[P1_aka_P1]

Poor Wodger, does this mean he will be going back to bag chucking soon? Maybe he can jag a job as a refueller at Amerberley or as a load master? Should he be a little nervous at the moment? I believe so. A very reliable source this evening confirmed to me the veracity of the points raised above, and that is that with McComick out the way and Capt. Sentinel leaving, Wodger has been stripped as bare as the naturist ALIU manager on his favourite nudey beach!! No more protection, no more favors, no more get out of jail free cards, you're on your own son. In fact he is pretty much viewed as damaged goods by most within Fort Fumble and he is not a good luck charm to be worn! So sad so sad. But it gets better because the Senate is well aware of Wodgers wascally antics, and purportedly so is Pumpkin Heads department. Seems this little CAsA strategy of promoting hitmen/bullies is really starting to bite them on the arse.

Wodger, can you hear that clock ticking son? Hopefully you can. And hopefully you can hear the sound of the lawyers papers being shuffled around as well. Tick tock champ.

"Unsafe RAAF baggage handling for all"

Nicely done Gobbledock; many a true word spoken in jest.  We can but hope that the ferryman and crew will be busy between now and the new year.   Would you not agree? 50 is a nice round number.

[Gobbledock]

P1, Indeed, 50 is most certainly a robust number? Why you may ask? Well for this reason;

• Most individual batting 50's in a career - Allan Border. (Legend!)
• The exact number of a half century. A fine cricketing achievement in a match.
• The Cabal speaks about the 50 gates of intelligence which would be all the possible objects of the knowledge, summarizing the creation, while 32 ways of the Wisdom would be the instruments of the knowledge. In the cabalistic tradition, it is told that Moses has not been able to cross 50th gate.

And of course, this one:

• "50 Years of Regulatory Reform". In 2038 Australian aviation will have reached it's 50th anniversary of the regulatory reform program. The cost should have reached $500 million, and possibly CAsA will be onto it's 50th DAS. It will be time to party like there has been no other!

"Safe numerology for all"

[Kharon]

It’s nice to see the Pro Aviation site up and renovated; very tidy and as always informative.  Phelan still has a canny grip on the tales and calumny’s originating from Sleepy Hollow.  The latest from WA (again) has had the Phelan treatment and worth revisiting – not just to clarify the tale, but to high light how E. Fice Esq. is starting to upset the CASA apple cart.  

HERE:-

The AAT’s decision identified several erroneous statements by CASA employees, deficiencies in its evidence gathering and processing, its avoidance of independent witnesses, references to regulations that were not in force at the relevant times, relationships between and within the training organisation and CASA officials, and CASA’s well-recognised use of the “fit and proper person” process to back adverse administrative decisions. CASA was also taken to task for repeating untested allegations by College staff of larceny [of an iPad], later shown to be untrue, but which were repeated in CASA correspondence and in any case were irrelevant to air safety issues:

[Gobbledock]

A well worded article by Phelan. Good job Paul.

As for CAsA, as usual, questions must be asked in regards to CAsA's motives, evidence, 'personal opinions', methods to gain a conviction, waste of taxpayer money (CAsA legal should be stripped to the bone) and the absolute misuse of the get out of jail free card called 'fit and proper person'.

If CAsA's 'wriggle points' could be abolished, including the 'fit and proper person' ace in the deck, the misuse of the interpretable 'act' if all else fails when trying to hang an operator/individual, and removal of soft statements such as 'in line with best practise models' when they try to justify introducing something that is completely shit and they don't have something solid to measure the crappy rule or processes against, we would end up with a more transparent, workable, just and fit and proper industry!!!!

[Peetwo]

Off the Yaffa...

In Dougy's insight this week there was an interesting bit related to the CASA Proposed Airworthiness Directive - PAD/PROP/1 Amdt 3.  Dougy not normally known for delving into such matters - of a private pilot/small aircraft owners nature - took up the cause from the Mooney Pilot's Association perspective on the above PAD... - Editor's Insights 11 June 2015

The Mooney Pilots Association is concerned about a CASA ruling on propeller maintenance and the impact it will have on operating costs - and it’s not just Mooneys.

The CASA direction says, in part, that action “is required due to information received through the CASA Service Difficulty Reporting system and other reports indicating that propellers that are presented for repair/overhaul at extended calendar times commonly exhibit defects that compromise the flight safety of aircraft”.

The MPA says that, “Like other recent initiatives from the airworthiness group in CASA, this proposed amendment is justified only by anecdote and unsubstantiated assertions. There is no evidence presented as to the frequency of such deficiencies; whether those faults should have been discovered earlier during operation and/or annual inspection; and whether such faults have been significant factors in the past accident record either in Australia or overseas”.

