Mr Smith,
I usually have some sympathy for what you say in that there is generally, in my opinion of course, some truth in what you say; however, you get too much collateral damage (oops a military term!).
You had TWO opportunities to fix this when you were in charge of CASA and its predecessor.
How did you go? Oh, I know, you blew up Flight Service in the name of NAS but somehow forgot that Flight Service that we used to have in OZ is exactly what you get in the US today.
Your rear guard attempt to rewrite your OWN history in this sorry mess is sad, sad, sad.
And I will say, I am ex-military and I firmly believe that you have NO IDEA what military flying requires: no idea, zilch, zero, nada.
You are right though, 'Sixty Minutes', that august source of nothing they do not spin for ratings or run with due to the 'celebrity' status of the source (not with everything but certainly in issues such as 'airspace' which the average punter could not give a toss about) is the way to 'fix' things.
Money does not equate to status in the aviation world. Unless of course you have to pay AsA their outrageous costs.
There we go; bring back Flight Service, that you removed, and use all your unquestionable influence and ability to get something into the press or onto TV about AsA and the 'user pays' model they seem to be welded to and do some good.
Stop knocking the military; otherwise they actually might take you seriously.
Last edited by actus reus; 13th Mar 2016 at 12:20.
Reason: missed a word