Changes to Australian airspace on June 3rd

On June 3rd, a number of changes to Australian airspace classification as well as operations at non-towered aerodromes will come into effect. Whatever one may think of the changes themselves, the communication campaign run by CASA was quite impressive and, I like to believe, effective.

I read the briefing package sent to me by CASA, I attended the workshop at Bankstown and I used the online training package. I even listened to Peter Gibson, corporate communication manager at CASA, explain the changes on the always excellent Plane Crazy Down Under podcast. And I noticed the big flashing sign at the main entrance of Bankstown airport on my way to the pilot shop.

So, what are these changes about? In short, GAAP aerodromes will become Class D aerodromes, but not the Class D as we know it, a new kind of Class D that's modelled on the FAA Class D, not the ICAO Class D. This despite the fact that one of the stated goals of the changes was stronger ICAO compliance. Go figure. And airports already in Class D will of course switch to the new Class D.

So we'll end up with three types of aerodromes instead of the current four: Class C where separation is provided by ATC through radar identification, Class D where separation is provided by ATC in a purely procedural manner, and non-towered aerodromes in Class G where pilots provide their own separation using the good old see and avoid principle.

Except that see and avoid becomes alerted see and avoid since the carriage and use of a radio at all certified, registered and military aerodromes becomes compulsory on June 3rd.

In former GAAP aerodromes, taxi clearances will now be required, but only for taxiing in the so-called maneuvering area, which contains the taxiways in direct proximity to the runways and the run-up bays. No need for a clearance to move an aircraft from one end of the apron to the other for refuelling for example.

Going from GAAP to the new Class D, VMC criteria for vertical cloud clearance are increased from clear of cloud to at least 500ft below clouds and 1000ft above. This may have major consequences for circuit operations since it is not uncommon to have good visibility with ceilings below 1500ft. Will ATC instruct pilots to fly circuits at 800ft if the cloud base is at 1300ft? Or not issue clearances for circuits at all and only allow VFR pilots to arrive or leave the control zone under Special VFR? The CASA and Airservices Australia representatives at the workshop made it clear that they will be monitoring the impact of the changes closely and may issue amendments or fine-tune local procedures at certain aerodromes using NOTAMs.

The main changes at non-towered aerodromes concern circuit entry and altitude. We are now allowed, although this is not recommended, to join the circuit on base. The larger changes are about circuit altitudes: GA aircraft remain at 1000ft AGL, but ultralight with a cruise speed under 55 knots need to fly 500ft circuits, while faster airplanes, with cruise speeds above 150kt , typically turboprops such as the SAAB 340, will be flying 1500ft circuits.

I'm curious to see how this will work out in practice. I mean, whichever altitude they fly a circuit at, all aircraft need to get down to ground level eventually. Will we be safer with different types of aircraft at different speeds and different altitudes, but with the added risk of descending or climbing through someone else's circuit altitude? At least with everybody at the same altitude faster aircraft could safely overtake slower ones.

One side-effect of this rule is that overfly altitude will mechanically move from 1500ft AGL up to 2000ft AGL if turboprops may be around. Spotting the windsock suddenly became a lot harder. There is an interesting bit of information found in the CAAP 166-1(0) which states that aerodromes with runways lengths below 1400m are unlikely to receive turboprop traffic, hence overfly can take place as in the past at 1500ft.

I realise I haven't been blogging too much recently, mostly because I didn't do too much flying, and the flying I did, although extremely enjoyable, was not terribly blogworthy. But that's all going to change soon with a planned endorsement to fly the glass cockpit DA40 that the club just put online, and a very exciting trip to Brisbane in Piper Arrow VH-SFJ planned for Queen's Birthday week-end with a few other Schofields Flying Club pilots.

Which will give us plenty of opportunities to try out the new Class D procedures at Bankstown, Coffs Harbour, Archerfield and Sunshine Coast. And hopefully also visit a few non-towered aerodromes on the way. More blogging to come, more photos and hopefully a few new videos thanks a set of camera mounts I offered myself as a birthday gift. Stay tuned!

On the medical certificate and CASA's cost recovery model

In Australia, you do not need a medical certificate to start learning to fly, but you definitely need one when the time has come to fly on your own.

As a beginning student pilot, it was difficult for me to imagine that my first solo may be just a few months away. Everything was new. The plane liked to behave in seemingly unpredictable manners. There was never enough time in a circuit to perform all the required actions and go through all the checklists, even when flying a 152 that could barely go faster than the end of the white arc with two people onboard.