Apparently, propeller system failures were implicated in only 12 of 1654 accidents in a US fixed-wing piston fleet of 170,000 aircraft, so such failures account for a very small proportion of accidents and there is no reason to believe that the incidence would be any greater in Australia. MPA Says that the total annual cost to owners in Australia would be about $3.5 million. 

P2 observation:

As a sideline, Dougy in last week's insight happened to mention...

"..I was going to look at Dick Smith’s latest engagement with the media about airspace issues on the NSW north coast, but people I have spoken with this week have suggested that there’s a lot more to this than just a headline; so I’m postponing comment until next week while I absorb more perspectives from industry and government. I’m happy to hear what you have to say too.."

However in this week's insight Dougy appears to have gone cold on the idea??

"..Has the Dick Smith-highlighted airspace issue around Ballina more or less gone away? CASA certainly defused the whole thing during the week, though I notice there’s still attention being paid to it in the media.." 
Come on Dougy you know you want to..

For the benefit of Gobbles & crankybastard  there was a comment from last week's Dougy's insight that they might be interested in  :

Brian J Hannan • 7 days ago

Doug, I read the Australian article and smiled. Let's create fear in the travelling public as a political pressure.

Why don't we have wall to wall air traffic control and surveillance? Something in the back of my mind about Australia adopting "user pays" (pay our way, have our say) whereas the USA doesn't have that and so provides ATC as a service.

Then there is surveillance. I'm not aware of Dick being a proponent of ADS-B to extend surveillance, in fact I believe he won't fit it to his Citation.

I'm sure the great unwashed readers might believe someone with a radio on the ground at Lockhart River might have saved the day - I'm uncertain how that would have stopped someone deliberately breaching the LSALT.

Surveillance costs $. Do you see the airlines calling for towers and ATC? From memory Avalon was carrying over a million pax a year, with nearby ESL students flying through the airspace, before the airspace study and tower was forced through.
You speak the truth, there is a lot more to this than just a headline ;-)

 

We then had this article from Hitch on the same issue - Proposed Six-yearly Prop Overhauls rile GA Community - & where SH gathered further feedback from industry, example:

Aeroplane owner and former president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) Australia, Andrew Andersen, says that the proposed six-year overhaul period is not supported by the evidence CASA cites in the PAD.

"CASA has completely failed to make a case for this proposed change to an existing AD," he said. "It claims that its proposal is supported by SDR data, but this not so. It has changed the applicability of the AD and introduced new, arbitrary, CASA-invented requirements, without justification.

"CASA has not properly described the impact of the proposed legislation. It does not include an estimate of the number of affected aircraft, or the estimated cost of its proposals. CASA is imposing further cost on GA without disclosing the economic impact of its proposals.

"It is noteworthy that all FAA proposed airworthiness directives include an estimate of the number of affected aircraft and the cost. CASA rarely does, and then only when required to do so by another government agency. It is very hard to reconcile the government’s response to the ASRR [Forsyth Report] with such arrogant behaviour."

According to Andersen, of the 253 SDRs that apply, only 13 were reported as corroded and 12 as leaking oil.

Hitch finished the article with this...

"..Other submissions to the PAD are believed to be concerned that the lack of reasoning and process behind the conclusions are inconsistent with promises from CASA DAS Mark Skidmore that new regulations must take into account the impact on the industry and show a clear improvement in safety.."

Which brings me to the next Hitchen offering which focusses on a recently released Directive from the new CASA DAS Skidmore - DAS Directive - 01/2015:

Parliament House Canberra. (Department of Defence - LAC Michael Green)

DAS Directive demands Cost-effective Regulation
12 Jun 2015

CASA Director of Aviation Safety Mark Skidmore has issued his staff with a directive demanding new regulations be risk-based and cost-effective.

The directive is dated 29 May and was made public earlier this month.

"Aviation safety regulations must be shown to be necessary. They are to be developed with a view to addressing known or likely safety risks that cannot be addressed effectively by non-regulatory means alone," the directive states.

"Consistent with CASA’s obligations under the Civil Aviation Act and other Commonwealth laws and Government policies, every proposed regulation must be assessed against the contribution it will make to aviation safety, having particular regard to the safety of passengers and other persons affected or likely to be affected by the activity involved.

"If a regulation can be justified on safety-risk grounds, it must be made in a form that provides for the most efficient allocation of industry and CASA resources. Regulations must not impose unnecessary costs or unnecessarily hinder levels of participation in aviation and its capacity for growth."

The directive also demands that CASA staff:

• Align safety regulations with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards
  
• Consult with industry in an open and transparent manner
  
• Strive to ensure regulations are drafted as clearly and concisely as possible
  
  

When it comes to applying the regulations, Skidmore makes it clear that he wants CASA people to take into account all relevant factors including burdens when it comes to exercising discretionary powers, and that CASA will adopt an alternative means of compliance where a person can demonstrate that the same outcome can be achieved in a less onerous way.

Finally in Hitchen's weekly wrap - The Last Minute Hitch: 12 June 2015 - we get Steve's opinion on all of the above, plus his take on the AHIA recent inroads v CASA with their proposed changes to Part 61:

Either the new CASA is experiencing some growing pains or it is simply a re-badged version of the old CASA, sort of like marketing the Toyota Camry as a Holden Apollo. The evidence lies in two stories that would appear to be inconsistent: the proposed AD on propellers and Mark Skidmore's directive to make regs risk-based and cost-effective. If industry analysts are right when they say the new PAD on props appears not be supported by evidence, then it is hard not to hold this up as an example of exactly what the DAS directive says that CASA won't do. Are we supposed to believe the right-hand or the left-hand? To give a bit, the DAS directive did come out after the PAD was released, but you would think the inconsistency would prompt it to be withdrawn.

On the upside, the helicopter people seem to be making headway in their quest to inject some sensibility into CASR Part 61. Clearly, they are prepared to step-up and show CASA how it needs to be done, and I believe their approach is the right way forward for the industry. CASA is lacking expertise in a number of areas at the moment, which is not helping them to draft logical regulations. They only way we can stop some of the non-sensical stuff flowing from Aviation House is to get in there and provide the expertise they lack.

   
MTF...P2

[Kharon]

Steam on – Checked.

Hitch – “CASA is lacking expertise in a number of areas at the moment, which is not helping them to draft logical regulations. They only way we can stop some of the non-sensical stuff flowing from Aviation House is to get in there and provide the expertise they lack”.

It is not Hitch in the firing line; not directly, although drafting such inflammatory reports as the one above does not endear. 
 
Let’s have a long hard look at the implications –
 
1)    We pay, CASA “experts” very well indeed.  Such a job in GA for example would not be on many horizons, with super, and the rest.  These show ponies are employed to provide their expertise to industry – not the other way around.  How many reading have simply given up trying to refine a COM section; or a useable check list past some ‘expert’ FOI, only to be beaten back not by ‘superior’ technical or operational knowledge; but by sheer, purblind adherence to some home spun translation of the law. 

2)    These same monkeys want to charge you AUD $190 per hour to ‘evaluate’ a check list against the AFM; then decide that a ‘procedure’ or and ‘expanded’ must be placed within that checklist – but it’s procedural you say.  NO says this ‘expert’ and you are stuck with a checklist, not only contrary to ‘law’, the AOCM and AFM but a bloody long ‘read and do list’ which is an operational liability.  Or worse still provide a two crew system for a single pilot aircraft which involves bolting most of the AFM into part B of the COM, rendering both nugatory.

3)    Now we are the ones who ‘must’ go to those who have made a complete and utter balls up of the tasks we have paid them expert money for and sort it out.
 
These supposed experts have, for years, been knocking back industry offered expertise; so how come now “they” are suddenly seeking our previously denigrated assistance. Bollocks.   Bollocks; if the ‘ducking experts’ want my help, they can bloody well pay for it – FFS, we cop the rubbish, the fear, the operational abuse, the rotten policy, the bad law; we even pay for this crap to be delivered and now you want us, the IOS to pull the CASA chestnuts out of the fire.
 
If Skidmore needs help he must fire these (list provided) useless, inutile, clueless, helpless, greedy, lazy, ineffective refugees and hire some of the real deal.  But no one wants that do they, someone may get told to boil his head or stick the latest bright idea where the sun don’t shine.  Can’t have any of that now, can wee.
 
Steam reduced – but fair warning – this is beyond the pale, bordering on the dizzy limits.   I could probably go on for another couple of pages; but I reckon I’ve made my point.  For those with comprehension challenges a picture should do the trick.





 

[Gobbledock]

This folly was quoted;

Quote:"Brian J Hannan • 7 days ago
Doug, I read the Australian article and smiled. Let's create fear in the travelling public as a political pressure.
Why don't we have wall to wall air traffic control and surveillance? Something in the back of my mind about Australia adopting "user pays" (pay our way, have our say) whereas the USA doesn't have that and so provides ATC as a service.
Then there is surveillance. I'm not aware of Dick being a proponent of ADS-B to extend surveillance, in fact I believe he won't fit it to his Citation.
I'm sure the great unwashed readers might believe someone with a radio on the ground at Lockhart River might have saved the day - I'm uncertain how that would have stopped someone deliberately breaching the LSALT.
Surveillance costs $. Do you see the airlines calling for towers and ATC? From memory Avalon was carrying over a million pax a year, with nearby ESL students flying through the airspace, before the airspace study and tower was forced through.
You speak the truth, there is a lot more to this than just a headline ;-)"

Apart from the fact that this shite was written by one of the internets greatest serial pests, I was more curious about the photo that was attached to the comment - which one of those two is Brian??

