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(Mr Fairless has been a CAA Air Traffic Controller for 17 years. Previously he flew with the RAF. The views expressed are his own and do not represent the views of either the Civil Air Operations Officers' Association or the Civil Aviation Authority.)
Australian ATC Alternatives
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Air Traffic Control in Europe Is It Applicable to Australia
It is always interesting and educational to examine the ways others go about providing a service with which we are familiar. It is also important to remember that “their way evolved due to their own local conditions and requirements 83, of course, did ours. In this light I have attempted to address some of the points raised by Anthony Brown’s article and at the same time ask some questions about our own system.
The United Kingdom Compared with Australia
The division of airspace in the UK has derived from the basic geography of a small country with a limited number of busy airports. Hence the system of airways between cities, with no upper blanket’ of Control Area (CTA). Similarly the numbers of aircraft and more importantly the types flying ‘off airways’ is limited by the UK rule that civil aircraft over 5,700kgs are not allowed to operate into uncontrolled airports.
Australia on the other hand, is a large, sparsely populated continent. Where airliners and other fast jet types spend a great deal of time cruising at high altitude en route to widely scattered and often little used, but essential, airports. The ATC task is therefore in many ways different. Another important difference is the almost total VHF radio and radar coverage over the UK. Both items missing from the Australian scene.
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