The new CTAF rules which are to be introduced by CASA in the first quarter of 2009 have been discussed elsewhere on this site.
The plan with NAS – as approved by the Federal Government – was to change to non-prescriptive procedures that work very successfully in the leading aviation countries in the world. This is not acceptable to some regional airline pilots. We must have unique rules with lots of mandatory requirements and $5,000 fines.
It is never discussed (or even considered) why we have to be different to proven, safe, overseas practices. Designing our own procedures is like designing the proverbial Nomad – undoubtedly one of the worst aircraft in the world.
The rules state – to quote the CASA document:
pilots of radio equipped aircraft will be required to make the radio calls that are necessary for safety purposes when operating at or in the vicinity of a non-controlled aerodrome.
(My underlining).
The prescriptive requirements state:
At a minimum, radio calls will be required …
It then prescribes details that either means 10 nautical miles or 8 minutes flying time. Of course 8 minutes at 120 knots (a typical small plane speed) is 16 miles.
The document says:
This rule will apply not only to aircraft that are inbound to the aerodrome, but also to aircraft that are overflying the aerodrome or simply transiting through this airspace, if the aerodrome is depicted in the aeronautical charts and the aircraft is flying at a height that could put it in conflict with aerodrome traffic.
(My underlining).
Presumably “aerodrome traffic” is traffic going to or from the particular aerodrome.
Traffic going to or from an aerodrome, say 10 miles to 16 miles out, could be anywhere from 1,000 feet to 3,500 feet in altitude.
Let’s look at a situation of an aircraft flying through the training area near Bankstown – say from 2RN towards Camden during the week, when the Camden Tower is not active. To follow the law and not be fined up to $5,000, separate calls will need to be made on the St Marys, Holsworthy and The Oaks frequency of 126.7, the Camden CTAF of 120.1 and the Hoxton Park CTAF of 127.0.
Let’s look at an aircraft coming in from the southwest – IFR towards Bankstown. When dropping into uncontrolled airspace calls will have to be made on Mittagong, Wilton, Wedderburn, The Oaks, Camden, Holsworthy, St Marys and Hoxton Park – a grand total of 8 announcements with an up to $5,000 fine if one is missed.
We all know that CASA will turn a blind eye to this ridiculous prescriptive, mandatory requirement and only use it to prosecute an individual who has no power. Imagine working for such an unethical organisation. It would be mind destroying. Don’t think they will re-write this requirement and copy proven overseas practice. They wouldn’t even know what happens overseas, nor would they be interested.
Just as crop dusters are never fined for not performing at least a 5 mile straight in approach or fined when they join directly on base for safety and cost reasons, no doubt the same will happen with this prescriptive requirement.
The problem is pilots will have to make a judgment on which CASA rules are actually genuine and are enforced, and which are a complete farce to satisfy Qantas. Don’t hold your breath for any proper changes to this.