[crankybastards]

Dick WON"T fit ADSB to his Citation?

[Peetwo]

Midweek - Off the Yaffa...

 Ferryman post#56 from Skimore Corner said:

"..There is a new AOPA ‘boss’; one who does have several very valid reasons to not be quite as user friendly as previous incumbents have been.  A clever man, canny and wise in the wicked ways of ‘real’ aviation with serious qualifications and the hard won battle scars to prove a long association with GA and CASA.  If this worthy can convert the AOPA fellahin back to being a force to reckoned with and voice to be heard, I will renew my long lapsed subscription..

..Aye well, I like the new AOPA boss very well and wish him the very best of luck.  He’ll need it.."   

 
Well today Hitch acknowledged Marc De Stoop as the new AOPA President...

AOPA elects De Stoop as President

23 Jun 2015

(K. Lovell)

Long time board member Marc De Stoop is the new president of general aviation lobby group AOPA Australia.

De Stoop is managing director of air conditioning company Climatech and is involved in the aviation industry via Falcon Air, a company specialising in international aeromedical evacuation using Falcon 20 corporate jets.

He takes over from outgoing president Allan Brooks.

“The industry faces many challenges and it is going to be the job of AOPA to present ideas and solutions, not just to CASA but to their government masters via a strong membership base,” De Stoop said.

“There are many initiatives such as reforming medical standards to make it easier for private pilots to operate general aviation aircraft that need to be pursued in order to reinvigorate the industry.

“There has never been a more important time for the various general aviation groups to find common ground and work together to reinvigorate an extremely important sector of the Australian economy.

“Overseas aviation markets like New Zealand and the United States are thriving yet in Australia we seem to be bound by stifling regulations like the newly introduced Part 61.”

AOPA Australia is based at Bankstown Airport in Sydney and has a membership base made up of GA aircraft owners, commercial pilots and private pilots.

 
Hmm...the part in bold, no wonder the Ferryman is taken with this bloke...

MTF...P2

PS.  I am reliably informed that although Senator David Fawcett has been somewhat 'In absentia' in the aviation public spotlight, he has actually been very proactive behind the scenes and at a grass roots industry level:

Senator airs aviation reforms

May 6, 2015, 11:30 p.m.

MEMBERS of the Naracoorte Aero Club discussed reforms in the aviation sector with SA Liberal Senator David Fawcett during his visit to the SE last week.
SA Liberal Senator David Fawcett (centre) with Naracoorte Aero Club members John McTernan (left), Allan Sears, Anthony Johnson, David McTernan and Gary Burgess on Friday night.

 
....something about that pic makes feel all warm & fuzzy 

[Gobbledock]

And not a single Brian J Hannan to be seen!!!!! Bravo!

[P7_TOM]

Sunfish – Winner, winner: Chicken dinner.  Jan 2015.

The Demise Of Aviation Industry In Australia Is Now A Lot Closer.

Skidmore has just proclaimed himself to be a fellow traveler who won’t make waves or attempt to change the course of Aviation regulation in Australia. That can only be bad for the entire industry from Qantas all the way downwards for reasons I will explain below. Dick Smith is also right about the “affordable safety” although the use of that term is unfortunate. I will explain that as well.

Let’s start with the Senate report: That cataloged the failures of aviation regulation and made the most serious charge possible against a public service anywhere of any kind: – a total lack of trust of the regulator by the industry, in other words a breakdown of any constructive relationship between regulator and regulated.

Additional to this is the breakdown of trust with CASA’s partners Air Services Australia and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau who are joined by memorandums of understanding [MOU] to CASA and cooperate in its malfeasance, as evidenced by the disgraceful ATSB report into the ditching of the Pel-AIr aircraft. In addition, thanks to Karen Casey’s law suit, we now find that there appears to be a web of corruption involving political donations by Pel-Airs owners to political parties who then lent upon CASA and ATSB. This has all the features of what is termed Crony Capitalism – you scratch my back, I scratch yours.

