The Civil Aviation Safety Authority will propose an alteration to the Air Information Publications to advise pilots to monitor Multicom 126.7 below 5000 feet where there is no CTAF or other appropriate frequency.
A Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) will be presented to the Aviation Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) for endorsement and should be available to the public by the end of the year.
"The policy ... takes into account the preferences received from consultation on the Frequency use at low level in Class G airspace discussion paper along with future airspace considerations," a CASA announcement says.
"The proposed solution will also reflect the strong preference received during consultation for keeping air traffic control transmissions separate from general transmissions whilst retaining the safety and situational awareness benefits of alerted see-and-avoid."
Previously CASA had advised pilots to broadcast on the area VHF frequency and not the Multicom in the vicinity of airstrips not marked on charts and without a discrete frequency.
The issue caused controversy and drew criticism from former CASA Chairman Dick Smith when it first came to light in 2014. Smith, and many others in the industry, considered the area VHF frequencies could become cluttered with traffic, causing important ATC instructions and pilot readbacks to be masked.
Then CASA Director of Aviation Safety Mark Skidmore announced the discussion paper in April 2016 after conferring with Smith and the Regional Airspace Procedures Advisory Committees (RAPAC), who had not been included in the original decision to change to area VHF.
Responses to the discussion paper formed the basis of a consultants' analysis released in September, which revealed an overwhelming industry support for the Multicom.