Icarus,
Just so I am sure that I understand your logic.
Are you saying that no matter what the circumstances, regardless of what competency is displayed during a pilots training and testing. When he/she &*cks up at some future date, it can be attributed to a lack of standards in their training? Oh Please!
So to use your logic lets paint a hypothetical.
I have an instrument rating, obtained through reputedly the best IFR training establishment in WA. I display all the airmanship and skills required and recive a MECIR. However at some future date I descend below MDA on an NDB apprach into an unfamiliar airfield and plant myself into the side of a hill. Who is to blame? The school who tained and tested my IR or myself. Me thinks the latter. I do not know what the standard of training or quals of each pilot involved in this accident was... Do you?
However we digress from the point in issue here. There are obviously those who believe that an MBZ is a workable alternative to ATC operating GAAP services. Leadsleds example however of the fly in at Evans Head I feel is not a good example of how well things can go without a controller. I would suggest that with few exceptions, the majority of pilots flying into that event would have been experienced pilots. I may stand corrected there.
For those who do not have full knowledge of the current operations going on at JT, here is a rough breakdown.
8 x Fixed wing training schools. .1 x Helicopter " ". .2 x International " " 1 operating everything from Grob 115s to Cessna 500s.. .RFDS base with any number of Kingairs and PC12s coming and going all day.. .Many of the training operations also doing charter.. .Plus a large number of private aircraft.
If, as a director of a flying school, I was convinced that all the above could safely execute arrivals & departures (VFR and IFR), changes of runway etc without ATC services, then the push for an alternative would get my vote. But when you get all this training traffic plus the large volume of privately operated aircraft then that traffic can, in my opinion, only be safely coordinated from a central point. The bedlam which would occur on the radio with untold aircraft giving "Allstations Jandakot MBZ" calls in the circuit, joining the circuit, arriving and departing etc would have it reduced to the efficiency of a CB radio.
OK, my 2 cents worth.