The characteristic of Crony Capitalism is that rules are bent to suit your mates and the legislative preamble of the Aviation Act:  - “establish a regulatory framework for maintaining, enhancing and promoting the safety of civil aviation, with particular emphasis on preventing aviation accidents and incidents”  is what facilitates this because “safety” is a nominative, it can mean anything you like it to mean. It is this sentence that facilitates the entirety of CASAs bastardisation of Australian Aviation – CASA is always chasing “safety”, a will-o’-the- wisp, which means that what CASA calls unsafe practices for one pilot or operator are perfectly reasonable for another.

The impact of Crony Capitalism is that investment in the industry diminishes since no investor can secure himself against sovereign risk – that the regulator is going to take a’gin you for some reason and destroy your investment and capital, as CASA has demonstrably done time and again. Lack of investment means lack of jobs and growth in the industry and overall, Australia suffers.

Mark Skidmore has, by his own words, refused to redefine “safety” in practical terms and will thus allow the bastardisation and embuggerance of the industry to continue on his watch, no matter what his, no doubt good, intentions may be.

Dick Smith is right about “affordable safety” but seems to not understand what this means in practical terms, and the spineless jellyfish in ATSB who could have been the enablers in such a process are silent.

Importance of Risk Management:

The practical name for achieving “Safety” is “risk management”. This discipline is at least Forty years old, I was taught it on my first job with an oil company. It involves the quantification of risk and the cost of accidents, followed by a determination of what it would cost to mitigate the risk followed by a straightforward cost benefit analysis.

Risk management is not rocket science, it is well understood. It is the basis for rule making by other regulators (notably the FAA).  The ATSB can produce most of the statistics for its implementation off the top of its head and the industry has the rest. What it does require is for a Government to decide what an acceptable level of risk is for various classes of Aviation: “One in a Million”? “One in Twenty million”?

Again there are international metrics for this stuff to guide us and most of the world, except Australia, benchmarks their aviation sectors against these metrics every year. Just redefine “Safety” in the preamble of the Act and everything else Dick Smith requires will follow.

Responsibility:

However it now appears certain that nobody in Government on either side of politics has the guts to become accountable for anything, let alone aviation safety, and this provides a perfect opportunity for the parasites that are CASA, ATSB and AsA and their corrupt business partners to milk what is left of the industry for all they are worth to satisfy their bloated egos, lust for power and of course the money.

Outcomes:

Need I add that the final outcome of this situation is to make the industry as a whole much less safe and ultimately lead to a series of catastrophic accidents?

Sunny (slightly edited) called this, spot on, six months ago.  Really have to agree with the majority of (dare I say it) ‘Stakeholders’; Skidmore is an waste of time, space and money; simply put, not up to the job that needs to be done; or, as the boys say - NFI.  That is the closest I can come to any sort of formal analysis.

Tim Tam Sunny; no, have two; just for being correct six long, boring, now wasted months ago.  Bravo - that man.....

[Kharon]

I miss Sunny’s posts, the man who gave us the treasured ‘embuggerance’ and many a quiet chuckle.  Wonder how his adventure into aircraft building is going?  Sunny was like Creamy, Leadsled and a couple of the others of the old guard, a must read and always good value for the time invested. The post above is one of his very best.  

Aye well, freedom has it’s price, we knew that well enough.

Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile,
Hath not old custom made this life more sweet
Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods
More free from peril than the envious court?

AYLI. 2:1

[Kharon]

As you’d like it.




Great picture – those smiles are genuine; the inestimable Fawcett who breathes hope into a depressed Australian aviation scene, despite the best efforts of CASA to regulate it out of existence; the ATSB who cannot seem to provide an accident report with any meaning; or, the ASA who are always seeking ways to increase their gross, monopolistic profits.   It is a great loss to aviation that Fawcett was not appointed a junior minister, even if just to manage the reforms proposed by both the Senate and the Rev. Forsyth, demanded by industry.  

The good news is that finally, there is a glimmer of light at the end of the long dark tunnel that the Australian AOPA has been travelling through.  The newly appointed President is reaching out to other AOPA organisations.  The NZ contingent did him proud over the weekend, a bright spot in an otherwise grim couple of days of the CASA sponsored roadshow at Bankstown; welcome cooperation looms large.  There is also hope that a long overdue olive branch has been extended to our American cousins, which can only be a good thing.  Perhaps a united voice will help reduce the bureaucratic embuggerance of the regulator.  We can only live in hope, expecting the worst.

I wish I could see more pictures like the one above, flying clubs looking prosperous and well cared for, relaxed smiles and the easy camaraderie that was once the bond of aviators, world wide.

Selah.

[Peetwo]

As you’d like it.




