Sydney Radar position reports lead to volume turned down - keep a good lookout

Recently I was flying as a passenger in a commercial helicopter in the Sydney light aircraft lane. The passengers in the helicopter were talking to the pilot on the intercom and in the middle of this other aircraft started to give position reports. What did helicopter pilot do? Yes, you are right. His hand went out and he turned the volume of his radio, which was monitoring Sydney radar, to zero. This meant he received none of the self-announcements that were continuously filling the airwaves.

I wonder how many pilots do this? Could it be most?

The message here is simple. When flying in the light aircraft lane, keep a good lookout. Don’t believe for a second that “radio arranged separation” is a safe way of avoiding collisions. If a professional pilot will turn the volume down and miss all the calls anyone can.

The light aircraft lane is a see and avoid environment and requires absolute vigilance to prevent a collision.

There is no CASA recommendation to give position reports in the lane for obvious reasons viz, unless everyone is giving reports they don’t add to safety and if everyone gave reports they would all be “buttoning” each other out!