Australia has always prided itself on its strong flight safety record.

Whenever I have flown I have felt pretty safe, reassuring myself during times of turbulence of this historical record.

What are the odds of something going wrong?

Statistics say that you are more likely to be involved in a road accident than in a flying one.

But recently I have learned of a new reason to question the safety of our skies and it is not as you may think; a result of the recent incidents with Qantas.

During the inquest into the 2004 Victorian aircraft crash near Benalla which killed six people, I have been amazed to learn that as the Piper Cheyenne diverted off its intended course, many alarms were activated to alert air traffic controllers that this plane was clearly off course.

Why then was the pilot not contacted by the air traffic controllers?

Because in Australia, unlike many countries in the world, vast spaces of our skies are categorised as “uncontrolled air space”, meaning communication between the pilot and air traffic controllers is not essential.

Ironically, the air traffic controllers acted in accordance with current Australian aviation regulations, and seeing as the plane was heading into “uncontrolled air space”, the warnings were ignored under the assumption the pilot had chosen a different flight path.

Well, personally I would prefer the “better to be safe than sorry” approach.

Wouldn’t a swift communication between the air traffic controllers and the pilot most likely have saved six lives?

Shouldn’t the Australian aviation regulations simply change the rules, ensuring all airspace exposed to radar coverage is included in “controlled air space”?

If this had have been the case with that doomed flight to Benalla in 2004, perhaps those people would still be alive.

Australia is an enormous country with a relatively small population.

It quite possibly stands to reason that there are some areas of airspace in our large country that do not fall under radar coverage.

However, what astounds me is that accidents can and will continue to happen in areas where we not only have radar coverage, but also all the associated technology and warning systems in place to alert pilots of situations, but regulations that do not require air traffic controllers to act on warnings.

— JANINE HARRISON,

Holbrook