Fortress Moorabbin
To the Moorabbin aiport managers,
Love the new security - it looks such great value for money. However I have some points you may wish to consider:
- in locking down the airport tighter than Fort Knox, some kind of advance notice to visiting pilots may be worthwhile. This is what NOTAMs/AIP Sup are for. All it needs to say is "Pilots of visiting aircraft can expect to be trapped airside for up to 30 minutes while our system attempts to let you out."
- when you decide that the system will involve access cards for locals and some fandangled swipe-your-creditcard system for others, perhaps you could wait until said fandangled swipe-your-creditcard method is in service before locking down the airport aka fort knox. (As an aside - how does this proposed system deal with the data protection act? Will I have to give authorisation to you prior to each use so you can check that I haven't stolen Charles Kingford-Smiths Visa card?).
- in the event you have chosen not to do this and need me to ring a Sydney call centre to have some hope of getting out, perhaps you could give them a map of the airport that shows the positions of all of the gates. Also explain what terms such as North and Runway and taxiway mean. Alternatively, giving the gates names more meaningful than "Hangers 5" would assist your call centre staff in working out where I am. Or.. wait.... I've got it - put a SIGN ON THE GATE which identifies it so I can tell your call centre staff where I am!!!!!!
- when you give the Sydney call centre control to open individual gates - perhaps you could give them access to the CCTV footage at each gate. That way they might be able to a) see which gate I am at and b) be certain THAT I'M REALLY AIRSIDE AND WANT TO GET LANDSIDE.
- Also, perhaps the call centre people could be trained in common sense. Having finally worked that they couldn't work out which gate I was at, they called a 'local' working for the company who called me who said he would ring them and I should just tug on the gate for 2 minutes. Ten minutes later I ring the call centre back to be told that the local's phone had dropped out but they had it narrowed down to two - well, I suggest, could you try them then? Oh, ok is the reply and hooray! Thirty minutes after the start of this, I escape from Alcatraz.
- Finally, the system probably should have some way of checking that said gate has closed again! I propped it open for a minute to make sure my transport was where it should have been. Explained this to the call centre who were, frankly, uninterested and hung up before I could confirm that the gate was closed.
Apart from that, it's terrific.
UTR.