Straight Through to the Wicket Keeper!
Editorial comment.
Anybody who’s concerned with aviation’s future and hopes to influence government decision making, may find it informative to take a look at some of the correspondence between the Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association and the relevant Minister.
Remember that AOPA represents a very large percentage of Australia’s light aircraft owners, pilots, commercial operators and investors – people at the core of the entire general aviation scene.
Let’s see how much weight that carries with Minister Anthony Albanese:
11th February 2009
The Hon Anthony Albanese MP
Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government
CANBERRA ACT 2601
via email to:
cc
greg.russell@airservicesaustralia.com
ceo@casa.gov.au
kim.ellis@bankstownairport.com.au
mike.taylor@infrastructure.gov.au
Dear Minister
Sydney Basin General Aviation Capacity
AOPA has been advising against the closure of Hoxton Park airfield for many years. We last wrote to you on 7th November 2008, seeking your assistance to resolve what we see as a major concern for aviation in the region. Your response dated 1st December 2008 indicated that you had been advised that:
“I understand that studies undertaken prior to the airports sale indicate there is more than enough capacity for general aviation operations in the region for the foreseeable future.”
The advice given to you was wrong, and has now been publicly disproved by the Bankstown Airport Air Traffic Control closures and circuit limitations, which events and concerns were relayed to you in our letter of 2 February this year.
A meeting was held concerning the above matter, at Bankstown on Thursday 5th February to resolve the ATC matters.
Senior members of management of Airservices Australia and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority attended that meeting with flying training operators, where it was unanimously resolved that the action to close Hoxton Park was seriously flawed, and flew directly against industry advice provided to governments of both parties.
It was further agreed that not only should Hoxton Park have never been closed, but that action should be taken to re-open Hoxton Park and the Schofields military airfield for public use.
It was particularly noted that the uncalled for destruction of the movement area at Hoxton Park, immediately following the closure, prevented even its temporary or emergency re-use to provide a safety mitigator pending full investigation of the matter.
The reduction in GA capacity now being suffered in the Sydney Basin, as a result of these actions in favour of inappropriate property development, will have serious safety implications, ranging from inadequate training facilities for an industry earning increasing amounts of foreign dollars in these difficult financial times, through an increased risk of mid-air conflicts brought about by a concentration of training aircraft in airspace around the only real training airfield within the basin. Camden Park has only limited capacity, and is too far away from Bankstown to be able to be used for overflow.
All this comes at a time when governments world-wide have agreed on the serious shortage of skilled aviation personnel, and Australia’s chances of surviving the Global Financial Crisis rest in part on our ability to continue to provide services and resources that are in demand.
To conclude, it is apparent that it is proven beyond doubt that the Sydney Basin does not have enough capacity for General Aviation operations, and urgent solutions such as those suggested above are vital.
Yours sincerely
Tim Blatch
Chief Executive Officer
Minister Albanese flick-passed that one to his department which replied:
Australian Government
Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government
Mr Tim Blatch
Chief Executive Officer
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of Australia
PO Box 26
GEORGES HALL NSW 2198
Dear Mr Blatch
Thank you for your letter dated 11 February 2009 to the Ron Anthony Albanese MP, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, about Sydney Basin General Aviation capacity. The Minister has asked me to reply on his behalf. I apologise for the delay in replying.
Australia has an enviable aviation safety record and maintaining high safety standards within the busy airspace in and around Sydney is an important issue. As stated in the Australian Government’s National Aviation Policy Green Paper, safety is crucial to the aviation industry and must underpin every aspect of its operation. I understand that Mr Greg Russell, Chief Executive Officer, Airservices Australia, responded to your issues in relation to Bankstown Air Traffic Control on 27 February 2009.
In addition, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has advised that there has been no apparent increase of aircraft traffic inside the General Aviation Airport Procedures (GAAP) approach points since the closure of Hoxton Park Airport. You may already be aware that CASA has formed a GAAP training review team which has been tasked to review the provision of training in GAAP procedures at all flying training organisations that are located at or within the vicinity of GAAP aerodromes. This review will include Bankstown Airport and will cover all aspects involved in the provision of training, including all published advisory material.
Safety is the Government’s number one priority in aviation and will remain so.
I trust this information will be of assistance.
Yours sincerely
Alexandra Waldren
Section Head
Irrelevant, or what?
