CASA has just released its Post Event Review on the CAGRS services provided by the RAAF at Willy (Go to:
Office of Airspace Regulation)
Considering that Dick Smith made such a big issue of the fact that radar information would be available to supplement the CAGRS provided by the RAAF controllers whereas it would not be available if NAL provided the CAGRS, it is interesting to note the following comment from CASA:
The fact that the Defence CA/GRS operated without a radar display for a quarter of the POS, without any increase in safety incidents or other impacts, indicate that a NAL CA/GRS would have been equally acceptable as a solution over the POS
and the other part I like:
Reports from the CA/GRS operators indicated that there were seldom more than three aircraft on frequency at any one time
Gee, why would you need a radar for that when you consider Broome and Ayers Rock are safety handling many more aircraft per hour on frequency than that?
All of this points to the fact that the move to have the RAAF continue to provide CAGRS was a typical knee jerk reaction from Dick Smith with little regard or respect for the background work done previously by CASA, the RAAF or NAL to ensure CAGRS could be provided safely by NAL's provider - with stakeholder agreement (Yes, Dick stakeholders were consulted). I'm sure the RAAF controllers (and their families) who had their leave cancelled at the last minute would be very thankful for your well considered intervention, Dick, particularly as your ill considered intervention was much ado about nothing.