[Peetwo]

I know the Ferryman detests this comic; but IMO it perfectly highlights Ms Staib's (+ her exec backstaibbing numpties) view of what it is she is supposed to be overseeing for a measly 600k per annum...FCOL



Not sure about anything else in the Angus rant, but IMO this is what most people will remember..   

"..Sir Angus has refused to do so, saying “We want our firefighters ready to respond … not handling the radio”..."

Overnight from that man again...

Hit for $90k, flight veteran says bosses have heads in clouds  

• by: EAN HIGGINS
  
• From: The Australian
  
• June 27, 2015 12:00AM
  

Reporter
Sydney




Ray Clamback at Bankstown airport. ‘It’s ridiculous ... to say this is going to increase air safety in this country,’ he says. Picture: Renee Nowytarger Source: News Corp Australia

After 55 years of flying, and two separate near-death experiences in which he was plucked from the Pacific Ocean when he had to ditch after engine failure, Ray Clamback knows a thing or two about navigation, weather and safety.  

And Mr Clamback, who runs a flying school at Sydney’s Bankstown airport, knows the expensive GPS navigation system being introduced under the championship of Airservices Australia chairman Angus Houston won’t make an iota of difference.

“It’s ridiculous for Houston — he’s not a bad fellow — to say this is going to increase air safety in this country. It’s not,” Mr Clamback told The Weekend Australian.

What Mr Clamback also knows is that the complex avionics the air regulators are forcing him to ­install to comply with the new system, known as Automatic Dependent Surveillance — Broadcast, are costing him a lot of money.

He has bought one ADS-B unit for $16,800 and has to equip seven single-engine and one twin-­engine training aircraft with them.
Under ADS-B, sophisticated satellite GPS systems determine the position, direction, speed and altitude of aircraft, with that information relayed in real time to air traffic controllers via ground stations.

The problem, however, is that, generally, below 8500 feet, nat­ional air traffic controllers do not direct aircraft anyway, and most private and recreational aircraft flying under visual flight rules at those levels are not require to ­install ADS-B.

ADS-B is of no practical use to Mr Clamback since his unpressurised aircraft fly at lower levels.

“Why a small school like ourselves is up for $90,000, when we don’t gain anything, is ridiculous,” Mr Clamback said.

One thing that would make flying safer for his instructors and students would be if ground staff at the school, during the hours when the Bankstown control tower is closed, went on the Unicom radio to advise pilots of local weather and air traffic.

Air regulations prohibit him and his staff from doing so: the rules state that only individuals who have held air traffic controller ­licences within the past 10 years are allowed to provide such information.

“For 55 years I have flown just about everywhere in the world ­except China, and they are telling me I’m not allowed to tell a person coming in here what the weather is like,” Mr Clamback said.

One thing Sir Angus could do, Mr Clamback said, to improve air safety would be to have the firefighters employed by Airservices at airports such as Ballina in NSW, where there is no control tower, trained to operate the Unicom to inform pilots of traffic and weather, as they do in the US.

Sir Angus has refused to do so, saying “We want our firefighters ready to respond … not handling the radio”. psss..see what I mean..

Head in clouds??



Nah..more like..



---ka'ching---

From Planetalking this arvo, Ben weighs in on the debate...

Dick versus Angus over air space reform in Australia

Ben Sandilands | Jun 27, 2015 1:14PM |

Are we wasting millions, and destroying general aviation, by inadequately and unfairly introducing new air traffic control technology?

Dick Smith, aviator, businessman, and supporter of good causes

In recent months an important, if not broadly understood aviation issue has been pursued behind the paywall of The Australian by Dick Smith on one side and the air traffic control provider AirServices Australia on the other.

Paywalls are essential if professional journalism is to survive, but unfortunately, a model that works effectively in Australia in conjunction with broad readership hasn’t yet been proven, which means that  it is questionable as to whether there has been much connection between a crucial number of readers and the issues that have been raised by the newspaper’s detailed and perceptive coverage.

Yet that continuing argument, concerning new air traffic control technology  (ADS-B or automatic dependant surveillance-broadcast) is one in which ruinous costs could lead to the shorter term destruction of the already hard pressed private and general aviation sectors in this country.

GA operators and private pilots are being asked to spend substantial sums of money on equipment that makes them ADS-B visible,  yet not in practice be of use in many lower flight level situations, meaning that the money spent will not deliver improved safety outcomes in airspace and approaches to a wide range of secondary or regional airstrips where they are urgently needed.

These include airports where civil airliners, hobby ultra-light flyers, parachutists, private jets,  more conventional propeller light aircraft and helicopters might all  be using the same airspace, such as around Ballina or Port Macquarie.

While there are many voices canvassed by The Australian stories, and the twists and turns in the narratives do not lend themselves to bland summary, the twin focuses of the row have been on the opposing positions taken by Dick Smith and Angus Houston, who is the chairman of AirServices Australia.

Angus, as he prefers to be called, says everything is fine and Dick is wrong, and has in passing taken umbrage at criticism in the Senate of the amount of money being paid to AirServices managers, who are responsible for a public enterprise which supports itself from air navigation charges and makes profits which flow straight into Treasury.

My view is that Angus underlines a problem with the administrative and executive branches in Australia, in that there is a strong preference in Government to believe anything the Mandarins tell Ministers regardless of what party or coalition is in power,  and that there is sod all serious independent auditing of claims and budget efficiency.

Angus is very loyal to his organisation, and some very fine professionals within it, but perhaps insufficiently skeptical of its narrative over the application of ADS-B technology as it currently stands.

Dick isn’t the only prominent general aviation figure quoted by coverage in The Australian  as to the inadequacy of the airspace management in Australia today, and the more so, under ADS-B in the near future.

If Angus were to shift modes from defending the air traffic control establishment to dealing with the need to make the reforms work without further risking the survivability of the private pilot and general aviation interests in Australia we might have progress.

It seems inescapably reasonable that spending on ADS-B and the proper management of airspace must produce a very significant improvement in air safety by diminishing risk across all flying activities that involve the sharing of the skies between larger and smaller aircraft.

Otherwise, through insupportable cost pressures and inefficiencies, the very food chain in the aviation industry in terms of training, experience and critical skills in support services will be broken, and the ‘common good’ to use an old fashioned term, will be deeply harmed.

MTF...P2