I have always believed that it is quite inappropriate to use other than compass quadrants when making b'casts in the vicinity of Class G aerodromes. There are still far too many VFR pilots (and IFR from time to time) that get it wrong when using bearings or radials and I have found it quite common on asking further to find out they are in fact 180 deg out....!
Re-reading the AIP on the matter, it is not specific, however I recall the matter being raised at a few RAPACs some time ago and CASA indicated use of quadrants would be pushed in the education package of the day. Might be time for CASA to revisit this one.
Quadrants are easy to understand, not likely to be confused and both IFR and VFR can use know what it means.... and if they had been used by the aircraft in question, then perhaps we may not have been having this discussion!!
