Transponder

[rhtrudder]

Any truth in the rumour that we have to fit transponders in our raa aircraft in the near future 

[FlyBoy1960]

Yes i have one to sell and started that rumor !     Honestly I don't know ?

[Bruce Tuncks]

The only people I know who have been in airspace trouble have had transponders foolishly left on. While they flew from or towards Gawler.

Now transponders could be used to give us freedom, or they could be used for the nastiest policing around...  like enforcing COMPLETELY UNUSED airspace.

Guess which way I expect them to go?

 

[rhtrudder]

I guess leave it turned off, seems like another waste of money, bit like asic

[skippydiesel]

13 minutes ago, rhtrudder said:

I guess leave it turned off, seems like another waste of money, bit like asic

Don agree at all. Sure they can be used to "police" us. If you fly in relativly congested airspace (as I do) they are a great extra set of eyes looking out for you. You could turn the set off when well away from likely traffic - personally I dont bother.

 

ASIC!!! on the other hand is a complete F--K UP, waste of pilots/taxpayers money, that achieves absolutist zero, other than employ a few more government workers.

[kgwilson]

ADSB in/out is far more useful than a 1940s era transponder, no matter how new it may be. On the East Coast of Australia coverage is about 40% at best on a good day. Below 1000 feet unless you are in direct line from a primary radar you are rarely seen by ATC. Above 10,000 feet no problem at all but unless you are in controlled airspace or have an allocated squawk code or have flight following invoked ATC are unlikely to be interested unless by chance they see a couple of blips converging.

 

If on the other hand everyone had ADSB in/out linked to their EFIS you will see all traffic in your vicinity up to around 50NM away, it's callsign, altitude, heading & will be warned of potential conflict.

 

Now in saying this I now confess to having neither & flew GA for 40 years with Xponders and was grateful for ATC assistance a couple of times, once when 45 NM out to sea with little visibility. I will probably get a Skyecho2 or it's successor/equivalent in the not too distant future.

 

Don't get me started on ASIC. I refuse to get one & fly into airports where I am supposed to have one. These things have nothing to do with security and everything to do with power, control and money.

[rhtrudder]

26 minutes ago, kgwilson said:

ADSB in/out is far more useful than a 1940s era transponder, no matter how new it may be. On the East Coast of Australia coverage is about 40% at best on a good day. Below 1000 feet unless you are in direct line from a primary radar you are rarely seen by ATC. Above 10,000 feet no problem at all but unless you are in controlled airspace or have an allocated squawk code or have flight following invoked ATC are unlikely to be interested unless by chance they see a couple of blips converging.

 

If on the other hand everyone had ADSB in/out linked to their EFIS you will see all traffic in your vicinity up to around 50NM away, it's callsign, altitude, heading & will be warned of potential conflict.

 

Now in saying this I now confess to having neither & flew GA for 40 years with Xponders and was grateful for ATC assistance a couple of times, once when 45 NM out to sea with little visibility. I will probably get a Skyecho2 or it's successor/equivalent in the not too distant future.

 

Don't get me started on ASIC. I refuse to get one & fly into airports where I am supposed to have one. These things have nothing to do with security and everything to do with power, control and money.

Have you ever been asked to produce an asic at any airport, 

[Flightrite]

Eventually TX’s will be required for most A/C, (the way of the future in CAsA’s eyes) it’s only a matter of time.

oddly enuf with today’s high tech gizmo’s in even the most rudimentary of flying machines we tend to look outside less than ever therefore needing TX’s even more!

ASIC? A few hundred bucks hanging around yr neck, trouble is ya can’t spend it!

Edited October 18, 2021 by Flightrite

[Garfly]

Side and rear view mirrors on cars were the high tech gizmos of a hundred years ago.

And they've been distracting drivers ever since.

[kgwilson]

34 minutes ago, rhtrudder said:

Have you ever been asked to produce an asic at any airport, 

Ballina. I was told I couldn't go in to the cafe. Said OK & he wandered off & then I went in to the cafe.

