[thorn bird]

 Ballina Airport has approached Airservices to discuss access to our Fire Control Centre at the airport for the airport to provide a Certified Air/Ground Radio Service (CA/GRS) which would provide a better level of information services than a Unicom. This type of arrangement between the aerodrome operator and Airservices is not new and is already being successfully used at Ayers Rock where a CA/GRS is currently in place.

Err, did I read somewhere the Ayers Rock "Certified" unicom costs around $250 grand a year? Anyone wonder why the rock is almost a ghost town these days? priced themselves out of the market.

Oh well another 20 or 30 bucks on the ticket price to pay for it should deter these pesky passengers from booking seats to Ballina.

“In the case of a Unicom this regulatory support would include an appropriate legal instrument needed to enable basic information on air traffic to be provided by the Unicom operator to pilots,” he said.

Could this be the reason why CAsA is now becoming an impediment to safety?
So bound up with legal liability and using it as an excuse to shirk their responsibilities. to not only strangle the industry but strangle safety as well.