ADS-B to the ACCC

[Guest High Plains Drifter]

Should the RAAus take the Airservices ADSB proposal to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commision ?

 

ADSB relys apon the continued FREE supply of GPS satelite signals.

 

Australia neither owns the source of the GPS signals, nor does it control the on-off switch.

 

Australia currently has a system of Radar, VOR/ILS and NDB nav aids that it fully owns and controls

 

It seems absurd in the extreme that Australia should commit its entire Air traffic control system to a navigation system that it does not own.

 

There is no garantee in the future that the GPS signal will be free - Just how long will the American tax payer subsidise Australian pilots.

 

In any bussiness in Australia, if a Directer and or Manager of a company suggested that the companys entire future success was to be based on the continued FREE supply of a key ingrediant to thats companys ongoing success - they would probably be sacked on the spot. The share holders would be calling in the ACCC to investergate.

 

HPD

 

 

[sain]

Actually they would be calling ASIC (australian securities and investments commission). ACCC has nothing to do with that (being the australian competition and consumer commission)

 

Best bet if you object to ADSB is to call/write/email your local member for parliament, senator, or the transport minister (phone numbers/emails available here: http://www.aph.gov.au/house/members/index.htm or here: http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/senators/index.htm ).

 

If your calling ask to speak to an electorate office staff member or the mp/senator themselves. Chances are you'll get a staffer (unless its a really quiet day, or its a newbie poli and their staff havn't arrived yet), but its their job to tell the polis the issues.

 

If you can give them an easy out (i.e let them pass the buck) then you'll be more likely to succeed - something like "can you please get the member/senator to ask the transport minister to seriously look at the ADSB proposal as it appears to be flawed due to... <blah>"

 

Make sure you give them logical and consise reasons/problems with adsb, that are easy to understand - especially for non-pilots.

 

The thing with GPS (and the russian equiv) is its a recieve only thing - so the US can't actually charge for it (how do you tell whos receiving a radio transmission?). Even if the signal was encrypted, you could still use it to triangulate your position - just the devices to do it would be more complicated and less accurate.

 

They can however turn it off and otherwise stuff with it. Also jamming or spoofing of GPS signals (and the proposed ADSB) is relatively simple. Yacht owners around Sydney could probably tell us a few stories (apparantly there was a gps jamming problem there a couple of years ago).

 

 

[Guest browng]

The thing with GPS (and the russian equiv) is its a recieve only thing - so the US can't actually charge for it (how do you tell whos receiving a radio transmission?).

As unlikely as it is to actually happen, there are ways of charging for a receive only service. In the UK you need a license to own a TV, because that fee helps pay for the BBC. The old Decca marine navigation system included a royalty on the receivers that went to the owner of the transmitters, and finally ADSB itself could become the basis of a 'User Pays' GPS model, since it allows for tracking of flights.

 

 

[Guest High Plains Drifter]

Sain, I'll disagree with you about the ACCC not being relavent to the ADSB issue.

 

If ADSB is bought in, RAAus pilots (all pilots, infact) will most likely be charged for the service. We will be consumers of a product most RAAus pilots neither want or need. It would also appear that this ADSB 'product' that AsA proposes, will not be the world standard.

 

If ADSB goes ahead, once Australia has commited its entire air navigation system to a GPS sourced supply, it will be relativly easy for the GPS supplier to lean on AsA (via Gov. to Gov.) to pay for the usage of the GPS signal. We pilots will end up paying for our airtime.

 

Of interest, when I first mentioned the ACCC several months ago in another thread, I supplied a link to the ACCC. At that time the ACCC web site page (the page I had linked) made numerous references about being very wary of Free offers (just like the way we were then being sold on the Free ADSB receivers, using the fore-ever Free GPS signals) I recently went back to the ACCC site (link)and the word 'Free' has vanished......

 

HPD