The main claim by this small number of controllers was that they could provide Class C airspace for the same cost as Class E. Airservices immediately re-did a safety case showing this, and naturally the Class C (without any extra training and without the radar provision) won!
Most readers appreciate that:-
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1. The RADAR C directive was not consistent with ICAO insofar as ICAO do not require RADAR in C
2. The RADAR C directive was not driven by any identified safety data, or agency study supporting such a requirement
3. Non-radar C has been operating successfully and safely here and O/S for many years
4. The Radar C directive was seen by many at the time to cost load (skew) any CBA to make radar C regional terminals prohibitively expensive, and that by doing so would be forcing a class E CBA result
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Some might suggest that you as a high profile advocate for AusNAS and Class E would have been very happy with that outcome given E could not win the efficiency or safety day over C unless C was made to be prohibitively expensive!!
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The ridiculous thing about it is that the same RADAR requirement was not put on E terminals where the reality is that surveillance is more important given the VFR component is not talking to ATC or other pilots like they are in D or C …. Now that IS hypocrisy!
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As for your claim that controllers take on “far greater responsibility” with C than E, well I’m sorry mate that does not stack up either. C is far easier to manage than the VFR shooting gallery of E …. But you know that too …. If E was safe, efficient and ‘overall’ better than the C it replaced, it would still be in place! … AsA are not exploiting the airspace classification system or C terminal controllers in this regard.
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I guess in response folks could ask, did you as the Chair of the then CAA exploit ATC when you dumped OCTA services on them? .... and your views on Benalla ... you want ATC's to protect you OCTA …. Who is attempting to exploit who???
Perhaps you might enlighten us with just one location in the US where
ICAO E rules are used above a D tower .. not multi-overlayed classifications that amount to a hybrid surveillance based D … no …. just one example of proper ICAO E ... and without RADAR
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Ta
