I have to agree with Dick on a lot of this stuff in relation to unnecessary cost. But the whole environment changed many years ago and there's been a knock-on in respect of govt, CASA, Airservices, etc, being oblivious to the impost of doing business in the real world. And now there's a new generation of bureaucrats that accept this as the norm.
The turning point was 'user pays'. After that line was pushed by the zealots, with no consideration of the possible downstream consequences when they hit 'send,' GA's fate was sealed. Now, nobody in the bureaucracy gives a stuff. They just see any charges, no matter how exorbitant, as par for the course.
Sell HOX? Yeah, sure, it's a commercial environment. Mandate ADS-B? Yeah sure, because we can and it won't cost us. Mandate Mode-S? Yeah sure, because we can and it won't cost us. Approve the sell-off of YSBK? Yeah sure, no problem; it's business.
Clamoring for 'user pays,' IMHO, was the biggest blunder ever made. The zealots that pushed it fostered an attitudinal change in the government and its associated agencies that is now irreversible.
I don't think that I need to join the dots.
Last edited by Howabout; 5th Jun 2015 at 04:16.