Australian military fly for free
No wonder they don’t want change
In the United States the cooperation between the Department of Defense and the FAA is fantastic. Considering the size of the US Air Force, the amount of airspace they hold as restricted areas is minuscule when compared to Australia.
Most of their miliary airspace areas are called MOAs (Military Operation Areas) where it is a simple matter for a non-military aircraft to call on VHF radio and find out what type of operation is taking place. In the case of flying training or low level dropping, VFR aircraft normally make the sensible decision to fly in the airspace. It is a super friendly, cooperative system. The military realise that airspace is a very limited national resource and additional costs to aviation businesses, by flying extra distances, can reduce the competitiveness of the United States.
In Australia the situation is almost the complete opposite. As Chairman of the CAA and CASA I often dealt with the military. I found that I failed at bringing in any changes. They were all delightful and genuine people, however they simply had no concept of cost. It was beyond comprehension to the people I spoke to that aircraft having to divert around a military control zone or restricted area, year in and year out, could actually cost something to our country and take away from international competitiveness.
In New Zealand the military pay exactly the same as civilian aircraft to fly in airspace. In Australia the military fly for free. (*See note 1 below.) Imagine that. A businessman flying his aircraft from Brisbane to Melbourne pays quite a high enroute charge, whereas the Chief of the Defence Force flying a military aircraft for business purposes over the same air route would pay nothing. This means there is no incentive to save any costs at all. Can you imagine the over-use if the military were allowed to use the telephone or mail systems for nothing?
The military are now calling for the re-introduction of full position reporting for VFR aircraft. Why wouldn’t they? The cost would be about $100 million per year to general aviation, however the cost to the military would be nothing.
Williamtown delays cost industry money
I recently spoke on the phone to a delightful lady who is a controller at Williamtown. Another aircraft and I had been held orbiting at Nobbys Head at 500’ so an Impulse Beech 1900 could depart from Williamtown Airport 8 miles away on a CAVOK day. It was totally beyond comprehension to the controller that I should comment that keeping aircraft holding (the other aircraft was a commercial charter float plane) could have any cost implications at all. When I explained that such holding was unnecessary and would not take place overseas she said, “Dick, this is Australia. We are not interested in what happens overseas.”
When the “free in G” demonstration (see “Simple explanation of airspace classifications”) took place, the military led the white-anting. This is because they received no financial advantage at all as they didn’t pay in the first place. After all most people would prefer to keep a manual telephone exchange system, if it were free, instead of a modern ISD cellular system charged by the minute.
I found that all of the military people are good, honest, capable people but they have no comprehension of what aviation costs can do to business efficiency in this country. When I last looked, Richmond RAAF Base had something like 10 times the volume of controlled airspace as that of Edwards Air Force Base in California.
Back in 1991, when I was the Chairman of the CAA, we received an excellent report by ex-FAA regional administrator Jerry Chavkin on proposals to update military airspace to that used internationally – including the introduction of MOAs – so that major cost savings could flow to the aviation industry. From my recollection not one of the many excellent recommendations has ever been accepted by the military. Then again, that was only 9 years ago!
But don’t despair. One day we will get a new person in the military who will see the advantages in airspace efficiency reforms for Australia. Then the necessary improvements will take place.
Note 1.
In fact, the military works on a type of barter system - they provide ATC services at places like Townsville and Darwin free of charge to Airservices, and in return the military do not pay enroute or terminal navigation charges. This arrangement removes accountability. It is an indictment on the management of Airservices that it has been allowed to continue for over a decade - they blame the Minister!
