Scurvy.D.Dog, have you ever heard of the expression, “slowly slowly catchy monkey?”
You may wonder why, in over a five year period with over $100 million expended, that CASA has got virtually nowhere with the Regulatory Reform Program. This is because those involved keep asking for the ultimate and then it is rejected – this delays the whole program.
You state:
… many RPT’s already have ADS-B
Scurvy.D.Dog, you do not seem to understand. No RPTs have ADS-B ‘in’ – i.e. a display of ADS-B ‘paints’ in the aircraft cockpit. As the greatest chance of a collision is close to the circuit area – quite often below radar coverage for aircraft of between 10 and 30 passengers, and quite often below ADS-B ‘back to base coverage’ at many airports for similar sized aircraft – it is obviously more sensible to concentrate on TCAS.
Remember, TCAS works without any radar coverage at all. Two aircraft in the circuit area at Windorah have the same chance of TCAS working as two aircraft in the circuit area at Sydney airport.
You state:
… you support ADS-B?
Yes, I have always supported ADS-B, as long as it is properly certified and designed – and most importantly, has some thought about the problem of ‘spoofing’ by terrorists or amateur disrupters.
The FAA has now said that when they issue a tender for ADS-B, the system will be required to be protected against simple spoofing. The Airservices high level system that is currently being installed has no real ‘spoofing’ rejection capability. I’ve offered to demonstrate this to them.
You state:
.. so why not mandate mode A/C transponders???
We already have the most restrictive mandatory transponder requirements in the world. I know – I introduced them. However, we are way behind the rest of the world in TCAS requirements for airline aircraft. Surely we should at least step forward slowly where we have a chance of success. As I said, “slowly slowly catchy monkey.”
The fact that the “fitment subsidy is nothing but a pipe dream” is no one’s fault – it is just a fact of life. The powerful airlines will not cross-subsidise $100 million worth of equipment for the GA industry unless they see a real advantage in this. Their experts do not.
The fact that Airservices Australia is spending a lot of money in installing a multilateration transponder system in Tasmania shows that they are not totally convinced that ADS-B is the way to go for low level in the short term. This sounds sensible to me.
If you look at all of my postings over the years, I have always supported ADS-B. I simply do not want Australia to go it alone as we did with the unique AWA DME, or the microwave landing system. I’m a businessman and I know how to make sensible business decisions. One of the success forces in business is to be conservative when it comes to risk taking. That is what I always follow.