Just caught the "story" tonight... We're a little behind in the north!!
Typical useless trash sprouted by people who have no idea. Essendon tower's response 'call sign only' happens quite regularly. It may be the controller was talking to a ground station and missed the callsign of the aircraft.
I agree there needs to be stringent testing for student pilots, however TT's usual sloppy journalism and complete lack of integrity has produced a "story" that wouldn't pass a high school media class.
How do we know all those recorded transmissions were made in the same day or even the same year for that matter???
What a waste of film, the least they could have done was to present this very real issue with a WELL RESEARCHED and FACT BASED story rather than media hype. Then people in the regulatory bodies may take notice.
Then again if they could do that they wouldn't be working for TT.
*rant over*
TeeTail