Thanks for the additional posts. I haven't had an opportunity to reply before now. I see a couple more votes for re-routing over Goroka and Hagen. Certainly this would make life more convenient for traffic for Mt. Hagen and Goroka out of Morseby. However, as I noted in my previous post, I'm not in a position to make this change to our operation. All I can say is that those at the decision making level are aware of the preference.
Thanks Mach e Avelli for adding specific example. As it turns out, I may have been on that plane, either that or a very similar situation to the one you mention. Assuming that was the same event, we were aware that we had you as same altitude crossing traffic, we had your target on TCAS, and we had heard Madang call us out to you as traffic on HF. I was about to call you on 120.1 when I noticed on TCAS that you had begun a descent out of 18,000 ft. Knowing from the HF exchange that you were aware of us, it was obvious that you were taking preemptive action to resolve the conflict, so I didn't contact you on VHF and continued to monitor on TCAS as you crossed below us at 17,000ft.
So, noting your preference that we not be flying in that particular area, is there something else you think we could have done differently is this particular situation? Should I have contacted you anyway on VHF, even though it seemed clear that the conflict had been resolved?
For the sake of discussion, that same (or very similar) conflict could just as well have take place even if we were on “blue lines”, if you were flying Moresby-Wewak (or Moresby-Vanimo) over Mt Hagen NDB, and we were flying Nadzab-Garoka-Mt.Hagen-Tari. Seems like the same elements would be in play; (No ATC, dependence on traffic reporting, self separation on VHF, etc.)
On the topic of off airways routings, on my last tour in PNG (would have been about 2-3 weeks ago) we were returning from Tari to Nadzab, and Madang called out opposite direction traffic, an Air Nuigini Dash-8 going from Nadzab direct to Moro. Aside from being a few miles south of our route normal route, this is pretty much identical to what we do, and they were reporting their position in the same manner as we do. I have also noted on several occasions a Dash-8 (which I believe is operated on contract for the Ok-Tedi mine) flying Nadzab direct Tabubil, which again, is not meaningfully different than our standard direct routing to Tari. I'm not trying to point fingers here, or to create any sort of confrontation, but honestly, if there is a meaningful difference between us flying LAE-TIZ direct and PX flying LAE-MOR direct, it's escaping me.
On another topic: When operating IFR in and out of Tari, how much separation is considered adequate before continuing climb or descent through the altitude of another aircraft going the other way (Arriving when you're departing or departing when you're arriving) What would be the preferred reference for determining that separation? DME/GPS distance to Moro Ndb? Distance to/from Tari? I'd be interested to hear peoples thoughts relating to resolving conflicts in and out of there when the the weather's poor. Thanks in advance.