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Old 1st Oct 2008, 06:22
  #153 (permalink)  
Dick Smith
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Australia
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Willoz269, you say:

What's the centre controllers got to do with Jets flying low around the mountains unless they are on final approach, in which case they would go to a regional tower
In fact, going to a regional tower doesn’t help, as our regional towers do not have radar rated controllers. Once the aircraft is in the tower airspace, by law the pilot must be on the tower frequency – so if he or she makes an error, they all die.

Look at the system used in most other countries. An aircraft remains on the Centre frequency (with the radar controller) whilst in radar coverage, and this gives the desired protection. The other advantage is that when the tower controllers go home, the Class D reverts to Class E airspace, and is still controlled for IFR flights from the Centre, and a radar service is given to help prevent CFIT accidents.

As you know, we have the ridiculous system where once the tower controllers go home, the whole airspace becomes uncontrolled and no service is provided. That is what nearly killed 87 people in Canberra. (See here).
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