I agree, if it were to slip through the cracks of many, it is a concern.
Ahem. If you're going to make such a significant change to a procedure, you don't just quietly change the words and sit back, hoping everybody notices.
No, you actually tell somebody.
An AIRAC, at the very least, would have done the job.
Every amendment I get I scrutinise it closely with the current text to see what's really changed.
So you would have noticed this change when it occurred back in March 2008, then. And you must have a lot of time on your hands. Do you scrutinise every approach plate as well?
I hardly think AsA and all it's controllers are dumb enough to blindly accept such a change to MATS just because ...
I would bet they are as blissfully unaware of this change as we were.
I have said this before but will say it again: the fact that nobody was told about this change does tend to suggest that the author had in mind only an innocent little terminology change - not a change to the procedure.
An important detail about Darwin, compared to other capital cities: There is no terrain around Darwin - you could approach Darwin at 1,500 ft AMSL from any direction within 30 NM and you would always have more than 1,000 ft terrain clearance! (The highest obstacle within 30 NM is a tower, at 550 ft AMSL, about 3-4 NM east of the aerodrome).
No other controlled aerodrome in Australia has this luxury. This means that the controllers at those other places may well be a little reluctant to issue the night visual approach from 30 NM. Take Perth, for example. Nowhere near as bad as Cairns or Townsville, terrain-wise, but from discussions with an approach controller there, I found that they have a "local" procedure whereby they don't issue them outside 10 NM.
Just one instance of a pilot demonstrating less than full knowledge of the night visual approach procedure would probably be enough to convince controllers at these places to forever be reserved with the visual approach clearances they issue.
ollie_a, thanks again - one more piece of the puzzle.