Having bought a SPOT satellite tracker, I'm now wondering how to best use it in conjunction with CENSAR, the SARTIME services manager at Air Services Australia.
Currently, when I fly from my Gippsland property via self-launching glider, usually over a big slab of the Alps tiger country, I rely on submitting a flight plan to CENSAR with a planned route and a note saying "operations within 20nm of track". I also lodge a SARTIME. If I vary the route, I sometimes call up FLIGHTWATCH and amend my details. Often I don't. Thus, I am reliant on the SARTIME and a big area of bush to search should things go pear-shaped. I also carry a 406 EPIRB (that bush looks awful dense down there). Now, with SPOT, my wife can have full details of where I've been and are now located. She of course can pass this on the CENSAR when they call her if I'm overdue or don't cancel my SARTIME. However, it would seem logical that this info be part of my SARTIME data so CENSAR can (a) get going quickly without relying on reaching my wife and (b) see where I am and if I am still moving. My questions are these: 1) Is anyone in GFA discussing integrating SPOT into the SARTIME process at CENSAR (ie so I could lodge SPOT details with my flight plan)? 2) What sort of issues do people see if this does occur? One issue that comes to mind is the passing of track data to CASA who might feel inclined to use it against me. I certainly would not trust them not to. Note that it may well not be the gliding movement that ends up pushing SPOT integration into CENSAR as the same benefits ought to be clear to our powered brethren who are also looking down the barrel of buying a new 406 EPIRB once the old ones get turned off next year. All comments and ideas welcome. John Gwyther/GCV VH-HKR and VH-ZAO
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