The Last Minute Hitch: 15 September 2017
– Steve Hitchen
AAHOF has announced their 2017 inductees, and it was very pleasing to see one name in particular amongst the litany of worthies: Bob Tait. Bob has been guiding the careers of fledgling pilots for decades, and there are many CPLs and ATPLs who have spent many evenings hunched over Bob Tait books drinking in the material that will ultimately get them past another theory test. Bob is Australia's aviation theory guru, and his impact on all sectors of aviation has been unmeasurable and long-lasting. Bob Tait did not make spectacular pioneering flights, nor is he a household name with Australia's general public, but his contribution to the industry has been to enable many pilots to go on to aviation careers with confidence. Well deserved, and well done to AAHOF for selecting Bob to be inducted.
It seems the VFR ADS-B project is not dead in the water as many in the GA community were beginning to think it was. After being proposed in June last year, the concept lost its champion when Mark Skidmore departed CASA. Consequently, there were some who presumed it had sunk to the bottom of the regulatory swamp. Not so, it seems, with CASA getting close to releasing a discussion paper. However, the DP looks set to be a controversy generator when it arrives because it is inevitably stained with the term "ADS-B", which is still regarded as a four-letter word in some GA circles. But are the detractors set against the idea simply because of a lack of communication? Firstly the word "mandate" still scares a lot of people, even though it has never been used in the context of VFR ADS-B; the phrase in all the briefing papers is "voluntary fitment". Still, ADS-B is mandatory for VFR in the USA, and Australia's sceptics are afraid of a cross-Pacific infiltration of ideas that will see CASA jump on board and issue a mandate. The DP, when it does come out, should put the kibosh on that idea; CASA has made no sounds in that direction at all. Secondly, we are talking about a low-cost, non-TSO version of the equipment that stands to give great functionality at a reasonable price. If the project doesn't deliver both of these things, it will have failed in its intent.
We are on the brink of a revolution in aviation weather forecasts with the traditional Area Forecast (ARFOR) set to be retired on 9 November. From that date on, the new Graphical Area Forecast (GAF) and Grid Point Wind and Temperature (GPWT) will be the channels via which we get our weather. The changes, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, are to align us with best practice and present more information in a more easily understood manner. We'll all have to get used to new forecast areas (10 instead of the current 28), six-hour forecasts instead of 12 and reading the GPWT charts. There will be some learning challenges here, but the new layouts do look easier to read than trying to decipher the coded heiroglyphics of the current ARFOR system. Look out for a comprehensive feature article on GAFs in the next issue of Australian Flying, which will arrive in your hands a couple of weeks before the GAFs go from concept to reality and ARFORs are gone forever.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch