The Last Minute Hitch: 8 March 2024
8 March 2024
Momentum is starting to build to correct a training anomaly: that new CPLs emerging from academies are ready for the airlines, but not for the hard-scrabble life of a GA charter pilot. People trained on G1000 cockpits are not ready to face an array of steam gauges with little installed navigation equipment, and don't understand that a charter pilot's duties go beyond flying the aeroplane. Non-academy schools have been turning out GA-ready pilots for many years, simply by their fleets being legacy airframes with little modern upgrades; exactly what CPLs are likely to face in their first GA job. A well-worn C210, C206, Baron or Lance/Saratoga are the machines of the Australian charter world, especially in the NT and WA, but academy-trained pilots generally haven't been exposed to these aircraft. The emerging answer is GA Ready courses that adapt academy-trained pilots to the ad-hoc and impromptu life of GA charter. And it's the academies that are launching these programs, revealing that they are finally recognising the shortcomings of airline-focused training. Regional operators have known of the problem for years; CPLs fresh from the urban academies needed a lot of re-training to make them fit for purpose. With the urban academies acting to correct the problem, hopefully charter operators will start to see more CVs that give them confidence in the pilot's training.
"..You don't set caps if your system is not capable of dealing with them.."
Digital control towers–where ATC is not physically at the airport they are controlling–may be a revolution in Australia, but it's not an unexpected one. Airservices Australia started trials in 2020, and some airports overseas are already controlled remotely, most notably London City Airport. With the announcement that Western Sydney International (WSI) will be built with a digital tower the way is now open for Airservices to think about locations where the cost of maintaining a full control tower is prohibitive. Airports like Albury, Alice Springs, Avalon, Mackay, Hamilton Island and Tamworth may be candidates for digital towers; they all have the need for tower control, but not necessarily the justifying movements. It all sounds like a logic forward step, but that step may be hindered by the obstacle of conservatism. The underlying philosophy of digital towers is that no loss of safety is incurred and that traffic flows can still be maintained. However, there is also the belief that nothing can replace a pair of eyes looking through binoculars, fed by fears of computer glitches and a reduction in situational awareness. But look at it like this: London City had 46,000 movements in 2022 using a digital tower, and has a cap of 45 movements per hour. You don't set caps if your system is not capable of dealing with them, which means the London City experience is a good measure of how digital towers handle traffic load. Obviously Airservices has confidence in the technology and is prepared to use WSI as a sort of guinea pig, a controversial move at an airport that seems to gather controversy around it at almost every step.
Airshows Downunder at Shellharbour last weekend contained most of the possible scenarios air show organisers can be confronted with. There was rain and low cloud on the Saturday forcing some flying displays to be canceled, last-minute aircraft unserviceability, heat and bright sunshine beating down on the crowd and the flying program running late. It had it all, but still put on a respectable air show that was great fun all around. With AMDA Foundation now at the helm, there were concerns that the show would become a mini Avalon that would just not work. If you went looking you could find some signs of that, but as far as the attendees go, it was one of the best flying displays ever put on at that airport, which is saying a lot when you consider some of the schedules put on in the days of Wings over Illawarra. AMDA now has two years to analyse the failures and successes from Shellharbour and plan ahead for further development and growth of the event. I am looking forward to 2026 and what AMDA can make of the show in the future.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch
For some reason Hitch didn't mention this Oz Flying article but in order to acknowledge the great work of CEO Marge Pagani and the not for profit charity flight operator Angel Flight I think it needs to be included...
8 March 2024
Momentum is starting to build to correct a training anomaly: that new CPLs emerging from academies are ready for the airlines, but not for the hard-scrabble life of a GA charter pilot. People trained on G1000 cockpits are not ready to face an array of steam gauges with little installed navigation equipment, and don't understand that a charter pilot's duties go beyond flying the aeroplane. Non-academy schools have been turning out GA-ready pilots for many years, simply by their fleets being legacy airframes with little modern upgrades; exactly what CPLs are likely to face in their first GA job. A well-worn C210, C206, Baron or Lance/Saratoga are the machines of the Australian charter world, especially in the NT and WA, but academy-trained pilots generally haven't been exposed to these aircraft. The emerging answer is GA Ready courses that adapt academy-trained pilots to the ad-hoc and impromptu life of GA charter. And it's the academies that are launching these programs, revealing that they are finally recognising the shortcomings of airline-focused training. Regional operators have known of the problem for years; CPLs fresh from the urban academies needed a lot of re-training to make them fit for purpose. With the urban academies acting to correct the problem, hopefully charter operators will start to see more CVs that give them confidence in the pilot's training.
