I said " over 1200 calls". Yes I did list the number over a period because I wanted to see if this half wound back system was working. If it was I would shut up and get on with my life. However it's clearly not working.
Already there are those on this site who correctly claim we would not be in the present position had I not started the airspace reforms as CAA chairman in 1991.
No one of course knows haw many lives have been saved because , unlike the MDX situation, now all IFR aircraft are in direct communication with a radar controller when in radar covered airspace . Presumably those radar controllers now inform a pilot if an error is made and the aircraft is tracking at right angles to the correct direction.
When I pushed for this change it was because it followed what I had experienced flying en route low level airspace overseas.
This change was massively resisted at the time and there are still a few old pilots who insist that " calling in the blind, radio arranged separation" in IMC is better and safer than an Air Traffic Control radar separation service.
And Fujji. I don't want to employ an extra 700 of any type. Just pointing out that VFR self announcements on advisory frequencies are very different from VFR self announcements on frequencies that are also used to issue control instructions to airline aircraft . I am amazed that professional ATCs allow this in Australia. They certainly don't in other countries.
Yesterday morning to have the Sydney departures controller responsible for the safe separation of 747s and 380s in the more risky terminal area also being forced to listen to non directed VFR float plane self announcements and chatter is extraordinary in my view. When I explain this to overseas controllers they simply can't believe it.
Imagine departing LAX in the Qantas 380 and the air crew having to listen to VFR traffic making self announcements in the LA basin.
When Mick Toller joined CASA he said one of the first things he was going to fix was this situation. As a Cathay 747 pilot he could not believe that he had put up with VFR aircraft calls in the Sydney northern lane at Hornsby or Brooklyn Bridge as his aircraft was on the Sydney departures frequency and outbound to Hong Kong. He claimed it was not a safe practice.
Now nearly 15 years later no regulatory or airspace change has been made. Fortunately VFR pilots have been encouraged by non CASA people not to give so many announcements that could block important ATC instructions.
Last edited by Dick Smith; 2nd Apr 2016 at 23:45.