PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Rotting ADF / VOR facilities
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Old 22nd Jul 2016, 00:46
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Old Akro
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 1,693
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Getting desperate now, Akro...
No, genuine question. The NDB at Wonthaggi is a really nice red brick hut with a pitched roof literally sitting at the top of a hill in a dairy farmers paddock about halfway between Wonthaggi & Loch. It would be typical of government to simply leave old stuff to deteriorate.

Having said that, my rant would be:
1. AsA has removed all the ground based aids used for training and currency in the Melbourne basin. This is clearly in violation of its safety responsibility. I cannot believe that the training and currency benefit does not justify the cost of keeping one NDB / VOR location that is readily accessible from Melbourne for maintenance (eg Cowes or Wonthaggi - both with 1.5 hour drive of Melbourne CDB) since AsA has previously identified Yarrowee (near the residential township of Enfield where many people live & commute to work in Melbourrne) as too remote and dangerous to maintain.


2. The reason (I suspect) that these navaids are too expensive to maintain is the ridiculously high, non commercial rates charged by AsA. Why should an NDB cost any more to maintain than a HAM radio?

So far as I can tell, Australia is the only country that is shutting down ground based navaids in this wholesale manner.
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