Having now been associated with ANS on 3 continents (well, 1 continent, a small island and a big island), Lon is pretty much spot on. Every provider proclaims "World Leader in Air Navigation Services", and has it's own systems and standards, and will defend itself to the death. Personally, I believe the way systems have almost secularly evolved in different countries around the world certainly has a great deal to do with it.
For example, here in Canada, to enter Class D airspace VFR, a pilot can simply establish contact with ATC, and can happily trog on in unless specifically told to remain clear. Try that in the UK and see where you end up. Look at the different transition altitudes used. The London TMA has a transition of 6000 ft/FL70. Australia uses 10,000/FL110, Canada 17,000/FL180. There is no ATSOCA here in Canada (RIS/RAS? Try explaining that one to a Canuck). Different wake turbulence separation standards on final. Different rules of tower separation requirements. LAHSO is always a contentious issue. Controllers from a certain Island will heaps all sorts of gasps and groans at LAHSO, yet get all defensive when questioned about providing a Radar service outside of controller airspace. Multiple landing clearances used by the southern cousins of this continent. Phraseology is another big one..........and a great one to start some frank exchanges of ideas and viewpoints.
"Whadda mean you clear an aircraft for a change of altitude by simply telling it to 'Maintain xxxx'? That's retarded. You have to use the words "descend to" for an altitude and not the "to" for a Flight Level! Youse guys is dangerous!"
"Bull****. Whadda mean you can't clear an aircraft for an ILS approach, you have to tell them to intercept the Localiser and then descend with the Glide Path. Youse guys is archaic!"
And then there is the almighty impotent ICAO. SARPS are just that........Recommended. Kinda like the UN (it's an agency of, with a headquarters in Montreal......enough said already
). **** me, even with the ICAO definition of ISA, there is the disparity between using Millibars/Inches of Mercury for pressure setting. And we'll not even get started with the language thing. One language good, bilingual frequency bad.
elcrusoe, while I certainly applaud the sentiment, I think we're a little too far gone to steer it back.