Mazda

That was the article in The Australian on Friday. So much for lifeblood - they released the policy the day before the election! Anyway, they are in now. Let's see how they go.

Scotty I don't think the problem is that they don't have a radio - most of these incidents are due to people being on the wrong frequency, or having the wrong com selected on the panel, or maybe even faulty radio at places with no confirmation that you are on frequency. Anyone can be on the wrong frequency. It happens all the time in ATSB reports - even with airline jets with 2 crew. Radio alerting is great but relying purely on radio alerting could be dangerous.

Labor sure want to ditch aviation reform and take us back 10 years. With the current swing I wonder if I should just give up now and take up knitting.

The Coalition says ADS-B "will be subjected to risk management and cost benefit justification." The Labor policy doesn't mention anything about ADS-B so I have no idea about their policies on this.

I've found the full Labor policy under Media and 2007 press releases on Martin Ferguson's website. Yes, the points in The Australian are correct. Return to network pricing, continuing the Airservices monopoly on towers. It does say they will promote aviation training but it doesn't say how. It also says they will remove the direction issued by the Minister to Airservices to have approach radar for Class C. This means that controllers at Class D towers are separating aircraft in the terminal area, while at the same time trying to separate IFR aircraft 20 miles away (in Class C airspace) with no radar. The Coalition plan is for controller to have radar available. Either that or they would only have responsibility for the Class D, and the airspace above would be Class E (managed by the Centre).

What can we do to start lobbying?

Excellent work Matt and great report Kaz. That's a great idea. The map and stopwatch really does work! It worked for pioneering aviators right through to fast jet pilots from years ago.

Has anyone seen the aviation policies of the two major parties? The Coalition one is available online on the Liberal website. I haven't been able to find the Labor one in full online but an article in The Australian today outlines their plan. Coalition: Encouraging careers in aviation Money for high school students to learn to fly in aero clubs Establishment of an Aviation technical college Scholarships for people to have 25% of flying training subsidised if they work for regional airlines for 2 years. Continued airspace and regulatory reform using world's best practice Money to help reduce aviation emissions. Labor: Axing airspace reform Location specific not allowed Not allowing competition for towers and rescue and fire fighting Re-establishing a CASA Board Development of aviation emission indicators Analysis of future passenger and freight growth Airlines/airports/Airservices required to monitor costs of delays/congestions Now I don't want to comment on which way people should vote. I suggest you look at all the factors and read the documents yourself. Personally, the choice looks very clear to me.

That's right Mike. Yenn, there are several types of ADS-B and that is one of the problems. At the moment we are looking at 1090 ES for Australia, but in other parts of the world they are planning to use dual UAT/1090 (USA), VDL-4 (parts of Europe) and I'm not sure what else. The US isn't mandating ADS-B until 2020, and that is only for aircraft flying in Class C or B airspace or flying above a certain level. I think it could be as high as 10,000 feet. The bug smashers will probably be on UAT, so the big US manufacturers like Garmin etc will most likely make UAT units, not 1090 units. The problem with UAT is that I think a transponder is required as well as a UAT out unit (because TCAS needs to work with a transponder, and the US type of low level ADS-B needs a different out unit). However UAT can give extra benefits to pilots like real-time weather information. What a mess!

There are problems with ADS-B. Remember the planned ADS-B fitment for GA is for ADS-B 'out' only, which will give no information to us. ADS-B in is quite expensive. If you choose to fit ADS-B in, there is no audio read out (due to patenting issues I think) so you have to keep your head in the cockpit and look at a screen instead of looking out. If there are aircraft in the circuit with no transponder (or they've forgotten to turn it on, or it is a GAAP where they are not supposed to have it on in the circuit), you'll have your head in the cockpit looking at the screen but these aircraft won't show. The only way is to look out! Never assume! People may not have a radio, it might be on the wrong frequency etc. A friend of mine had an engine failure at 2RN some years ago and had to glide into Hoxton. After making his May Day call he tried to change the frequency to Hox but the radio knob fell off. He was a bit too busy aviating at the time to worry about it and made it safely to Hoxton. Someone then apparently abused him for not making an inbound call (then slunk away when the emergency services turned up). Why don't we push for UNICOMs? At least there would be another pair of eyes there for some advice.

Great idea Graham for you to do a radio check but I wonder if everyone else does? There could be people flying there who are on the wrong frequency and don't know it. So getting no response on the radio doesn't necessarily mean there is no one else there! Even when there is a response it is scary at times. Not so long ago I was on really short final at a CTAF when another pilot (with English as a second language it seems) at the holding point called that he was entering and lining up on that runway! He must have been relying on radio because he sure didn't look out. I do hope we end up with UNICOMs at CTAFs to confirm the radio works and give basic weather and traffic.

It's a good point to check. An old (theory) instructor of mine took some flight students on a US flying safari. An insurance policy was taken out. On the first day they crashed into wires holding a tower and were all killed. The two front pilots were thrown out so it was not known which was the pilot flying at the time. (Plus one was an instructor, so it could not be determined if the other pilot would have been PIC or under instruction). They put in an insurance claim and found that while the policy DID cover aviation related accidents, it did NOT cover the pilot. As they were both thrown clear, I understand there were problems with the two families trying to sort out who was flying and who would get the insurance.

