Dick,
I don't work that airspace, it is not even in the room I work in. Maybe someone working SY TCU would care to comment?
"Surely you would agree that the obvious safety problem could be easily fixed? "
Dick, I don't know, see above. There maybe a whole bunch of reasons why/ why not it is a good/bad idea. I don't have that expertise so feel it is not my place to comment. I do have a problem when you say that this could EASILY be fixed.
We(controllers) are not change resistant, over the last 10+ years the change to our workplace and procedures has been huge. Our underlying issue has been that we want the changes to be researched,resourced, and managed well.
Most of us have had no simulator refresher training for 3+ years (under whose tenure does that tie in with?) This means, unlike pilots, we are not put through the ringer in the simulator to see how we cope with unusual situations.
In the Benalla situation, after all the carry-on, the undeniable truth is either the pilot or his equipment stuffed up, you are advocating a role for controllers that WE are the last line of defence and will carry the can in this situation.
If you want that, ensure that we have the resources and personnel to do this. Unfortunately,(see previous posts and research Reason model) this situation will probably happen again, only this time a controller would carry the lions share of the blame.
Dick
"Lefty' You are correct -It's not as dificult to do as others make out It is more about resistance to change than anything else."
Tell me how easy it is do. If you want the pilot error to be picked up EVERY single time there is a mistake, without fail, it will have to be resourced properly.
What is the penalty/ responsibilty for the pilot who forgets to report visual, who forgets to report that he is deviating off track outside controlled airspace, who is not monitoring the correct frequency, who has descended below MSA inadvertently. You are putting the onus on the controller to pick up everyone of these, and from my straw poll in Brisbane Centre these situations occur multiple times on a daily basis, and so far we haven't had a CFIT with controller responsibility.
Does the pilot get three strikes and then his licence pulled? Even though he was aviating and navigating and THEN communicating. Your scenario has to be that the alarm will ONLY go off when there IS a real problem. As you have been told this is currently not the case. 95% of alarms are spurious because the controller already knows there is a problem and the machine is just checking.
Last edited by max1; 27th Sep 2008 at 09:40.