Over here there is a blanket ban on such flights. No transponder, no go. Regularly, some of the older Russian equipment that gets around these parts, have failures. If they are transitting, they cannot enter the airspace. If they have taken off, they have to land. If they are already in the airspace, they generally have to land, as the surrounding FIRs won't accept them. These days it's more of a security issue than anything else, but the decision to allow flights does rest with ATC! Go figure. If the marching types don't like something, they will come and tap us on the shoulder.
You would have to be a psycho to fly around here without one. There are a lot of nervous yanks floating in the moat (remember Iran Air?).
I have a feeling that in oz the rule change might be about revenue. I mean, how would they charge you if the bill didn't automatically pop out of the computer?