Ms Waldren didn’t appear to have addressed any of the issues raised in AOPA’s letter, so it’s not hard to understand why AOPA and its members wonder if anybody’s listening:
29th April 2009
The Hon Anthony Albanese MP
Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government
CANBERRA ACT 2601
via email to: A.AlbaneseMP@aph.gov.au
Dear Minister
Sydney Basin General Aviation Capacity
I wrote to you on 11th February 2009 regarding the lack of capacity for general aviation traffic within the Sydney Basin. I have attached that original letter for your information.
On 22 April we received a reply from a mid level functionary within your Department which we consider to be both anodyne and patronising. This document is also attached. It fails to address properly any of the points raised in the original correspondence, and we would ask for confirmation of the aeronautical experience and qualifications of the author which permit her to make such judgements concerning aviation safety.
We intend to publish our original letter and the reply from Ms Waldren in our magazine, “Australian Pilot” (circulation over 7000 copies), as a shining example of the lack of interest shown by your department to the true and indeed serious position of General Aviation in this country.
AOPA spent considerable time and effort to respond to your Government’s request to make submissions to the proposed National Aviation Plan. It has done so in a professional and constructive manner, however it appears that some staff within your Department consider themselves to be better informed than any actual participants.
Could you please address the points raised in the original correspondence.
Yours sincerely
Tim Blatch
Chief Executive Officer
Comment:
Surely the time has come for the Minister to include somebody amongst his advisors who has at least some basic understanding of aviation and its many facets, as well as of the individuals and groups who populate it. Seniority in the Australian Public Service does not automatically bestow that talent, and until the Minister realises that he will continue to be embarrassed. You can count on us.
Your comments would be appreciated.
Are we not surprised? The demise of the GA sector has been ongoing for some time. Not only is there a profound lack of appreciation of the overall industry’s value and Australia’s need for sustainable infrastructure but there still seems there is no accountability for those responsible
The decline continues of course as wikk the the tradgeies
There have been so many opportunities lost by the government and its agencies – some bordering on the “unbelievable – that could have prevented the inevitable but until there is someone, some person…………..who actually cares, then the slide will continue.
I note the often repeated platitude of “Australia’s enviable safety record”. There are several elements to this claim………..the main one’s being our weather and some, not all, good trainers. As a country we are not tested as many others are ……..but then why would “political writers” be concerned with those issues.
To those who doubt that statement count the number of Cat 3 ILS installations exist here.
I am reminded of the Fiddler as Rome burned………….We are there now – so get ready to duck.
Albanese needs to do a review of his own Department and call it to account. It seems to have its own agenda, that is selling off the family farm as quickly as it can or encouraging others to do so…..and this has been going on for some years now.
The notion that the ‘market place’ will get it right with regard to aviation is a complete nonsense. And certainly, in many cases, local government, which now has charge of what happens to regional aviation, has no perspective whatsoever on flying infrastructure, nor do some state govts such as NSW.
You gotta also wonder if any of the stuff which is sent to the Minister is actually seen by the Minister. If it is, then GA is in trouble. I note here parenthetically that Albo’s aviation advisor doesn’t return telephone calls.
When Albo’s predecessor John Anderson was at the helm he signed a letter to all 230 ALOP Aerodrome owners on 13 January 2004 “liberalising” control over these strips so that, basically, local govt could do as it pleased but with the caveat that they should contact the Dept if they were thinking of closing the place down.
This liberalisation policy did not come to parliament nor was there a media release about it and yet it involved hundreds of millions of dollars worth of aviation infrastructure.
So the ‘heads up’ was given to local govt but the aviation community was kept out of the loop.
To be fair to Anderson, he asked his dept to consult with aviation before the liberalisation policy was put in place (I have a copy of a handwritten note from Anderson about this) but I have checked with those his dept was supposed to contact and as far as I can determine, they didn’t do so. AOPA was one of those and they have confirmed that they were never contacted. But Anderson’s dept proceeded with the policy anyway and it would appear Anderson didn’t check to see if his Mandarins had done their job, something Ministers need to start doing in my view.
Almost simultaneous with the release of the liberalisation letter was the release of the “Making Ends Meet” report from a parliamentary committee inquiring into regional aviation, a report the govt of the day completely ignored in spite of promises that it would make comment at some future date …..it never happened.