Even if you see your first solo as a distant point in the future, you want to be ready for that special day when you’ll take off on your own for the first time. Not being able to fly solo because you delayed going to the doctor would be rather sad.

The process for obtaining the medical certificate is not overly complicated. The price is another story, and I’ll come back to that later.

You start by choosing a doctor in the list given by CASA, and show up on the day with your ARN and photo identification. The nice lady at reception will have you fill in a medical questionnaire, after which you’ll see the doctor. Make sure you go for a Class 2 medical certificate. Class 1 certificates are for professional pilots, while Class 3 are for ATC personnel.

Since I did not have any significant medical history, the medical examination was not different from a routine check-up at the doctor. On the topic of ears I mentioned that I am prone to ear infections while swimming and diving. The doctor picked up on that and was very happy to show me the pictures of his last diving trip to Vanuatu.

Speaking of diving, I found this medical examination actually less thorough than the one required for the PADI Open Water Diver course. That’s probably because private pilots do not fly airplanes through water while breathing through a regulator. Both medical examinations put your sense of balance to the test though. I guess that’s because spatial disorientation may occur in pretty much the same way whether you’re (accidentally) flying through clouds as a private pilot or diving in murky water.

The medical examination itself was $170, on top of which CASA happily slaps a $130 “processing fee”, which brings the total cost of the medical to $300.

In-between the SPL and ASIC applications (see my previous post) and the medical certificate, that’s $510 that a student pilot needs to shell out in overhead costs before his first solo. Just to put things in aeronautical perspective, that’s 2.4 hours of dual instruction in a 152.

Now, I understand that the doctor needs to be remunerated for the medical examination, even though one may find $170 a bit much for what amounts in practice to a long visit to the doctor.

The level of CASA fees can be explained by the so-called cost recovery model, which forces CASA to recover costs “for providing regulatory services to the aviation industry “. Actually, I just found out that the processing fee had been reduced from $130 down to $75 as of July 1^st, 2007. That should help a little bit, even if the principle of cost recovery remains in place.

Talking about the cost of training, CASA recently release a comparative study of the cost of flying training in Australia, New Zealand, the US and the UK. The bottom line is that the UK is most expensive, Oz and NZ are comparable, and the US are a bit cheaper. What I also discovered is that administrative costs in the US are near zero, including for the medical, as shown in the diagram below, taken from the survey.

However, CASA does not see this as impacting the viability of flying training organisations in Australia, so there’s unfortunately no sign that Australia would be moving to the American model anytime soon.

Paperwork for student pilots in Australia

My friend Jacob finally decided to start his training towards a PPL at the Redcliffe Aero Club. Congratulations to him, I hope he’ll enjoy the experience as much as I did.

There’s a few tips I came across when I started my training earlier this year; I thought I would share them with other student pilots. Let’s start with paperwork. What I’m going to say applies only to Australia, apologies to overseas readers.

If there’s a name that’s going to come up a lot in your training, and in conversations with fellow pilots, that’s CASA. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority is the regulatory authority for civil aviation in Australia. In that role, they’re the equivalent of the FAA in the US or the DGAC in France. Among other things, they’re the people who will eventually deliver your pilot licence, so that’s one big reason to make sure you get the paperwork right.

The first step is to obtain an ARN number. This Aviation Reference Number is a personal identification number that will be required for any future interaction with CASA. The application process is rather straightforward: just fill in the form, fax it to CASA, and a week or two later a letter will pop up in your mailbox with your ARN number. So far so good.

The next step is to apply for a Student Pilot Licence (SPL) and an ASIC (Aviation Security Identity Card). This can be done in one go using form 639. The process is a tiny bit more involved here since it requires someone official to check your identity and, for non-Australians, your proficiency in the English language.

In Redcliffe the CFI can do that and the club will then lodge the application for you. However, between Rob’s busy schedule and my own, I found it hard to get hold of him for that purpose, so I decided to lodge the application directly with the regional CASA office. The office is located in Hendra, near Brisbane airport, and is pretty much on the way for anyone who drives from Brisbane’s inner suburbs to Redcliffe.

That was a painless process. I had made sure I had all the required documentation with me, and the whole thing took less than 15 minutes. The English proficiency test took the form of a two-minute informal conversation with a CASA person who, on learning that I was French, explained to me how he used to ferry Airbuses from Toulouse in France to Malaysia.

The SPL and the ASIC card turned up in the mail about 3 weeks later. The whole thing was quick and easy, but not cheap: I left CASA with $210 less in my pocket: $65 for the SPL, and $145 for the ASIC. Next step: the medical examination.