06-03-2024, 01:02 PM
As with most Estimates hearings involving matters aviation, I spend most of my time shaking my head in disbelief or frustration, punctuated with being plain old gobsmacked. This time around my gob was metaphorically smacked at the point it became obvious that Ms Spence clearly doesn’t know the extent to which regular public transport aircraft – including jets – share the skies and aerodromes with ‘weekend warriors’. Go to the part of the hearing involving the interaction between Ms Spence and Senator Roberts about the Class 5 medical certificate and watch.
As an act of purest optimism, I wrote to both, pointing out that regular public transport aircraft – including jets – frequently share the skies and aerodromes with aircraft that are flown by pilots who have no medical certificate issued by CASA or any other regulatory authority, and those skies and aerodromes have no air traffic control. (And even the pilots traditionally described as ‘weekend warriors’ – private pilots with Class 2 medical certificates - can and do operate into and out of capital city primary airports or at least the associated controlled airspace.) However, I don’t anticipate that reality will intrude that much into what I can only describe as a Theatre of the Absurd.
Earl Lank (Clinton McKenzie)
As an act of purest optimism, I wrote to both, pointing out that regular public transport aircraft – including jets – frequently share the skies and aerodromes with aircraft that are flown by pilots who have no medical certificate issued by CASA or any other regulatory authority, and those skies and aerodromes have no air traffic control. (And even the pilots traditionally described as ‘weekend warriors’ – private pilots with Class 2 medical certificates - can and do operate into and out of capital city primary airports or at least the associated controlled airspace.) However, I don’t anticipate that reality will intrude that much into what I can only describe as a Theatre of the Absurd.
Earl Lank (Clinton McKenzie)