Dick, I understand the considerable population and infrastructure differences between Australia and the US! I also respect that the way things are done in the US for the most part, may work very well there!
For Australia however, I am still not convinced that unannounced VFR's in E airspace, with or without Radar coverage, with possibly incorrect mode C readouts and on the wrong frequency is a good thing! It seems by the reponses to this thread, that I am not a lone voice, surely it is reasonable to acknowledge these deficiencies in the proposed sytem and try to improve it whilst staying as close as possible to the ICAO model.
Dick Smith Said: This is not the Australian, system as we do not even have a procedure where a pilot in uncontrolled airspace informs the controller that he or she is no longer in IMC.
I don't get this statement, is it imperative for ATC to know what flight conditions an IFR aircraft is in when OCTA? What is the US procedure? When I was there, "Cancel IFR" had the same meaning as "Cancel SAR"!
Chris Higgins Said: It's time for us to have a system that is similar to other countries in order to make the airspace understandable for users both in Australia and for those who come in for trade and commerce.
Chris, most people coming in from the USA (and elsewhere for that matter) for business and commerce, would be IFR in controlled airspace, if you operate in Australia the same way you do in the USA in controlled airspace, you would not have a problem! There are numerous examples of this happening everyday!
Furthermore if we are going to align ourselves with any system, then why would we not align as close as possible to ICAO? This would make it simpler for incoming flights from all countries, not just the US! Frankly I don't think that the differences in airspace cause any concern to foreign operators entering Australia.