to the commercial operators then GAs loss is their gain. Will GA be compensated for this ?
TCAS - now this is an idea that has possibilities. However, until the fast pointy things are equipped with TCAS it is a pointless exercise (scuse the pun). Look at the Airprox reports. 90% of them involve mil ac.
On the other hand, VFR pilots believe they are being mucked about so much when they ask for a service that they would prefer not to receive one and rely on looking out the window. If this is the case then the system doesn't work and needs to be changed.
Sounds like you want to overcontrol things. We've all done it - usually in the early years of our careers - but as you mellow (well some folk mellow ;-) )- you learn to accommodate the rules.
Personally I might well put a squawk on a FIS and ask if he could maintain not above X thousand feet. Explain that there is IFR traffic above. If he says no, then fine, he's not obliged. But the RIS/RAS/FIS clarity is only in the minds of those who sit behind desks and write the rules. Get out to a few flying clubs and speak to PPLs. Most are totally bamboozled by the differences.
So, I would suggest that it is actually dangerous to tell someone they are indentified on a FIS. You could lull someone into a false sense of security. Just as now I always remind folk on a RIS that they are responsible for their own terrian clearance. I don't want them to be in any doubt (duty of care and remembrance of Spot's F15 CM).
Anyway, it is called "see and avoid". You drive a car without needing someone to over control you - so why should it be any different in a wee plane operating outside CAS ?
I scoot about at low level (below radar cover). Taking off and landing on lochs. It is my freedom. It is a right, just as walking the hills is a right. I don't speak to anyone, I dont use any VORs. I dont need or ask for any service. I would have TCAS, but the bloody fast jets that are the biggest risk don't carry it. AND I pay over £1 for a litre of overtaxed AVGAS, while the airlines pay 10p a litre for untaxed Jet A1.
Am I being unreasonable ?!!