AVDATA ??
Mr Hat
AVDATA collects information, sends bills and collects money on behalf of the aerodrome operator.
The Aerodrome operators or owners are mostly nowdays councils or companies. They contract AVDATA to place a voice recording device at their airfield. AVDATA reguarly check the data and make out invoices which they send to the Cert of Registration holder. AVDATA collects the incoming dollars and send them off to the aerdrome owner, with a bill of thier own for thier services. Charges can only be made on the basis of a landing occuring, this is determined by certian radio calls ?????. Owners can only charge for the ground and not the air above the aerodrome, as the NT gov has just found out, they don't own that bit!!
The aerodrome owner/operator sets the charges. There is a good list of what different owners charge, but I am unable to find it at the moment, maybe some other member can direct you to it.
Some owners charge heaps for thier service, and (privatley)where possible I make a point of not going there. Unfortunatly there are some which I once had to go to because there was no other alternative, places like Tennant Creek which is an absolute rip off, and they know you can't go elsewhere
The AVDATA system is suseptable to errors and deception because of the method of collection. AVDATA also finds it nesseccary to use THREATS in the collection of the money owing for landings made at AVDATA sites/locations. Now it is my understanding that such threats are mischevious as they do not actually have any power to conduct these threats. The owner or operator of the aerodrome may have some power, but they have to prove the movement took place, which is near to imposible unless there are witnesses.
I once heard a story of AVDATA threatening to take legal action or liens upon a government department aircraft, which they claim made a landing in some other state, while the aircraft was in maint. AVDATA require that you pay up first, then sort out the problem and get reinbersed, after a suitable admin fee is charged for thier hard work. But this gov department had to have its chief sign a declaration for the treasury that all cahrges and payments were true and correct. Well obviously he could not, so no money was payed for the eroneous charges. AVDATA used the normal threats of legal and impounding of the gov aircraft if the bill was not payed.
Well this is of course BLACKMAIL (Making threat, where no leagal reason exists, to collect money) so the local PLOD were asked to talk to the AVDATA representitive. But guess what AVDATA all of a sudden found that it could aggree that the aircraft could not have incurred the fee and they dropped the mischevious fees.
The current system is OPEN to ABUSE and they know it, they use bluff to achive their end, of collecting money for the owners of the aerodromes. It is no wonder there are many stories of ABUSE and that there are undoubtably many pilots out there taking advantage of this.
If it is fair, I don't have problem. But if it is blatant money making I will go along way to avoid the place all together.
Some of the favourites of the fee dodgers :
Using other persons callsigns (illegal under CAR's with a fine)
Not using callsign ie blue cessna (illegal unde CAR's with a fine)
using crashed or deregisterd callsign (see 1 above)
No radio use at all (CTAF with no radio is OK, but MBZ is not. But if you have a servicable radio you must make calls in CTAF(see 2)
HAving a friend turn the recorder off, I have seen this done by using a key on the box, or simply pulling the fuse/switch at the mains.
Making radio calls which are not specific to landing. This is an intersting one as there are specified calls for MBZ and CTAF but the wording can be manipulated to make it very confusing. Bottom line, is dodging the fee worth a potential collision?