Howabout – no, I don’t believe it’s unravelling – in fact, quite the opposite. I can see a move towards removing that ridiculous restriction in relation to flight planning over Williamtown.
I thought you might like to see my Media Release:
Dick Smith Comments
on
Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Geoff Brown’s Media Release Dated Monday 2 June 2014
Dick Smith says, “AIR MARSHAL BROWN - REMOVE THE CIVILIAN FLIGHT PLANNING RESTRICTION BEFORE MORE LIVES ARE LOST”.
The Air Marshal is clearly ill informed. This is a damning reflection on the advice Air Marshal Brown receives. Let me quote from Air Marshal Brown’s Media Release:
“The likelihood of holding is increased for aircraft that do not submit a flight plan because the aircraft's data needs to be manually entered into the Air Traffic Control system”.
By this, Air Marshal Brown clearly means that pilots should submit a flight plan if they want to fly the safer, more direct route over Williamtown so that delays are reduced and safety is improved.
By flying over Williamtown, Pilots are not forced – as was VH-MDX on that terrible night – to fly to the west of Williamtown into the mountainous area of the Barrington Tops where high winds can turn a plane upside-down.
However, Air Marshal Brown clearly doesn’t know that military enforced regulations mean it is not possible for a civilian pilot to file such a flight plan. That is why I stated on the Channel 7 Sunday Night program,
“The restrictions are still there. You can’t file a flight plan across the top of Williamtown”.
I then went on to say,
"You can do something with this show if we can get these rules changed, as they will save lives in the future”.
Now, remember on the night of the VH-MDX crash, the pilot was forced by the regulations to file his flight plan to the west of the Williamtown military airspace towards the treacherous country near Barrington Tops.
The regulations of those days remain the same today. It was prohibited then, as it is now, to file a flight plan over Williamtown.
Air Marshal Brown just happens to omit this very important point from his Media Release - so I will say it again – a civilian pilot cannot file a flight plan over Williamtown! That means that the likelihood of holding will always be increased because the Williamtown Controller has no prior knowledge of the aircraft that is about to call for clearance. This is ridiculous in these modern days of technology!
In yet another major error, Air Marshal Brown states that,
“Williamtown Air Traffic Control immediately offered a clearance for VH-MDX at an amended altitude (of 7,000 feet or 9,000 feet) …. This was done without delay and more than 30 minutes before VH-MDX reported entering bad weather”.
In fact, this offer was made by the military Controller to the Sydney Flight Service Operator but it was never passed on to the Pilot! If the Pilot did not know of the offer, how could he possibly accept it?
Once the military remove the restrictions on Australian civilian pilots, there will be a clear message that they are allowed to fly the safest route possible, i.e. over the low terrain coastal area at Williamtown rather than being forced to the west into the Barrington Tops mountains as MDX was thirty years ago and as pilots are today.
I ask Air Marshal Brown to remove this restriction before more lives are lost.