I’ve previously seen plenty of NOTAMs put out for comps. The aerial ambulance would/should be aware of these and expect eg “up to 50 gliders” in the area.
(It was very entertaining at Horsham Week one year hearing what sounded like a student pilot announcing on the radio their inbound intentions. Upon hearing the reply to expect up to 30 gliders in the air they made a stuttered call that they were going elsewhere J ) Don’t all comp organisers get NOTAMS published for the comp? >From my experience as being the one in the hospital making the decision to >call out the aerial ambulance it usually takes about three to four hours from >the first phone call to the capital city retrieval co-ordinator until the >aeroplane arrives. They give us a fairly precise ETA well before arrival. >This ETA could be communicated to Comp Directors by the retrieval service (who >are obviously aware of the comp from the NOTAM!) and therefore be provided to >all pilots – likely before glider launch. I’m not sure how many frequencies the aerial ambulance monitor. Obviously both area and CTAF, but I’m not sure if they have a third radio for separate glider frequencies – outside the CTAF as in this case. But then we still need to expect other, unannounced, aircraft as well. One evening as I was taxiing out to head home I heard the King Air aerial ambulance announce their inbound call. They were coming in to pick up a patient I had called them for a couple of hours prior. It was rather strange mental reverberations having them turn on final as I headed out… Dave Long From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Mike Cleaver Sent: Tuesday, 21 May 2013 9:14 PM To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia. Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Spam:*******, Re: Near miss between Air Ambulance and glider - vicinity Griffith NSW earlier this year... Alan & others There is nothing in the report to show that the glider that was almost collected by the King Air was the one ADS-B equipped Dutch registered one he had spoken to shortly before, though they may have got its logger trace to determine separation. Like the Benalla one where the Ambulance King Air was outside the vicinity of the aerodrome it was going to, but within the vicinity of the likely gliding site with a different CTAF, they must realise that radio is not a guaranteed separation device and that ADS -B normally has no collision alert algorithm like Flarm does. While Corowa and Temora both advise some operators into Narrandera and Griffith of known organised XC flights, random ones like the Ambulance must be aware of what unnotified traffic they can find outside of the 10-mile "vicinity" and the CTAF is there to protect the circuit, not en-route airspace. Wombat
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