Dear Editor
New Zealand is becoming a ‘Snitch Culture’ (or perhaps it is ‘Aotearoa’ that is the snitch culture?), in ways that go beyond Covid.
Many aircraft now transmit digital position and altitude information, and there are websites that display the IDs, tracks and altitudes of aircraft. All good for interesting stuff and great for aircraft safety when interpreted by electronic gear in the plane and displayed for the pilots. But sadly it has led to a big increase in people complaining about illegal flying when that is not the case. They see a display on a website showing an aircraft at 800 ft over a town, thereby violating the requirement to be 1,000 ft over a built-up area, and it’s onto the speed dial to ‘denounce the pilot to the authorities’.
However… the digital position data from ‘Automatic Digital Surveillance Broadcast (ADSB) gear in the aircraft, transmits a ‘pressure altitude’, which can be up to 900 ft different from the actual altitude, and takes no account of the height of the surface. For example, an aircraft landing at Taupo might be transmitting an altitude of 2000 ft when it was only a few feet above the runway. No worries, when interpreted by those with a ‘need to know’ and the technical background to understand what they are seeing. Not so good when it causes a busybody to contact the Aviation Authorities, wasting everyone’s time.
Just another downside of the general climate of fear, denunciation and authoritarianism, where people feel empowered to make judgements based on their own inadequate understanding of a situation.
Angus Aardvark
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