Ah Dick, Dick, Dick
:
Why is it that everytime you get on a bandwagon, I immediately experience a very strong compulsion to go and check every one of your assertions to make sure we are in fact comparing "apples with apples"?
Firstly, as crisper has alluded to, the CAGRS at Newcastle is not replacing ATC; it is only being provided outside the operating hours of the RAAF aerodrome control (ADC) service. Previously, the CAGRS was being provided by RAAF personnel outside the hours of the ADC service; now its being provided by "white shirters" instead of "blue shirters". So, what's the difference?
Secondly, during the RAAF standown period last year it is my understanding that there was NO CAGRS provided at Willytown at all so the airport operated on CTAF(R) procedures only. Surely the provision of a CAGRS this year is an improvement by CASA on what was available at Willytown last year, and all preceding years.
Thirdly, Willytown has more risk mitigators in place than either Broome or Ayers Rock Airports to supplement the safe dellivery of CAGRS. And just to make sure we are all not sidetracked by your emotional skewed comparisons, it is interesting to note that in the last year:
- Broome CAGRS has safely handled 5,217
scheduled aircraft movements (on 11 hours coverage per day); while
- Ayers Rock CAGRS has handled 4,374
scheduled movements (on 7 hour coverage per day).
Compare the above figures against the estimated annual 4,488
scheduled aircraft movements that will occur OUTSIDE of RAAF control tower hours at Willytown. It would appear to me that the CAGRS at Newcastle would be quite capable of safely handling this number of scheduled aircraft movements, particularly considering that these movements will be spread over 16 hours of CAGRS coverage per day (longer than Broome or Ayers Rock). It should also be noted that the Broome and Ayers Rock CAGRS units, in addition to their scheduled movements, also process a considerable amount of non-scheduled traffic movements that most likely will not be a feature of the Willytown CAGRS operation due to the 6 per hour cap. So, it is difficult to support your contention that the level of risk to passengers at Willytown would be any worse than the risk to passengers flying into/out of Broome and Ayers Rock.
Finally, with respect to your comment at the beginning of this thread:
So all the GA planes with young families aboard, but without a transponder, that in the past have been able to transit the coastal lane on weekends will now be forced onto the inland lane where it's not possible to do a safe forced landing .
Again, Dick, this is more sensationalist bulldust from you that is not represented by the facts.
If you were to read your NOTAMS carefully, you will note that the coastal route still remains available to VFR flights; in fact a VFR aircraft can even fly directly over the top of Willytown during the standown period if they're so inclined.
(My father used to tell me that if water drips on stone long enough, eventually it will make an impression. I live in hope)