Class D Transition and IFR/VFR Operations

[Ted D Bear]

CASA elearning tutorial on new Class D procedures

Just completed this on-line tutorial (on the CASA website) and, in general, found it useful and informative. The 3 June issue of AIP book and ERSA are out too, and we've all got a letter from CASA with the CAAPs. But all this still leaves a few areas that need clarification, IMHO. For example:

1. IFR flights will have to give a departure report as per AIP and this will apply to all Class D aerodromes, including the former GAAP ones. So, for example, if departing IFR from Bankstown on a Bankstown 3 Departure (SID), does this mean it will be necessary to give a (procedural style) departure report as per AIP Book ENR 1.1 section 8.2.1 (AL/63) to Bankstown Tower prior to being handed to Sydney Departures? That seems to be required by that section. Currently, the report is given to Sydney Departures after changing frequency - and it is a (shorter) report consistent with being in a radar environment.
2. After 3 June, should a departure report be made to the tower by an IFR aircraft conducting a VFR departure into adjoining G? Or should that report be made to ATC on the area frequency once established in Class G (at the time, presumably, of notifying ATC that the flight is “reverting to IFR”)?
3. Do requirements in ERSA that apply to “VFR aircraft” apply to IFR aircraft conducting a VFR departure? The ERSA entry for Bankstown (effective 3 June 2010), for example, states in Flight Procedures, para 11, that VFR aircraft departing the zone should do so by extending a leg of the circuit. Should an IFR aircraft making a VFR departure automatically do likewise, or will specific tracking requirements be notified by ATC to each such flight?
4. The on-line tutorial does not discuss frequency changes when departing a Class D zone into adjoining Class G airspace. AIP ENR 1.1 section 8.4.2 (AL/63) requires pilots to remain on the tower frequency until a change is made in accordance with specific instructions from ATC. (The second sentence of that section seems to assume that the section is only discussing a departure from Class D into C, but the section is not expressed to be limited to that situation.) Will all aircraft departing a Class D zone into Class G will be given a specific frequency change instruction by the tower? Tower frequency is going to be a bit more congested ...
5. The tutorial mentions the requirement for a taxi clearance prior to operating on the manoeuvring area (before the tutorial goes on to discuss take-off). AIP ENR 1.1 section 16.2(b) (AL/63) refers to the need also to obtain an ATC taxi instruction after landing and vacating the runway strip. However, the ERSA entry for Bankstown (effective 3 June 2010) - Local Procedures para 12.3 refers only to a requirement to "monitor SMC" after landing and vacating all active [sic] runways. Shouldn't the latter paragraph refer to the need to advise SMC of intended destination on the aerodrome and to obtain an ATC instruction to taxi to that destination?

Maybe this was all covered at the workshops, but I wasn't in Sydney on the day they were held so don't know ... Be interested to hear from anyone who did attend - or from others with a view about the above.

Ted