This hot of the emial from ALPA
For all you non believers this straight of the email......
Inquiry Into Civil Flying Training Safety
Dear member
Just prior to Christmas I requested feedback on the survey being conducted by The Transport Accident Commission (TAIC) on matters relating to civil flying training safety in New Zealand. As mentioned NZALPA will make a submission to TAIC by the deadline of 21st Feb 2011.
As this survey has come as a result of the significant increase in mid air collisions and near misses in the GA sector I consider the NZALPA submission on this subject of great importance so would like to urge any members who have not responded thus far to contribute from your first hand knowledge and experience. So far we have a good number of submissions under the following subject headings. Your contributions and experience are what make NZALPA the professional organization that it is today, so consider your role and contribute as it will make a difference.
Issues:
· Increased traffic:
o relying on "See and Avoid Principle" at smaller uncontrolled airports;
o congestion at uncontrolled airports;
o overloading inexperienced pilot's situational awareness.
· Aviation English proficiency pilots/students:
o unable to clearly transmit their position and intention to other pilots;
o mispronunciation of local Maori place names thereby causing uncertainty or inaccuracy of their position and intention to other pilots;
o not understanding other aircraft transmissions of position and intent thereby not gaining situational awareness.
· Pilots who have been mainly taught to fly in a radar environment becoming confused as to their position and appropriate tracking procedures when in a non-radar environment with no controller to ask.
· Student pilots transmitting inaccurate positions when no instructor is on board.
· Pilots not taking in or misunderstanding other aircraft transmissions resulting in a lack of situational awareness.
· Poor standard of radio skills in the GA sector - both student and PPL pilots.
· Lower time/experience instructors that are less supervised and therefore lacking the initial and consolidated skills to impart key learning points to students.
· Training of new pilots often in the hands of some of the industry's most inexperienced with only basic training or teaching skills.
· Funded organisations committing students to the churn of full time ground schools for the purpose of processing more students ie: concentrating on passing PPL/CPL exams rather than providing an integrated learning and flying experience to develop sustainable and educationally sound aviation skills.
Safety suggestions put forward for consideration:
· Mandate transponders for all aircraft including sport, recreational and gliders.
· Mandate traffic avoidance systems (TAS) for all commercial aircraft (below 12500kg) and portable non TSO'ed awareness systems for all powered aircraft.
· Re-establish ATC and or ATS surveillance coverage at the busier and/or mixed traffic airports - virtual towers could be considered for the more remote locations.
· Update pilot licensing to ICAO Annex 1 and address the syllabi for pilots exams.
· Ensure that the ICAO Proficiency in English Language standards is achieving the required standards and is done complied with prior to flight. Optimal use of training devices to achieve a sustainable standard.
Please send feedback to
[email protected] by early February 2011.
Thanks and regards
Stu Julian
Technical Director
NZALPA