Icarus2001 - you are right of course, its just my (hypocritical) anti-corporate bias showing
, particularly if the airport is leased, I always thought it has been sold.
Squawk-7600 re rwy selection, there is no point talking to ATC about it because our hands are tied. You have to talk to CASA/ATSB. File paperwork every time you believe something is unsafe, if nothing else you will generate a paper trail.
It's difficult to take any ATC system seriously that follows an aircraft for 4 hours as it crosses continental Australia, then advises shortly before top of descent of a requirement to lose 10 minutes before the next waypoint
Delays just prior to top of descent (or heaven forbid after) are mostly inexcusable, so I won't try. Unless there are go rounds, emergencies, rapid wx changes etc they are probably a failing of ATC's.
Many times I've been at a high cost index across Australia in an effort to make schedule/curfew for a return, only to be advised of a significant delay to cross BEVLY
METRON should eliminate situations like that but put yourself in others shoes. As an ATC I have no idea that you are running late or have a schedule issue. You approach PH last in a group of 10 -12 other aircraft, some of whom only departed 20 minutes ago. I can't have known 3 hours ago they were going to be in front. As a crew from a rival airline you would not be happy if I make you wait for someone behind to go first because they are in a hurry. (I'm not going to make any friends here but we call it "only plane in the sky" syndrome.)
Under METRON I would hope that your landing slot would be fixed, and that if you departed late and flogged the aircraft all the way across to make up time everything would work out. One disadvantage of METRON is that it is only shown to the NOC and FLOW, so as a line controller I am totally out of the loop, and can only pass on feeder fix times given to me. Probably a good thing though because I don't have time for debates on air!
airdualbleedfault - I'm not sure noise abatement procedures are ASA's jurisdiction. Remember in theory, ASA is only an operator/service provider, with no regulatory powers at all. Under CASA we are equal with airline and airport operators. I know that sounds like typical public service "not my department" buck passing. As I said above, formally report everything, every time. It may not change anything, but at least someone will be able to nail those responsible to the wall if/when it all goes wrong.