Now that I have had more time to study the letters from Sir Roy McNulty and Gillian Merrin I have written again to my MP.
Merrin said: "The CAA is unlikely to propose the fitment of Mode S transponders to light aircraft". She ignores the fact that they already have.
She also said: " Until a LPST is available commercially, all classes of light aircraft will operate under a blanket exemption." Why do we need an exemption if there is no proposal to fit them?
McNulty's letter treats the whole of UK airspace as the same. I have explained to my MP the simple difference beween controlled and uncontrolled airspace and what limited value a transponder is in the latter.
Preparing the letter I came to look at CAP722 which is the CAA guidance on UAV's. One of the key requirements for the operation of a UAV operating in anything other than defined exclusion zones is the ability to "sense and avoid". (Didn't it use to be see and avoid?).
I have therefore explained to my MP that the only beneficiaries of a global Mode S system would be the Low Cost airlines and the UAV industry which, it seems to me, will soon be a huge growth industry.