02-14-2025, 07:09 PM
The Last Minute Hitch: 14 February 2025
14 February 2025
– Steve Hitchen
In a Federal Election year, a ream of funding announcements generally marks the starting gun to a serious pitch by the government to stay in power. Not that grants aren't given out regularly during the course of a government's term, just that they take on strategic meaning. Sometimes that strategy is not so clear. This week minister Catherine King released successful projects for the fourth round of the Regional Airports Program (RAP), but only for NSW. When questioned about it, the department spokesperson said further announcements were yet to be made, like I needed to have that pointed out. The department release included quotes from the minister, and from the sitting members for Gilmore (Moruya) and Eden-Monaro (Merimbula). Missing was any form of quote from the federal member for Farrar, a seat which includes Albury, Narrandera and Griffith. Farrar was plied with the most money of any NSW electorate. Gilmore and Eden-Monaro are Labor seats; Farrar is Liberal. Let's not give air time to the opposition, especially with an election so close. The muddiness comes in why NSW has been singled out for a special announcement unaccompanied by a list of grants for other states. I suspect it is attached to an electoral strategy to shore up support in that state. If that's correct, we may see further funding announcements as the election bandwagon rolls across other state borders.
"..GA is being ordered to make extinction-level sacrifice.."
Consultation and commonsense have tag-teamed CASA into scrapping the Bankstown Corridor idea. The design would have funnel training traffic into a corridor with a narrow girth and a ceiling lower than a POWs tunnel. That bought about a clear rejection from the aviation community, and CASA has taken that on board and binned the concept as published. Now, some aviation commentators are asking "why was CASA so stupid to design something so dangerous is the first place?" I can answer that: they didn't have a lot of say in the matter. The ALP needed to appease the Western Sydney International deity, and threw copious amounts of GA airspace into the volcano to do so, despite being told at blueprint stage that Bankstown would be strangled. Consequently, CASA's Office of Airspace Regulation is trying to come up with an airspace design that will allow Bankstown to breathe without compromising safety. The last one was bound to decrease safety in the Sydney basin, so tearing it up was actually the safest thing to do. But OAR is still working with the same raw materials, but now are expected to come up with a better idea mid year. If a better idea existed, they would have put that forward for consultation last year and not the design they did. WSA needs airspace, and that airspace has to come from somewhere else. At the moment, GA is being ordered to make extinction-level sacrifice whereas other airspace users in the Sydney basin like the ADF and Sydney International have surrendered little. A total re-think is needed for the OAR to come up with an inspired alternative, and that may mean having some harsh words with other airspace users.
It makes logical sense for AAHOF to schedule the induction dinner to coincide with Airshows Downunder Shellharbour. The air show will already draw a lot of people from all sectors of aviation to Shellharbour Airport, and holding the dinner at the same time will add some lustre to AAHOF, and further cement Shellharbour as a key hub for the aviation community. There will already be many in the aviation community at Shellharbour for the air show, so the AAHOF induction won't demand from them two separate trips for each event. Add to that, it will give people somewhere to go on the Saturday night that keeps them immersed in aviation rather than dispersing at the end of the day for dinner at a nearby pub or restaurant. On the years that ASDU is not held, scheduling the dinner will be trickier to ensure it doesn't foul the Avalon calendar. That shouldn't be too hard to do given that AAHOF and AMDA Foundation, which runs Avalon, have directors in common. And whilst we're on the subject: AAHOF hasn't any nominations for the Southern Cross Award yet. There is a lot of satisfaction in having your organisation permanently honoured alongside Qantas, RAAF, RFDS and other names luminous in the annals of Australian aviation. We should know; Australian Flying was so honoured in 2023. Get onto the AAHOF website and tell them right now why your organisation should have its space.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch
14 February 2025
– Steve Hitchen
In a Federal Election year, a ream of funding announcements generally marks the starting gun to a serious pitch by the government to stay in power. Not that grants aren't given out regularly during the course of a government's term, just that they take on strategic meaning. Sometimes that strategy is not so clear. This week minister Catherine King released successful projects for the fourth round of the Regional Airports Program (RAP), but only for NSW. When questioned about it, the department spokesperson said further announcements were yet to be made, like I needed to have that pointed out. The department release included quotes from the minister, and from the sitting members for Gilmore (Moruya) and Eden-Monaro (Merimbula). Missing was any form of quote from the federal member for Farrar, a seat which includes Albury, Narrandera and Griffith. Farrar was plied with the most money of any NSW electorate. Gilmore and Eden-Monaro are Labor seats; Farrar is Liberal. Let's not give air time to the opposition, especially with an election so close. The muddiness comes in why NSW has been singled out for a special announcement unaccompanied by a list of grants for other states. I suspect it is attached to an electoral strategy to shore up support in that state. If that's correct, we may see further funding announcements as the election bandwagon rolls across other state borders.
"..GA is being ordered to make extinction-level sacrifice.."
Consultation and commonsense have tag-teamed CASA into scrapping the Bankstown Corridor idea. The design would have funnel training traffic into a corridor with a narrow girth and a ceiling lower than a POWs tunnel. That bought about a clear rejection from the aviation community, and CASA has taken that on board and binned the concept as published. Now, some aviation commentators are asking "why was CASA so stupid to design something so dangerous is the first place?" I can answer that: they didn't have a lot of say in the matter. The ALP needed to appease the Western Sydney International deity, and threw copious amounts of GA airspace into the volcano to do so, despite being told at blueprint stage that Bankstown would be strangled. Consequently, CASA's Office of Airspace Regulation is trying to come up with an airspace design that will allow Bankstown to breathe without compromising safety. The last one was bound to decrease safety in the Sydney basin, so tearing it up was actually the safest thing to do. But OAR is still working with the same raw materials, but now are expected to come up with a better idea mid year. If a better idea existed, they would have put that forward for consultation last year and not the design they did. WSA needs airspace, and that airspace has to come from somewhere else. At the moment, GA is being ordered to make extinction-level sacrifice whereas other airspace users in the Sydney basin like the ADF and Sydney International have surrendered little. A total re-think is needed for the OAR to come up with an inspired alternative, and that may mean having some harsh words with other airspace users.
It makes logical sense for AAHOF to schedule the induction dinner to coincide with Airshows Downunder Shellharbour. The air show will already draw a lot of people from all sectors of aviation to Shellharbour Airport, and holding the dinner at the same time will add some lustre to AAHOF, and further cement Shellharbour as a key hub for the aviation community. There will already be many in the aviation community at Shellharbour for the air show, so the AAHOF induction won't demand from them two separate trips for each event. Add to that, it will give people somewhere to go on the Saturday night that keeps them immersed in aviation rather than dispersing at the end of the day for dinner at a nearby pub or restaurant. On the years that ASDU is not held, scheduling the dinner will be trickier to ensure it doesn't foul the Avalon calendar. That shouldn't be too hard to do given that AAHOF and AMDA Foundation, which runs Avalon, have directors in common. And whilst we're on the subject: AAHOF hasn't any nominations for the Southern Cross Award yet. There is a lot of satisfaction in having your organisation permanently honoured alongside Qantas, RAAF, RFDS and other names luminous in the annals of Australian aviation. We should know; Australian Flying was so honoured in 2023. Get onto the AAHOF website and tell them right now why your organisation should have its space.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch