Good post OverRun. You are right of course - this seems to be NAS by stealth.
As with the original bastard child, no clear justification. I'd go further and add that my take is that the outcomes are preordained - make the arguments fit a pre-detrmined end-state. If this is, indeed, the case, then any 'consultation' will be little more than window dressing.
One wonders who's got hold of whose goolies. NAS created such animosity, waste and division that to revisit that dog defies logic.
But I expect it will play out like this: BME and KTA get their NAS zones and Class E. The same happens at GAAP. Now we have some regional centres, plus Avalon and the secondaries, with US airspace and others with 'non-standard' airspace (Coffs, Launy etc). The cry will go up that we need 'standardisation' and that for this reason all regional aerodromes must conform, otherwise it will be 'confusing.' So it's essential that all those other airfields (Alice included) get E over D and minuscule US-style zones.
Just a personal observation, but given the importance of NAS to some well-known aviation luminaries, they have been surprisingly quiet. I can't help wondering if the 'fix' is already in and that any comment would be seen as potentially stirring up the natives. Better to let them wake up one morning and find out they've been done over.
So, for those of you far removed from the KTAs and BMEs of this world, a word of warning. This is my own impression but KTA and BME, along with YMAV, may well be the foot in the door that will be used to justify the inevitable NAS changes to the airspace you operate in. I'm sure the regionals on the east coast will be thrilled with that outcome, but it'll be too late if what's happening in the west is ignored.
Last edited by Howabout; 9th Mar 2010 at 04:23.