Great picture – those smiles are genuine; the inestimable Fawcett who breathes hope into a depressed Australian aviation scene, despite the best efforts of CASA to regulate it out of existence; the ATSB who cannot seem to provide an accident report with any meaning; or, the ASA who are always seeking ways to increase their gross, monopolistic profits.   It is a great loss to aviation that Fawcett was not appointed a junior minister, even if just to manage the reforms proposed by both the Senate and the Rev. Forsyth, demanded by industry.  

The good news is that finally, there is a glimmer of light at the end of the long dark tunnel that the Australian AOPA has been travelling through.  The newly appointed President is reaching out to other AOPA organisations.  The NZ contingent did him proud over the weekend, a bright spot in an otherwise grim couple of days of the CASA sponsored roadshow at Bankstown; welcome cooperation looms large.  There is also hope that a long overdue olive branch has been extended to our American cousins, which can only be a good thing.  Perhaps a united voice will help reduce the bureaucratic embuggerance of the regulator.  We can only live in hope, expecting the worst.

I wish I could see more pictures like the one above, flying clubs looking prosperous and well cared for, relaxed smiles and the easy camaraderie that was once the bond of aviators, world wide.

Selah.

Top pic & post--- --- shame we can't get some words of wisdom from Sunny on here...  

While we are on AOPA etc. "K", Gobbles & Thorny, may find the following of interest from the new Prez De Stoop...


 The follow on post - see here - from the AOPA CEO Aaron Stephenson is also interesting as he gives his personal impressions of DAS Skidmore:

"..All in all, I found Mr Skidmore quite responsible. He is happy to communicate with us at any time and welcomes any ideas we have.

Unfortunately it does not appear as though he will make any of the immediate, bold, decisions that are required to turn GA around here in Australia.."

   
Who'd of thought?? You could be right "K", AOPA may be about to enter a "Renaissance of relevance" - God knows the GA industry certainly needs it

MTF...P2   

[Peetwo]

As you’d like it.

 "..All in all, I found Mr Skidmore quite responsible. He is happy to communicate with us at any time and welcomes any ideas we have.

Unfortunately it does not appear as though he will make any of the immediate, bold, decisions that are required to turn GA around here in Australia.."   

DAS Skates over the dutch??



Caught this from Otago Daily Times...

Aviation sector takes centre stage


More than 400 people are attending the aviation industry's annual conference in Queenstown this week.

Participants include Royal New Zealand Air Force chief Air Vice-marshal Mike Yardley, Civil Aviation director Graeme Harris and Mark Skidmore, the director of Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority.

The conference, being held at Rydges Lakeland Queenstown Resort, brings together representatives from across the industry including airports, agricultural aviation, helicopters and general aviation.

Aviation New Zealand general manager John Nicholson said the conference, which started yesterday and runs until Friday, will have a distinct Anzac theme ''befitting the 100 years of mateship and togetherness with our trans-Tasman friends'' in Australia.
A highlight will be an RNZAF flying display tomorrow afternoon.

Perhaps Skates will strike up a deal while he is there (re. selling the rights to our much beloved Part 61), it might be one way to recoup some of the nearly $300 million that his predecessors have squandered within the last quarter of a century...

MTF...P2

Hmm...Dear Tony/Wazza..can we strike out Skates citizenship while he is over there??
  

[Kharon]

Will you have treason, treachery or sedition.

Bugger – reading the P2 post, I thought Oh-ho, has OST gone to collect the purchase price gold from the Kiwi’s and assist them shredding their part 61 and installing the iconic, world best Australian one.   Fat chance, wee Oliver has more chance of winning the Bledisloe, single handed. 
 
Then the pawky suggestion that perhaps, the Skidmore passport could be Abbotted, for treason.  Made me smile, but I wish I’d just left it there; set me thinking, which anyone can tell you is a never a good idea.
 
The question – is Skidmore committing ‘treason’ against the industry by keeping the McComic hit squads, slobbering all over 61 and doing sod all?  It’s certainly a betrayal of faith, definitely treacherous, but when does it become ‘treason’,  To act against the will of the people could be seen that way; but, to act against the government to meet the will of the people, what would that be called – rebellion?.  As said, wish I’d left it alone, but it is a serious question, industry want 61 gone, ‘government’ don’t want to loose face and the half wits who wrote it cannot and will not back down and admit the error.  Stalemate.
 
I doubt Skidmore will go against the wishes of his government paymasters, but could that be considered treason against the people, those who voted for that government.   Seems to me whichever way it goes someone’s nose is going to be out of joint. Minnie breathes the word diplomacy as the porridge arrives – which gives me two good reasons to leave this topic alone.  So enough; just an idle twiddle prompted by a throw away line – but it leaves the question begging answer; if ‘we’, who vote and pay for the system of governance reject 61 and yet it is not only kept against our will, but enforced; who is the betrayed and who the betrayer? 
 
