During the recent Senate hearing of the Committee of Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport, Bill Heffernan received some interesting answers from Mr Peter Cromarty, the head of the Office of Airspace Regulation.
Here are some examples.
Firstly, in relation to the Qantas incident at Canberra (where the crew inadvertently entered the wrong point for the holding distance and ended up heading towards Tinderry Peak, 300 feet below its altitude – see
here), Senator Heffernan asked why a radar control service was not given in that airspace when the tower closed, considering that Melbourne Centre operates 24 hours per day.
Senator Heffernan – I understand that, but they can actually monitor the approach so that mob there does not fly into a hill.
Mr Cromarty – I do not know why. You would have to ask Airservices that one.
“I do not know why,” – and this man is the head of the Office of Airspace Regulation at CASA on a staggering salary. CASA has never asked Airservices to use the radar properly in that airspace. Surely as CASA is the regulator of safety it would be up to CASA to make the request. Why would Airservices want to have more responsibility without any extra income, unless it was a requirement of the safety regulator?
In a question relating to the NAS objective of Class E over Class D, Senator Heffernan asked Mr Cromarty:
Senator HEFFERNAN—You are a full supporter of the full implementation of the NAS class E over D airspace in Australia?
Mr Cromarty—I am a full supporter of a risk-based approach and if that is the appropriate cost-benefit solution then I am a full supporter.
Senator HEFFERNAN—That is a very good bureaucratic answer. You will never get the sack while you answer questions like that.
In relation to the obvious resistance by some people in CASA to move to the NAS airspace policy, the following exchange took place about the proposed draft Airspace Policy Statement – which deletes any reference to the NAS safety upgrades that are in the current policy set by Mark Vaile.
Senator HEFFERNAN—What I am trying to make sure is in people’s minds here is that there is not a conspiracy in CASA to dump the Mark Vaile version of events for some other change of events because the difficulty that some people see is that there is a document, which is the draft document, which takes out all the air safety stuff. It has all been deleted—but, anyway, I will come to that. Mr Cromarty, is there some resistance by well-meaning people in CASA to the US model of E over D?
Mr Cromarty—Not that I am aware of, Senator.
Later, the following was said.
Senator HEFFERNAN—Have you had an expert of the US airspace system working with the Office of Airspace Regulation in the last couple of years?
Mr Cromarty—No, Senator.
Senator HEFFERNAN—Would that have been a good idea if you had the money and the budget?
Mr Cromarty—I do not think it would, Senator, no. We act in a professional and thorough manner in the way that we do all of our—
Senator HEFFERNAN—So if I was to ask you why haven’t you, you would say, ‘We didn’t need to.’
Mr Cromarty—I would say that is the case.
Senator Heffernan later referred to the fact that Peter Cromarty hailed from the United Kingdom, saying:
Senator HEFFERNAN —So, given that you hail from there and they do not have NAS, do you have a solid knowledge of the US National Airspace System that is current government policy?
Mr Cromarty —I have a solid knowledge of the current government policy, yes.
Senator HEFFERNAN —Do you support that policy?
Mr Cromarty —I do.
Very interesting times!