Canberra orders Airservices Australia to provide approach radar control service after reclassification policy reversal
In the latest twist in Australia's troubled airspace reform programme, air traffic services provider Airservices Australia has been told by the country's transport minister that it will have to provide an approach radar control service - at an estimated cost of A$150 million ($109 million) - if it goes ahead with plans to reverse elements of the National Airspace System (NAS) programme. Airservices says that this could jeopardise its nationwide automatic dependent surveillance- broadcast (ADS-B) plans.
At a meeting in late August, the Airservices board decided to go ahead with a reversal of some NAS changes with its so-called option three, designed to address safety concerns with the airspace reforms that were introduced last November. Option three includes upgrading airspace above Class D towers from Class E to Class C, enhancing Class C above capital city airports and in the en-route airspace between Sydney and Melbourne.
The board's decision came despite considerable opposition from airspace reformer Dick Smith, who devised the US-style NAS, and the sports and general aviation community. Opponents of option three argued, with the support of airspace and risk management experts, that Airservices' risk analysis was "dangerously flawed" and does not establish that the present airspace arrangements are unsafe. Meanwhile, airline pilot and air traffic controller groups, that have voiced NAS safety concerns, have supported option three.
Last week transport minister John Anderson, who originally gave the go-ahead for NAS implementation and has continued to back it, told Airservices that approach radar will need to be installed where airspace is re-classified from E to C.
Airservices says that this would involve nine or 10 sites at a minimum cost of A$150 million, with the tender and implementation programme to take 12 months.
Airservices says it will go ahead with implementing option three in November, but it is seeking clarification from the minister on issues such as who will pay for the radar. The service provider is also examining whether ADS-B could operate as a suitable equivalent. Airservices is already investing $14 million in a programme to install ADS-B stations throughout the country to provide nationwide surveillance services from the end of 2005 and it says it cannot rule out any adverse affect on the ADS-B programme.
The most contentious aspects of the NAS reforms included Class E airspace, which relies on pilots seeing and avoiding other aircraft, replacing parts of Class C airspace, where traffic is separated by controllers, and the removal of radio frequency boundaries on aeronautical charts.
EMMA KELLY / PERTH
Source: Flight International
