|
It's
an issue we will all need to be more aware of, as in the current climate there
will be some out there who will lose no opportunity to say "here is another
example of those irresponsible other airspace users, let's get them out of the
air!".
Down
at Bunyan we are a few miles outside the Cooma MBZ. We have over the years
established pretty good relationships with the various operators who have tried
to establish a viable service into Cooma, and almost always they will call us up
on 122.7 when well out or prior to take off, to establish if we are
operating and where the gliders are. (They sometimes do a verbal equivalent of a
double take when some of the altitudes of the gliders are reported to them!)
Our
own pilots, and visitors, are briefed on talking to them and reporting position.
It all works pretty well. We also have good relationships with the Melbourne ATC
guys and can generally get clearances when the wave is on, to go into the
serious controlled airspace - without transponders. We negotiate a block of
airspace for our annual wave camp and they put out a NOTAM for it.
Our
experience is that, if we take a responsible attitude and do the right thing,
the "professionals" are generally pretty easy to work with.
The
biggest problem we have is the lighties who find it very convenient to track
down the Monaro Highway en route between Canberra and Comma and vice versa. This
takes them nicely right through our circuit area, and often as not there is not
a peep from them despite the fact that our operations and our radio frequency
are in ERSA and we have the "dumbells" at the windsock. There have been a number
of occasions where there has been an embarrased pause when they have been
contacted on either the area or MBZ frequency and realise they have just been
through an active circuit area.
There
is no substitute for a good lookout.
Allan Armistead (Canberra Gliding
Club)
|
BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:2.1 N:Armistead;Allan FN:Allan Armistead ORG:Allan Armistead Consulting International TEL;WORK;VOICE:(02) 6249-6470 TEL;HOME;VOICE:(02) 6249-6470 TEL;CELL;VOICE:0413 013 911 TEL;WORK;FAX:(02) 6249-6555 ADR;WORK:;;PO Box 908;DICKSON;ACT;2602;Australia LABEL;WORK;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:PO Box 908=0D=0ADICKSON, ACT 2602=0D=0AAustralia EMAIL;PREF;INTERNET:[EMAIL PROTECTED] REV:20020314T051104Z END:VCARD
_______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
