CASA premature ADS-B mandate will result in even more pilots losing jobs
All corporate jet aircraft operating above FL290 in Australia will be required to have ADS-B by 2013 – seven years before the requirement is mandated in the USA. A number of industry people I have spoken to predict that up to 50% of our corporate fleet will be sold back to the USA, rather than spending the $20 million (estimated by CASA) to fit ADS-B. They state that this type of money is simply not available.
Remember, ADS-B is not required below FL290, so no improvement will be made in the so-called “necessary” problem area of the western minefields.
With up to 50% of the fleet being sold back to the USA, many professional pilots will lose their jobs. Some will say they deserve this because these pilots have done absolutely nothing in making it clear to CASA that Australia can’t possibly lead the world in expensive requirements when there is a major recession taking place.
Fortunately it won’t affect me at all. I can easily afford the ADS-B, and I presume the Packers can too.
I would love to know what genuine measurable safety issue is being addressed. I recently flew the CJ3 out to Birdsville, and above FL290 there is basically no one there. This must be so because Airservices regularly went to TIBA without any real objection from CASA. Of course Airservices have announced that they are going to replace the radars as required, so the ADS-B requirement cannot be designed to address the J-curve.
Don’t get me wrong. I believe ADS-B is fantastic. However I find it interesting that Australia is planning to lead other major aviation countries, such as the USA, with these mandatory requirements.
It can only be happening because the people at CASA making the decisions have no understanding of commercial reality at all. The cargo cult attitude that existed in the 60s is back, firm and strong.
It appears that Qantas agreed with this early mandate because they thought it would only affect the business aviation community and wouldn’t cost Qantas a cent – i.e. that they would have got rid of their 767s by then.
Now with the downturn, there is a chance that Qantas will still have the 767s and it will cost an absolute fortune to fit ADS-B – resulting in even fewer people being employed as their company profitability is affected even more.