Post by GregAnd make it far easier for the CAA to prosecute infringements...
The CAA don't prosecute the vast majority of infringements (and the
pilot usually *is* traced anyway from owning up or from primary
radar).
Post by GregThis is little different from black boxes for cars, there are lots of
convincing justifications but ultimately it's about taxation,
prosecution and big brother.
IMHO the point has nothing to do with air safety and everything to do with
yet more monitoring and control of the population. This government is hell
bent on controlling and monitoring everything we do, this is just another
aspect of it, this time bought in under the guise of air safety.
If any objections to the proposal are based on the sentiments like the
above, widespread as they are throughout the UK GA scene, they will go
about as far as one objection which I got to a recent planning
application for a house extension: "he's already got broadband
internet, why does he want a bigger house as well".
The CAA is laughing all the way, hearing this kind of thing. Their
case, with numerous airspace busts and the need for more reliable TCAS
triggering is pretty strong but IMHO they have overcooked it in the
proposed aircraft type applicability.
The smart way to play this is to write to your MP, with sound
technical reasons describing the difficulty of installing a
transponder in an aircraft which does not have room for it, does not
have an adequate electrical system, Mode C (much cheaper to purchase
if not any cheaper to install) would provide most of the TCAS
advantages, there are some unknowns in the radiological exposure
arena, and (make this the last one; this is seen as a rich man's hobby
by most) the economic cost if implemented as proposed is something
well in excess of £ 10M.
The really smart thing would be to lobby for the mandatory
installation of a panel mounted GPS in every aircraft used for flight
training, and the integration of GPS in the PPL syllabus. The other
day I had a visit to D&D and heard some awful stories about pilots
getting hopelessly lost - so totally pointless and such a waste of the
license privileges. This would tackle the problem at source: the
limits of dead reckoning have been known for roughly 100 years. Of
course, such a proposal would go exactly nowhere and the outcry would
make Mode S look like a picnic.