The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) will recommend the use of the area VHF frequency at uncharted airfields despite community feedback indicating a preference for Multicom 126.7.
The issue has been ongoing since 2013, when the AIP was changed from using 126.7 to the area VHF, with CASA stating that overflying pilots would be unaware of the presence of an uncharted aerodrome unless a call on the area VHF was made.
CASA yesterday released a summary of the consultation received from the Discussion Paper released on 27 April this year, and the course of action they have elected to take.
"As a result of the feedback received from the consultation for ‘Frequency use in Class G’, CASA has determined not to implement the 20 nm/below 5000 ft AMSL proposal or the use of MULTICOM 126.7 in the circuit area of uncharted aerodromes," a CASA statement says.
"The Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP) will be simplified and less prescriptive about the frequency to use at those aerodromes that are uncharted."
The new radio frequencies CASA will recommend in the future are:
- in the vicinity’—within 10nm, and at a height where your operations could be in the way of other traffic—of any non-controlled aerodrome published on aeronautical charts, pilots should use the CTAF (126.7 MHz or discrete frequency) as published
- anywhere within a Broadcast Area, pilots should use the dedicated Broadcast Area CTAF
- in all other non-controlled airspace, pilots should be on Area VHF.
However, this course of action does appear to be contrary to the desires of the published feedback, with most respondents clearly stating they could see no issue with using 126.7 at uncharted aerodromes, a fact CASA acknowledges in the announcement.
"Feedback on the second proposal – to allow 126.7 MHz in the circuit at uncharted aerodromes – confirmed a preference among some sectors to use 126.7 MHz in non-controlled airspace," CASA says.
"While 58 per cent did not believe the proposal introduced issues of safety or practicality, of the 42 per cent that did, almost half suggested the proposal would introduce complexities and confusion."
CASA has also said they will work with Airservices Australia to increase the number of airfields marked on aeronautical charts.
Amendments to the AIP to reflect the above are scheduled for the 28 February 2019 publication cycle.
>More information and the published feedback is available on the CASA Consultation Hub website.