[skippydiesel]

33 minutes ago, rhtrudder said:

Have you ever been asked to produce an asic at any airport, 

Once in the 6 years (5 valid) in the last year - secretary of a business I was using, asked, said I had one? true! & she didn't ask to see it, that was it AND the airfield I was at had not hade an RPT in years - total BS

[cscotthendry]

Recently CASA started making noises about lowering Class E airspace to something along the lines of what it is in the US. Here's a couple of things about that: a) CASA is trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist here in Oz, that is the traffic density that exists in the US. b) They got royally spanked for their suggestion, but don't assume that this has gone away. They'll likely just get it quietly legislated and then announce it fait accompli. And c) if they do that and you want to fly at over 1,200’ AGL or whatever they set it at, you WILL need a transponder.

IMHO, the move to lower E airspaceis a result of a bunch of bored bureaucrats trying to justify their existence. We don't have anything like the traffic they have in the US and we NEVER will.

 

Re ASIC: A total WOFTAM. I had one for three years and was asked for it only twice, once at Dubbo and once at a FIFO airport, both times by some officious little jerk asserting his power.

Edited October 18, 2021 by cscotthendry

[Flightrite]

CAsA sure did get a right royal WTF from the low end of the industry when the idiots proposed that level of stupidity! All in the name of ‘safety’ mainly for  IFR flights!

 

Edited October 18, 2021 by Flightrite

[skippydiesel]

1 minute ago, Flightrite said:

CAsA sure did get a right royal WTF from the low end of the industry when the idiots proposed that level of stupidity! All in the name of ‘safety’ mainly for  IFR flights!

 

Cant understand why there was not more criticism of Sport Pilots recent positive article on ASIC acquisition (think it was titled "Red Carded")

[kgwilson]

Lowering of class E to 1,500 feet was promoted by Airservices as part of their AMP (Airspace Modernisation Program). CASA had nothing to do with it. A number of CASA people I spoke to found out about it the same way the rest of the Aviation community did. The first effort was killed off very quickly. After the second round of consultation when they raised the level to 4,500 feet with a series of different levels the result was a mish mash of different class E levels and they got plenty of submissions pouring cold water on the whole thing.  I made submissions to both proposals as did most Aviation Industry organisations including RA-Aus. The RA-Aus submissions were well researched and written and included concerns from members including me. The results of the second round have yet to be promulgated. It was obvious they were trying to solve a problem that did not exist as they produced exactly zero evidence of any safety related problems. The RAAus 2nd response is attached. This clearly demonstrates Airservices poor understanding and lack of knowledge of the Aviation industry.

 

In the US class E starts at 1500 feet and in places ground level. The difference there is you do not require a radio or a transponder in class E below 10,000 feet.

raaus-organisational-response-to-second-proposal-to-lower-class-e-30apr21.pdf

[jackc]

Air Services seem to be sitting on this for months, maybe they need to be called out for not updating the stake holders in reasonable time.  Or, are they planning to just dump it on everyone at their leisure?

 

[cscotthendry]

5 hours ago, kgwilson said:

.... It was obvious they were trying to solve a problem that did not exist as they produced exactly zero evidence of any safety related problems. ...

 

In the US class E starts at 1500 feet and in places ground level. The difference there is you do not require a radio or a transponder in class E below 10,000 feet.

raaus-organisational-response-to-second-proposal-to-lower-class-e-30apr21.pdf 525.49 kB · 4 downloads

Yes, that was blindingly obvious in the first proposal. There was a lot of buzzwords and blah blah, but not real justification in terms of safety either for us bug smashers or the heavy metal drivers given in the blurb. I was about to have my say about it but when I read RA-AUSs submission, they pretty much said what I was going to say, and said it better than I could and had more impact than I would have.

 

WRT Class E in the US, you may be better informed than me (I only did a little research while I was there), but I thought that most of the Class E starts at 1200' AGL and in some places goes down to 700' AGL (mostly near airports). I wasn't aware though that a TXponder wasn't required in E airspace there. That you don't require a radio in that airspace really surprises me.

 

Since we travel 3-5 months of the year in the US, I thought about getting a PPL over there so we could rent planes and fly. But in the end decided it would be easier and cheaper to go for joy flights when we felt the urge.

[Yenn]

When Airservices thought up their original proposal, they had completely forgotten that they had caused a mid air collision between two IFR aircraft. I think they were just trying to get more aircraft involved in their poor service. I am not saying that the traffic controllers are poor, more that the bureaucrats are poor.