Dick,
Not often I seem to agree with you - however, on your point:
Uncommon Sense, one of the problems I see with submitting a flight plan in the air in Australia is the ridiculous set up that I understand exists with TAAATS where a full flight plan form appears, taking up a large part of the TAAATS screen. This was the case when it was last demonstrated to me, and I suggested that a program change be made so very basic details could be taken when necessary.
.. you are probably right. Bear in mind this was identified by
the controllers very early when TAAATS was first commissioned in Cairns in 1998. In 2005 it appears to still be a low priority.
(I actually believe we are closer to a new system all together before this will be changed. TAAATS is no longer cutting edge - it is getting pretty old hat and cumbersome, as any old computer system quickly does with the passing of time - but I digress!)
The quicker system that you speak of in the FAA is a lot quicker for a different reason - it is essentially a RADTAG system, but it is augmemted with ...... (drum roll) PAPER STRIPS! Now, I know you dislike paper strips, Dick. I remember a sound byte where you ridiculed the use of them as some ancient technology still being used in backwards Australia. Well, we don;t have them now (except in Control Towers) - and the US still use them to a great extent. Why is that do you think?
Well for one thing - they are quicker. Especially for the flight following scenario you speak of, particularly when contained wholly within one sector.
And more importantly (and this is something that appears to be lost on those outside the ATC operational environment - yourself included Dick I am afraid), they are tactile. University studies done in France on ATC interactions and the use of paper strips / strip holders revealed skill sets and techniques that just can not be replicated by electronic means. Strips were ridiculed by those who did not understand they were actually better than having the latest whiz bang computer based system.
$150 to submit a flight plan? Well it depends solely on creative accounting doesn't it Dick? You know, statistics, lies and statistics and all that?
Example: How much does an IFR arrival cost you in to say Sydney? (I am talking Navcharges), say around $350 for your jet?.
How much does your departure cost? Well it costs $0.00 according to your bill. Do you think that is the real cost? Or just the way the charging system is worked? Of course it costs something. And I am sure submitting your flight plan has a cost to - but not $150. That money has a lot managers to pay for!
Its a pity you don't like Air Traffic Controllers and their association, because I am sure they see a lot of the frustrating problems you do - they just don;t get the attention of the media or the politicians.
Frankly Dick, the biggest problem everyone will have with Flight Following is a simple one - there will not be any controllers to provide it! No doubt later this year you will hear, and possibly contribute to the debate (judging by your tacit approval of the bindook website) a whole lot of spin put out by the Governments media advisors that Air Traffic Controllers are threatening Industrial Action and want more money, blah, blah, blah. Of course it will be spin, and largely bull$hit - because what the controllers and their association are really protesting about is adequate staffing levels which have been pared back to the ridiculous state of having permanent overtime and no leave available, and further reductions in operatinal staffing while the admin and management ranks bloat out beyoned belief.
Given those circumstances Dick, if you were a controller, and you were comtrolling a busy traffic sequence, tired from working overtime and frustrated at your employers attitude, and you were asked to provide an optional flight following service for an aircraft whose pilot could not even bother putting in a flight plan (and said that to you on the air - I kid you not.. it happens!), what choice would you make?
Perhaps as the person paying the income to Airservices as a pilot you should be questioning their allocation of recources rather than joining the spin doctors and taking it out on the controllers association when they choose to make their feelings public?