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I have no
particular quarrel with CASA moving to change (again) the procedures
for its
powered
aircraft clients for whom it is empowered and obligated to make as many
rules
and regulations as it can dream up.
That these may sometimes have to be revoked in cases where they
don't
turn out as expected is of no consequence, it keeps people in work.
However it
was precisely to keep gliding free from this kind of over regulation
that the
Gliding Federation was brought into being.
And I suppose for the past 50 or so years it has done a pretty
good job. But it was inevitable that
eventually a
group of people would come into power who would fail to keep the
vision, and
would in time come to embrace the idea that instead of operating by
common
sense and simplified procedures it would be better to regulate
everything and write
rules for every possible phase of a glider's operation.
With the enthusiastic adoption of these new
rules - at least in the eyes of some contributors to this discussion -
that
time has come. Whilst
there would appear to be little alternative for those gliding
operations who
share their airfield and airspace with operation of power aircraft and
other
variations on the aviation theme, there is no plausible defence for the
inclusion of all gliding operations – especially those who operate only
as a
gliding only operation without the noisy aircraft – in the requirement
to go
CTAF. The fact is
that in forty years of gliding, I cannot recall one single collision
between
any two gliders in the landing part of the circuit area. Nor can I recall a collision between a
glider and a powered aircraft in the landing area of the
circuit. It's worth noting that this
observation
includes my attendance – sometimes in an operational capacity – at
championships at
state, national and world level. Sometimes
these operations have had up to 10 gliders crossing the finishing line
in a
given minute. Astonishingly they all
landed safely with bumping into each other, and usually with minimal
radio
consultation. Of course
there have been collisions elsewhere between gliders including
occasional
tragic meeting with powered aircraft in past and recent history. But these were almost invariably in other
phases of the flight. What I am saying
is that despite the almost total lack of radio announcements about
position and
intention in the landing part of the circuit at gliding operations
throughout
Australia the safety record has been virtually unblemished. It's pretty hard to improve on that
record. What are we trying fix here? By contrast
there have been collisions between powered aircraft who were using
radio
procedures as their prime vehicle for maintaining (imagined) separation
and
avoiding the worst. Amongst the most
tragic of these –from every aspect – was one where one aircraft
descended onto
another one at the time both were on finals to the same runway at
Parafield. Radio calls are not in
themselves the complete answer to collision avoidance, and reliance on
radio
alone can catch you out. You see making the calls is easy. I enjoy using radio – it is one of my hobbies after all. But making the calls is only half of the equation. The other problem which a few have alluded to is that we all have to listen to them to, and process (filter) them out to ascertain which ones are of immediate interest. Why in the
name of all that reasonable could not gliding operations from
Aerodromes from
which only gliders operate remain on their current gliding frequency
(most
typically 122.7Mhz or 122.5MHz) and make these lifesaving broadcasts
there? There already exists the protocol and
common
knowledge about which sites are using these gliding frequencies. You don't believe me? In my
listening on the various aviation
frequencies in this area, I often hear the controller advise aircraft
who are
intending to transit airspace allocated to the gliding operations at
Gawler to
call “Gawler” on 122.5Mhz I've also
lost count of the number of times that I've heard training aircraft
using my
home field at Balaklava for a bit of circuit practice make their calls
(inbound, joining circuit, base, final – the complete catalogue) on
122.7MHz. The system is established and
it works. Why are we changing?
And so
gentle reader, I look forward in the future to listening to calls on
CTAF from
not only other gliders in my own club, but from Stonefield, ASC
(assuming they
come over from 122.5 to join the party) and then the powered fraternity
groping
their way around Kadina, Maitland, Farell Flat, probably Minlaton and
Port
Pirie too. Great stuff. How
much of this information is relevant to
me as I concentrate on my first weak little thermal at 800 feet in the
Whitwarta circuit with a fly crawling around under my glasses? You know the answer. Too
much irrelevant information has caused
pilots to take their mind off the job in the past. Can
it happen again? We'll find out won't we.
One of
things which characterized gliding operations and administration in the
past
under the GFA regime was that (usually) every procedure and policy was
dictated
by common sense and necessitated by a clearly defined benefit in terms
of operational
safety. There was usually a due process
of consultancy and discussion to make sure that anything new would meet
both
this criteria and pass the wider scrutiny of the Club – State
Association – GFA
communication linkage. There have
been some notable failures in this policy; the system was not perfect. The ultimate safeguard where something too
preposterous was proposed or legislated, was for individual members (or
clubs
in some cases) fell back on the “get stuffed” option. This
has happened too on occasions.
I suggest that it has served us well. Not that I
used the past tense. All the indications are that GFA is losing
interest in
keeping control of it's own operational regime (and a few other things
too). Accordingly we will find
ourselves increasingly being asked to do things which haven't been
thought
through, and our blanket inclusion in this new radio requirement is one
of
them. It will be
interesting to see just how many of us will go the whole hog and
broadcast
generously as required because we know that if we do that no-one is
going to
run into us, and just how many will go back to the “get stuffed”
alternative
and continue to operate on 122.x as in the past. Not
to many I expect.
Our compliance as meek little sheep - obeying without question
or reason
- will be complete. Of course
it opens a whole new discussion as to whether we now need or will ever
use the
former “gliding” frequencies, and whether previous gliding chatter
(useful or
not) will be on the CTAF, but for the moment the technicalities of CDMA
take
understandable precedence. The
founding fathers would be disappointed at the way things have turned
out. But then they would recall that one of
them
once said that “In time we come to resemble that which we oppose …” It's happened. Looking
forward to hearing you all on 126.7 MHz as I almost certainly will … Terry
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