Track Shortening

[hung start]

Flying between A,to F middle of the day and request track shortening on centre from B to E . Due to high headwind . Will advise was the response . Ask again 15 mins later advised can't do due to crossing traffic . Fair enough . Just for fun we selected each TCAS monitor 1 above and 2 below this gives us 9500ft above and below cruise level total 19000 ft coverage cruising FL410 and range out to 120 nm . As part of an avionics upgrade approx a hundred odd grand we received ADSB . over the next 2 hrs we spotted only 1 other a/c on our TCAS which was 3000 ft below and approx 80 nm away never crossed our track . Whats the point of doing ADSB ? This is NOT a dig at ATC but a question of return for investment , cost to aviation companies/ owners and how will Airservices use these improvements to help the industry .

[le Pingouin]

Remember the "B" stands for broadcast so doesn't indicate what's going on at the other end for the controller - there might have been an outage of some sort or perhaps the other traffic had no ADS-B and you were being procedurally separated.

There was a mercy flight today into Sydney this afternoon from the north west that was nil ADS-B and up at F410 from memory. Any chance it was them?

If you're told "standby" it usually means the controller has to consult with another sector or two because your level has already been coordinated. We don't always get an immediate answer when things are busy.

[Capn Bloggs]

Let me guess, Hung Start got a call from Dick Smith recently...

[Back Pressure]

Getting way too predictable Bloggsy

[hung start]

Not at all Capt Bloggs , i can make my own decisions .Thats what my wife tells me .
le pingouin ,as i said i am not having a go at ATC , they can only play with the card,s Airservices deals them .
I just expected with the accuracy of adsb we should be able to use the airspace more efficiently . No it wasn't yesterday .Maybe i,m missing something

[le Pingouin]

I understand you're not having a go, the problem is it's impossible to give you an answer without seeing what the actual traffic picture was and what other considerations there were.

The controller may have told you what they thought the reason was but it was actually something else - we don't always get told why the next guy won't allow something, particularly if things are busy the response will just be "not available".

In the end accuracy of position is just one consideration. There are still many aspects of ATC that rely on the controller brain rather than automation so running things along the rails allows the human brain to cope with more traffic as it reduces the processing workload. Randomly scattered tracks increases the workload as we have to manually search for the conflicts. Fine when it's quiet, not so good when you're busy.