High Plains Drifter, NASA once did a study on "diffusion of repsonsibility" and midairs. They found that collisions tended to happen where the responsibility of looking out/separation was in part removed from the pilot - such as controlled airports. I'm sure your comment about dual flight could apply here too. While we are on the subject, for those that fly into GAAP airports, remember that GAAP controllers provide separation on the runway, and it is up to pilots to sight and follow other aicraft in the circuit!

You must be lucky with where you go Captain, because I don't even have Next G or 3G coverage in my surburban Sydney office! No one there does - Telstra have even sent out their reps to have a look. There's no Next G and no 3G using Jasjams and LGs, but CDMA coverage is great. I get constant drop outs when I call home on the way home from work, and if I call 3G to 3G I'd say maybe one in 4 or 5 calls is clear. Often I have to call, hang up, call, hang up, call, hang up etc until I actually get a clear line. I do this every single day while driving through suburban Sydney. I had it on Next G but complained because they said I'd get better coverage. When I complained, one Telstra rep said that I was "wasting his time" and hung up. Then they charged me $300 for cancelling the contract (even though I had my own handset and had paid 2 months of fees without even using the service because I gave up on it). I'm now back on 3G. The coverage is just as bad, but at least it is cheaper.

I'm not a fan of the network. I have a Jasjam which I've tried on Testra (Next G) and Three 3g. Despite what Telsta say, there's not much difference in coverage and Three is much cheaper. I had to pay out Telstra to get rid of my plan with them. The coverage is generally poor, with lots of drop outs. My OH has the Motorola (poor battery life). People at work have the LG TU 550. They all have coverage issues. It's pathetic compared with CDMA. Personally, I'd say stick to CDMA and let's see what happens. Maybe it will be extended, maybe Next G network will improve by then. But I'd wait.

I think they were gradually shutting down FW so fewer were concerned about its closure. Brent, the problem is that if one controller is operating Sydney Approach, Sydney Departures, both Sydney Radar frequencies, plus another one, plus Flightwatch, something is bound to go wrong when the weather makes them busy.

I'm sorry I might be a bit off the track here because I can't download the article (I've run out of download time. Oops.) I'm also a bit of a ring-in because I'm a GA pilot. I've read the comments about stall/spin training though. I'm a big fan of really good advanced stall training and preferably spin training. As you've said though, the problem is that you can't spin your aircraft. Is there any way that RAA pilots can do a session of dual spin training in aerobatic GA aircraft? There are so many things that could go wrong and put you into an unexpected situation. I think stall training is often not done well enough. As soon as you get close to a stall most instructors want a recovery. It's possible to fly the stall. You can fly fully stalled (descending of course), keeping straight with rudder, or even turning slightly with rudder. Please don't do it without an instructor though. Stall (and even spin) training is usually done from a slow deceleration approach, but in real life it may happen from a much higher airspeed with power on. That's when they can get a bit nastier. If you can do it, I recommend Emergency Maneouvre Training (which is done at some GA schools using aerobatic aircraft like Pitts Specials). It is really worthwhile.

Maybe the reason you could rarely raise FW was because Airservices was already trying to gradually close down the service? As I said, I'm hoping the review will lead to a better Flightwatch instead of shutting it down.

What a great nav! (Long for a first solo one though). From the sea to the mountains, beach to snow, civilisation to designated remote area. Good stuff. There's something special about being on your own up there - it's different to having pax.

Brent you have more faith than I. If you read the PPRuNe thread you'll see that the controllers (and Civil Air) have said that they can't do it. At the moment a controller might have FIVE frequencies - including Sydney Approach, Departures and Sydney Radar, plus trying to operate Flightwatch. You might think it is more accessible, but while you are on the ATC frequency to get weather, IFR aircraft in IMC cannot be given separation information. It could only take one bad weather day to turn bad. Imagine VFR pilots calling for weather/NOTAMS at alternates, people submitting IFR flight plans, flight plan amendments, IFR wanting diversions around weather, while trying to run Sydney approach & departure with RPT jets? What happens if someone has a problem? Like a VFR pilot stuck over cloud? They seem to be realy short-staffed, with non-rated people sitting at the console while the controller has a break. The IFR pilots are not told their controller is having a break and they have someone listening who actually can't do anything. The latest though is that Airservices will now do an external study into Flightwatch and the removal will not go ahead (although some of the transfer has already taken place). Hopefully the result of the review will be a better service.

For those that are interested, the ATSB has released an interim factual report about Nick Costin's Strikemaster crash at Bathurst last year. Very sad. http://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2006/AAIR/aair200605843.aspx

I've never had a sick passengers but worked for a company giving adventure flights and had to deal with plenty of sick passengers there! The best sick bags by far are ... foil lined BBQ chicken bags. The ones we used had "Hot tasty chicken" written on them. Mmmm.

Sounds like a great day Matt! No wonder you didn't make it to CN. I heard the Roulettes around on the radio. The aerobatic club open day at CN was a bit of a fizzer with only a few people turning up. There were a couple of Pitts S2As, a couple of Giles, plus the resident Camden aircraft - i.e. Pitts 12, Pitts S2B & S2C, Tiger Moths etc.

The RAF did inverted spin training in Hunters. :;)2: Let me know if you do go to CN on Sunday. If the weather is OK I'll be there at the beginning and end of the day, away at a fly-in in the middle of the day.

Believe it or not I'm going to a fly-in on Sunday. I might depart CN a bit later and leave the destination a bit earlier so I can see a bit of the action at CN!