Originally Posted by veloo maniam
Hi Virtual Reality..chew has taken note of your reply. Many tks. Further inputs on this topic is welcome. News is that VKL will be u/s for awhile as no spare parts are available yet. Apparantly the VOR was hit by lightning. So there u are my friends, it is going to be Lumpur Radar Departures for awhile. The toll is on the Approach Controllers as they have to scroll every dep to see the SID. U may experience the wrong turns(not always) b4 they bcome experts at scrolling the screens. What do u mean by the Hong Kong ATCers are +ve and their flow control is smooth. Kindly elaborate as we would like to know their style. One thing is for sure, their work culture is high above ours. That's a fact.
Hello,
With regards to RNAV departures, all it requires to be legal for departure is for the aircraft to be fitted with suitable equipment. A facility is not specifically required to ensure compliance. The aircraft onboard navigation system will crosscheck the position accuracy by comparing its position relative to any available facility. To push this idea further, there are a few airports in remote areas that do not have any facility except a few RNAV charts for departure and VNAV arrival charts. In this case, what's needed is onboard navigation computer that is able to check its own accuracy.
Off course what is always needed is professionalism from all interested parties. If an aircraft is not fitted with such an equipment, the crew must file it as such in their flight plan. If an aircraft is experiencing an equipment failure on board, the crew must inform the ATC immediately and ask for radar headings. If there is a warning message in the aircraft concerning navigation accuracy, the crew must verify its position with the radar controller. In order to facilitate everyone, the first assumption must be all equipment will be working. Assistance will be given as and when needed. Having said all that, to enable an RNAV only departure, what is needed is RNAV certified departure. If the departure is not certified as RNAV departure, I must say the job of approach radar in KL is definitely going to be a lot tougher in the next few months.
With regards to Hong Kong Atc, yes I must say, it gives me great pleasure to fly into that place. The tone of their voice and phraseology gives me the impression they are professionals, trained to and using the best facilities available. Information is always forthcoming and they will try to accommodate your requests. If they are not able to acommodate, they will suggest available options. Clearances are given on time with no indication of rushing. Everything seems to be well planned...
Hope that helps a bit...