I dont have exact figures available unfortunately, maybe one of you knows where to find them? for the number of mid air collisions in uncontrolled airspace, over the last ten years
. I can only remember a few. So if you consider the cost of upgrading the entire GA fleet to include gliders ballons etc, to stop what is virtually a non-problem, you must come to the conclusion that the benefit DOES NOT WARRANT THE COST, a consideration the FAA has to bear very much in such situations. If you look deeper into the information provided by
euro-CON-trol
, it would appear the main reason for implementing mode s is to get more commercial traffic into european airspace and increase revenues for the airlines and governments via tax reciepts. Guess who is paying for this? US
!! The airlines moan that they were subsiding us with regards to the CAA funding, well i think we will be subsidising them to a much higher degree with this mode s con of the century!! Also notice that Spain and Italy, two of the more bureaucratic European union menbers, are not implementing mode s at this time even though the object of the exercise it to improve the SAFETY in the core euro area. Come to think of it, the only time i can remember commercial traffic hitting each other in european airspace is on the ground in fog. This whole thing stinks of european-un-elected-beaurocrats pushing through proposals for an objective that is not entirely clear, and maybe some pockets of said beaurocrats will be substancially heavier after the succesfull fleecing of the GA population! I am off to the pub to cool down now! Cheers