"..You don't set caps if your system is not capable of dealing with them.."
Digital control towers–where ATC is not physically at the airport they are controlling–may be a revolution in Australia, but it's not an unexpected one. Airservices Australia started trials in 2020, and some airports overseas are already controlled remotely, most notably London City Airport. With the announcement that Western Sydney International (WSI) will be built with a digital tower the way is now open for Airservices to think about locations where the cost of maintaining a full control tower is prohibitive. Airports like Albury, Alice Springs, Avalon, Mackay, Hamilton Island and Tamworth may be candidates for digital towers; they all have the need for tower control, but not necessarily the justifying movements. It all sounds like a logic forward step, but that step may be hindered by the obstacle of conservatism. The underlying philosophy of digital towers is that no loss of safety is incurred and that traffic flows can still be maintained. However, there is also the belief that nothing can replace a pair of eyes looking through binoculars, fed by fears of computer glitches and a reduction in situational awareness. But look at it like this: London City had 46,000 movements in 2022 using a digital tower, and has a cap of 45 movements per hour. You don't set caps if your system is not capable of dealing with them, which means the London City experience is a good measure of how digital towers handle traffic load. Obviously Airservices has confidence in the technology and is prepared to use WSI as a sort of guinea pig, a controversial move at an airport that seems to gather controversy around it at almost every step.
Airshows Downunder at Shellharbour last weekend contained most of the possible scenarios air show organisers can be confronted with. There was rain and low cloud on the Saturday forcing some flying displays to be canceled, last-minute aircraft unserviceability, heat and bright sunshine beating down on the crowd and the flying program running late. It had it all, but still put on a respectable air show that was great fun all around. With AMDA Foundation now at the helm, there were concerns that the show would become a mini Avalon that would just not work. If you went looking you could find some signs of that, but as far as the attendees go, it was one of the best flying displays ever put on at that airport, which is saying a lot when you consider some of the schedules put on in the days of Wings over Illawarra. AMDA now has two years to analyse the failures and successes from Shellharbour and plan ahead for further development and growth of the event. I am looking forward to 2026 and what AMDA can make of the show in the future.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch
For some reason Hitch didn't mention this Oz Flying article but in order to acknowledge the great work of CEO Marge Pagani and the not for profit charity flight operator Angel Flight I think it needs to be included...
Quote:Angel Flight launches Rural Medi-Flight Service
8 March 2024
Angel Flight has launched a new flight service to take important medical staff to rural and outback locations, saving hours of arduous travel.
The first flight of the new Rural Medi-Flight service took BUSHkids medical staff from Archerfield to Cunnamulla and back, a 2.5 hour one-way flight rather than several days of travel.
Angel Flight carried the medics on the newly-acquired Cessna 402 Kayla, named after a passenger who made 400 flights to critical care, but who ultimately lost her battle with illness aged only 23.
One of the medics on the first Rural Medi-Flight was BUSHkids speech pathologist Rebecca Scanlan.
"It was a great flight and a really successful visit to Cunnamulla," she said. "Being partnered with Angel Flight means that as clinicians our travel time is reduced, and it allows us to spend more time in the community supporting more children.
"It is exciting to work with another organisation that shares the goal of ensuring that rural communities have the same access to support that families living in cities have.”
Angel Flight CEO Marjorie Pagani said the new operation aimed to even-out medical services available between city and rural locations.
“It is widely recognised that the arduous nature of the travel required to get out to the bush is one of the main reasons our doctors and nurses are reluctant to leave the city," Pagani said.
“As the needs of those living in the bush become more pressing, with research suggesting a widening gulf in the life expectancy of those who live in the city with access to the best medical care and those who live in the bush with limited or no access to health care, Angel Flight recognises the need to upscale its services to meet demand.”
From 2021-2022, demand for Angel Flight's core service of free passenger flight increased by 30%, but demand for health professional flights increased by 80% with numbers continuing to climb.
Angel Flight says it has responded to the national rural health crisis with the acquisition of the C402, which will be based in Archerfield Brisbane and service rural and remote Queensland.
Angel Flight chose the twin Cessna because Due to the size of the aircraft, it will operate at a fraction of the cost of the larger air ambulance aircraft and have very little limitations on airfields/ports in which it can land.
![[Image: angelflight_rural-medi-flight2.jpg]](https://yaffa-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/yaffadsp/images/dmImage/StandardImage/angelflight_rural-medi-flight2.jpg)