One thing certain sure; ‘we’ need to be equally as determined to have 61 repealed as ‘they’ are to keep it. 
 
Aye, definitely a three pipe problem – one which will keep for a rainy day. 

However, one must consider the possibility that that Federal government, despite being lawfully-elected, is behaving in a manner in violation of the Constitution. In that case, an uprising against that government by armed citizens might actually be an attempt to defend the Constitution. Recall that U.S. soldiers, in particular, take an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic."  Ultimately, in that case, what the "uprising" would be considered as would depend on whether it was successful or not; in Churchill's words, "History is written by the victors.  HERE -

Petty treason comprised the murder of a master by his servant, of a husband by his wife, or of a bishop. Petty treason ceased to be a distinct offence from murder in 1828, and consequently high treason is today often referred to simply as treason. Considered to be the most serious of offences, high treason was often met with extraordinary punishment, because it threatened the security of the state. - HERE.

-

 

[Gobbledock]

Oink oink;

" Participants include Royal New Zealand Air Force chief Air Vice-marshal Mike Yardley, Civil Aviation director Graeme Harris and Mark Skidmore, the director of Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority"

The Dutch will be there as well! Skidmore will feel right at home as he is also tall and beautiful. But don't worry, there is only 1 day of banter, lame discussions, high level waffle and the achievement of.........nothing!
Days 2, 3 and 4 will consist of;
- Lunch at The Fergburger
- Skiing at Coronet peak
- Trip to the Remarkables
- Accommodation and skiing at the Treble cone ski resort
- A spot of Helo skiing (and perhaps some ramping?)
- Party time at Gibbston valley wine

"Safe troughs for all"

P666

[Peetwo]

Final Act of Bastardry & Betrayal. 

From Arthur's most disturbing post -  apape -  CVDPA Announcement - we can conclude that there is no redemption for Skidmore...

As a result of these encounters with both directors, the CVDPA is left in no doubt that CASA’s act of total bastardry in June 2014 in its assault on CVD pilots will not be reversed in any way by the new director...

...The CVDPA has therefore, sadly, come to the conclusion that CASA’s claims of being a “risk based and evidence driven” regulator are mere rhetoric, and we are left with no practical alternative but to litigate in the Federal Court against the lawfulness of the CAD test. The CAD test lies at the heart of the above-said act of bastardry, and demonstrates the blind regulatory prejudice that colour vision defective pilots continue to suffer. Steps are being now taken to set the process in motion.

On that assessment from Arthur & the CVDPA brings the only conclusion that can be made and that is Skidmore simply has to go. From Ferryman's post - The balls of Boyd:

..Since then, in all matters aeronautical we have seen the duplicitous Skidmore nature emerge.  It is only now that the six month trail period is over, that the true Skidmore face is being seen.  This response to CVD, the overt support for Part 61, for the CASA ‘troops’ and the McComic method will, I fear typify the Skidmore regime.  We can dispense with ignorance as a defence; we must now look to malice aforethought.  

This man not going to assist reformation, he has embraced all that is unholy and rotten within Sleepy Hollow.  Time is up, he must resign.  The board can and should terminate his contract, now, before Forsyth and Senate recommendations, along with industry hopes for reasoned changes, disappear for ever.    CASA and Skidmore have declared war rather than a negotiated truce, it's high time the time for the indecisive, silent majority to spoke out, loud and clear... 

 
Now if you want further proof that Skidmark has hitched his wagon to the Iron Ring trough, while drawing a line in the sand to which he dares any potential dissident industry stakeholders to try & cross unscathed, here it is; i.e. the PR media campaign has begun..
(bucket please Aunty Pru.. )

On the surprisingly low key affair.. .. of the CASA & ASA 20th birthday - CASA marks 20 years as regulator

 
Then from the Oz Aviation yesterday:

CASA boss seeks to get the balance right

July 6, 2015 by australianaviation.com.au

CASA’s Mark Skidmore

CASA director of aviation safety Mark Skidmore says the regulator faces the constant challenge of striking the right balance between maintaining appropriate safety standards without placing too much of a burden on operators.

“Looking back we can see times when the pendulum has swung both ways, possibly too much at times,” Skidmore told Flight Safety Australia on the 20th anniversary of CASA’s formation on July 6.

“I see my role as making sure the CASA of today and into the future gets the balance right. An aviation safety regulator cannot take a ‘light’ approach to safety, nor can we overburden the aviation community with regulation that has unintended consequences or fails to deliver the right outcomes,” the CASA DAS said.

