Great News! - Two federal ministers have been pushed into a situation were they have acquiesced to a single individual with a better
PR (spin) department than the DoD or CASA.
It's amazing to me that a few aussie flags on fake vegemite will buy you such political clout.
Dick,
I've got some issues with all of this.
Firstly, I doubt that the poor Willy controllers that just has their xmas leave cancelled, and are at home expaining to the family why they can't go home for xmas to see their family on the other side of the country, will find much comfort in your words from your website:
Special thanks to the Airforce Controllers who will be providing this service for Christmas.
Are these the same controllers that you berated over the airways for not giving you a clearance (VFR transit), becasue they were
separating you from an aircraft (IFR RPT) on final, as required by law?
Additionally, you continue to highlight your inability to grasp the concept of ATC qualifications:
I thought there were about 300 atc's in the RAAF.
Lets say 20 for Townsville and 50 for Darwin- wouldn't there be at least one available to work even part time at Williamtown?
That's the equivelant of saying:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, the captain has fallen ill from the fish. I know this is a 747, but has anyone on board got a PPL?"
Different locations and different control positions require different qualifications. It takes at least several weeks, if not months to qualify for each individual ATC position. The current situation with AsA and TIBA can attest to that.
I'm also a bit miffed by your contention that:
I don't want them to be released to do CAGRO work- I want ATC at 50,000 movement, 1 million PAX airports.
So you want ATC, and are not happy with a CAGRO? How is it then that you are now 'ecstatic' by the prospect of CAGRO with the assistance of a Radar display? The two are dramatically different.
You may well argue the greatest good for the greatest number has been achieved (short of actual ATS and not CAGRO) but can I remind you who the losers are.
Military ATC who work at a military base (
not joint user) being told to do a job, with no notice, that is realistically well below their qualifications and outside their job description, for no military purpose whatsoever. Additionally, they are being called in to replace appropriately qualified individuals that would have provided a appropriately endorsed service (CAGRO) in line with a CASA investigation into the situation.
It may cost only 43cents per passenger to pay for ATC over the christmas break and weekends when military are taking a well earned break (i.e. having a life), but that money will never see the pockets of the poor folks that are (currently) doing the work! There is no such thing as overtime, etc, for a military member. Add this to the locational instability and inequivalant pay to their civilian counterparts, is it any wonder that they are leaving in droves.
You stated that
"Novocastrians are not stupid. They know that radar is one of the most important tools to ensure air safety."
and yet I don't hear of you fighting for every other CA/GRS operation in australia to have access to a radar dispay. What's with the lack of consistancy on this?
After watching the '25 years of holding a YWLM' thread from the sidelines this year, my guess is that you hve specifically targeted YWLM ATC in some form of payback. How close is that to the mark...honestly?