Old Transponders vs New Secondary Terminal Radars

July 15, 2010

AOPA President, Phillip Reiss, assisted by Vice-President Andrew Andersen and Administration Manager, Jesse Dargan, recently met with CASA representatives regarding the forthcoming amendments to Airworthiness Directive RAD/47. CASA had initially proposed universal testing of the GA fleet in its Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) 1001OS.

AOPA had objected, citing increased costs for aircraft owners and concerns about the effectiveness of the increased testing requirements for new transponders. The issue has arisen because some older transponders and not sending valid responses to the new secondary terminal radars being deployed by Airservices Australia, causing incorrect identifying data and erroneous alerts in the air traffic control system.

The CASA Manager of Continuing Airworthiness, Mike Higgins, and CASA Principal Engineer Avionics, Charles Lenarcic travelled to AOPA’s office at Bankstown Airport to elaborate on the problem and outline various alternatives available to CASA that would address the feedback to the NPRM. The meeting was very productive.

AOPA considers its concerns have been heard and looks forward to a less onerous regime than originally proposed in the final rule. CASA is expected to release its final regulatory notice later in the year.