“CASA may never be perfect but we will keep working to deliver safe skies for all.”
Both the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and Airservices Australia were created on July 6 1995 with the splitting up of the then Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) responsibilities, leaving CASA as the nation’s air safety regulator and Airservices to manage air traffic control for Australia’s civil airspace.

Two decades on from its creation, Airservices is now responsible for four million flights a year carrying about 90 million passengers.

    
Next from Oz Flying (also yesterday):
 

Rex SAAB 340 at Sydney. (Norbert Genci/Regional Express)


CASA Directive "A Breath of Fresh Air": Rex

06 Jul 2015

Regional airline Rex has issued a press release praising CASA for its directive relating to the development of risk-based and cost-effective safety regulations.

In the directive, Director of Aviation Safety Mark Skidmore stated CASA’s commitment to ensure that regulatory changes are "justified on the basis of safety risk and do not impose unnecessary costs or unnecessarily hinder participation in aviation and its capacity for growth."

“The Directive issued under the new CASA Chair Jeff Boyd and CEO Mark Skidmore is a breath of fresh air," said Rex Chief Operating Officer Neville Howell, "and provides reason to believe that the aviation industry can now start to recover from the severe damage inflicted over the last six years by the previous CASA administration which was the focus of the Government’s Aviation Safety Regulation Review.”

“This new direction and regime is strongly supported by Rex as, among other things, it makes it clear that aviation safety regulations must ‘be shown to be necessary’ and ‘address known or likely safety risks’ and that ‘every proposed regulation must be assessed against the contribution it will make to aviation safety."

Howell concluded by saying that Rex looked forward to working with CASA to achieve a safer aviation environment through regulatory reforms that are "grounded on rational and evidence-based policies.”

Call me cynical but I question the timing of the above article hot on the heels of Skid-Mark's
recent trip to NZed & that meeting with CVDPA/CVD(NZ) associations...

For mine the following quote from Ferryman post - Chips and the spitting thereof. - completely sums up my feelings on this disappointing development:  

"..I don’t know where Arthur finds the control to write in such a sanguine manner; I can’t: not for the moment, fury rules.  But he is bang on the money.  The betrayal of hope, the insanity of dismissing the Forsyth “view”; the total contempt for the Senate recommendations; the useless, gutless Minister, the smug complicity of the DoIT and the two faced nature of the betrayal have created a need for a short thinking period.  One in which I can deal with the disgust, disappointment and sense betrayal.  The dislike of bullies, hatred of liars, utter contempt for those who willingly support them and disgust for those who have two faces have long been trusted companions.  Skidmore now becomes hard to classify; but, no doubt I shall complete the assessment in due course..."

Let the ESM - 'Erasing the Skid-Mark' - campaign begin..

MTF...P2

[P1_aka_P1]

PAIN have repeatedly warned that this type of strategy has been well tested and proven to work – 100% of the time.  Isolate, divide and conquer each individual group with exemptions, accommodations, platitudes and special considerations.   One at a time, the dissenting voices are silenced at first by self interest and then for self preservation; cooperation guaranteed to preserve a unique, hand crafted status quo, which is made 'unavailable' to those who fail to ‘satisfy’ CASA.  

I have watched this game played for over 40 years and industry always falls for it.   Nothing has changed: not even those responsible for the total, shambolic disarray in which the regulator has landed this industry.  No doubt history will repeat when yet another series of ‘inquiry’ and ‘reports’ provide another raft of recommendations which will, like the last be simply side stepped and discreetly binned, when the noisy minority has been appeased.

[crankybastards]

IS CASA AN AUTONOMOUS SOVIET?

From Andrew Bolt by Nick Cater "The Australian".


Nick Cater says the ABC has become an autonomous soviet beyond the power of any government to make accountable and fair:



The government’s prerogative to overrule the ABC’s editorial decisions was removed from legislation in 1983. Since then, the ABC effectively has become a foreign country, outside the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth of Australia, save for the approval of its sizeable stipend. It enjoys power without responsibility which, as British Conservative politician Stanley Baldwin once remarked, was “the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages”.

So what, if anything, can a level-headed government do to ensure its annual billion-dollar investment is well spent? Should it try to wrest control of the state-owned station from the barmy bohemians who occupy it? Or should it just boycott their shows?

Would the appointment of a managing director with spine prevent, for example, the bussing of terrorist sympathisers from Parramatta to broadcast live to the nation? Not a hope if history is any guide. Malcolm Fraser went to war with the ABC in his first year of government but had run up the white flag by Christmas.

Bob Hawke settled for an uneasy truce. John Howard stacked the board with decent chaps who found themselves powerless to ­influence the corporation in any significant way whatsoever.

The iron law of culturally autonomous government-funded bodies is that they are far easier to set up than to close down.