“Making Ends Meet” recommendations took a very different view to Anderson’s dept. It must have been SHEER BLOODY COINCIDENCE that the liberalisation letter from Anderson’s dept appeared at almost the same time!!!
Certainly property developers got wind of all this liberalisation stuff very early and took advantage of it. I am often asked the question ‘when were John Anderson’s regional advisory committees given the ‘heads up’ about these changes or proposed changes?’. As I understand it Anderson appointed the chairs and they then in turn appointed their own members including folks from local government. And were there any political appointments? Of course not!
Not all that long before the liberalisation policy was put in place, our local government, Richmond Valley Council, sold off 120 ha of its own Casino RPT jet airport, including part of the main runway and a terminal building worth $800,000 for $660,000 including GST on a down payment of $160,000 and five annual payments of $100,000 interest free over five years. Shortly after sale the property was valued at three times that amount. It didn’t go to tender and council agreed to keep the deal behind closed door. We were eventually told that the land was to be sold to a grey nomad organisation but subsequently learned that it was sold to a private development company which is gradually turning the place into a housing development. Ratepayers subsidised the sale of a great regional aerodrome to a private housing development organisation! And the market place didn’t even get a look in.
That same council is now trying to flog off part of its other aerodome, the four strip Evans Head Memorial Aerodrome, to a retirement village developer who plans to build the village 110 metres from the end of the main runway. Council’s management plan shows that there is a real estate sale on the Aerodrome for $1.5 million. Not bad for a 9.5ha site near the coast! We believe this is the sale price. The sale has not gone to public tender (so much for the market place yet again!!) and council and the NSW State govt have virtually ignored what has been said about the development including an independent town planning assessment which concludes that the proposal is a land use planning conflict. There are big muddy political footprints all over this at both the State and Federal level.
We have written to Albo about this but we get the same kind of runaround letter AOPA has been getting……’we apologise for the delay in reply…..but are going to ignore what you have to say and listen to council and we are not going to validate or respond to your claims. We are going to accept what local govt has to say without question, etc’.
There needs to be an independend commission of inquiry into what’s been happening with aviation infrastructure in Australia. Nothing less will do. The rot needs to be stopped. The Aviation Green Paper is a joke. And Albo needs to call his dept to account. Nothing less will do….or is he also part of the problem?
My Committee is looking at establishing a ‘fighting fund’ to take the whole issue of ALOP’s and inappropriate development to court. Govts these days listen only to legal argument, nothing else. The days of a ‘fair go’ are gone and aviation infrastructure will continue to suffer until we call Albanese and his department to account.
Dr Richard Gates
President
The Evans Head Memorial Aerodrome Committee Inc.
I too have been a recipient of one of the fob off letters from the ministers lacky. The really insulting part of that letter was that I have a copy of a letter that was sent to a friend and it has the EXACT SAME content. She did not bother to look at my letter or answer any of my questions. Bureaucrats and Ministers it seems are a law unto themselves and us poor little people are irrelevant.
Peter Flanagan
Rome Burns whilst the Emperor fiddles! – Bankstown Tower limits the number of aircraft in the training circuit to 4 or 5 meanwhile there are seven or eight flying schools needing 4 slots each most of the time. But no – there is no increase in traffic is there?
Now have a go at this. I was at a meeting in South Australia at the weekend (2 May 2009) at which there was an Airservices Autralia representative. I tackled him about the subject of the Bankstown operator problems due to the Tower limiting the numbers in the circuit.
His response: The issues of Bankstown are being addressed. We are solely interested in safety. We had no idea that Bankstown would be so busy. The operators should get together and all sort out their circuit problems and take it in turns to go to Camden to conduct their circuits to relieve the situation at Bankstown.
My Response: Why should we have to add to our costs because Airservices cannot think ahead – and incidentally Sir, the traffic that has come back to Bankstown is the Bankstown traffic that went to Hoxton Park because Bankstown Tower was unable to handle us in the first placae.
His Response: Is that so? (blank face).
The arrogance of the stance is beyond belief. We pay for Airservices and we have no say in the tower hours and our needs. We pay for CASA mega dollars and they say that everything is fine at Bankstown – We pay for the Government who sells our businesses on our behalf to Private Enterprise shareholders and thinks nothing is wrong.
Meanwhile Aviation one of Australia’s foreign dollar eaners is capsizing with the flood ignorance and arrogance.