[Peetwo]

The week that t'was - Yawn.. ! Slow week in Oz aviation media with the usual suspects, especially with Hitch still OS and MH370 in some sort of recent hiatus. Although Ventus probably nailed the reason for that - see here: 

Annex-13 gives the industry the luxury of playing the time game, to protect itself, it's own interests, not the public interest.

The best way to do that, is to release as little as possible, as late as possible.
People eventually forget, time goes on, it drops of their radar, especially so with the media.

In the case of MH-370, they are not just "letting the money run out", more importantly, more significantly, and more specifically, they are deliberately "running out the clock".

I listened to an address on ABC Radio by Angus Houston in Adelaide recently.

He spent almpost the entire speech on MH-17.  

What little he said about MH-370 (at the very end) was all about "damping down expectations" - "it took us 75 years to find HMAS Sydney" ... etc.
What does that tell you ?

Cast your mind back.
When did Angus come on scene with the JACC ?
When did he leave the JACC ?
The JACC still exists, and does what, of substance ?

The Chinese have walked away from the sham of this investigation already.
How long before it is shut down entirely ?

However there were some stories that broke.

First from Safety Culture OHS news, a blurb on the proposed Aerial Work Part 138:

Proposed new rules for aerial work operations open for public comment

Reported by Haydee | 12:52pm, Wednesday 07 October, 2015


Photo: skeeze, Pixabay

Comment is being sought on proposals to establish new rules for aerial work operations, which is to be contained in Part 138 of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998.

These new rules will apply to those who conduct aerial work activities in aeroplanes and rotorcraft including mustering, spotting and survey operations, media operations, external load operations, surveillance operations, marine pilot transfers and emergency service operations such as search and rescue, police and customs operations.

This is part of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority’s regulation reform program, committed to enhance aviation safety, address known risks and maintain the reputation of Australia’s aviation industry as one of the safest in the world.

The proposed changes include:

• Consolidating all aeroplane and helicopter aerial work operations into a signle rule set, with these operations conducted under a Part 138 certificate rather than an air operator’s certificate (noting the rules for aerial application operations are contained in Part 137 and the rules for medical transport operations will be moved to Parts 119, 133 and 135 as applicable)
  
• Streamlining the current 41 aerial work activities into three categories: external load operations, dispensing operations and task-specialist operations
  
• Applying rotorcraft and aeroplane performance standards to certain aerial work operations as required, based on the assessed work
  
• Applying graduated training and checking standards to aerial work operations depending on the complexity of the operation
  
• Defining and specifying when aerial work specialists and aerial work passengers can be carried
  
  

Comments can be submitted until 10 November 2015.

Next from the Oz on the NPRM for Part121, which I've no doubt will cause some consternation for those middle of the road operators & some regional airline/charter operators...

New CASA rules put big charters in airline category  

• by: STEVE CREEDY
  
• From: The Australian
  
• October 09, 2015 12:00AM
  

Aviation Editor
Sydney




CASA expects safety improvements to flow from the new aviation safety standards. Picture: Sam Rosewarne Source: News Corp Australia

Charter operators flying bigger planes will have to meet the same safety standards as airlines under long-awaited new rules the aviation regulator says will boost safety for non-scheduled flights.  

A rewrite of Civil Aviation Safety Regulations Part 121 released this week for comment by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority will put charter aircraft fitted with more than nine seats or with a maximum takeoff weight of more than 8618kg into the same air transport category as airlines.

A raft of changes include a move to formalise the cabin crew to passenger seat ratio at 1:50 — down from the previous standard of one for every 36 seats — in line with manufacturer recommendations. CASA has been granting exemptions to the 1:36 rule for some time but the move, strongly supported by airlines as an efficiency measure, for many years was opposed by the Flight Attendants Association of Australia on safety and security grounds.

CASA expects safety improvements to flow from areas such as record and document control, better information on non-certified aerodromes, improved procedures for pilots operating different types of aircraft, as well as simplified check and training requirements for flight crews.

There will also be improvements with safety management systems in conjunction with CASR Part 119, which deals with air operator’s certificates.

Other changes include the provision for new technology such as synthetic vision and enhanced vision systems, requirements for underwater location devices and additional medical equipment on some flights and rostering restrictions for inexperienced flight crew.

The authority said many of the changes would formalise current practices or simplify compliance and align “to the maximum extent possible’’ with International Civil Aviation Organisation standards and recommendations.

The move to put charter and airline operations under one umbrella stretches back over two decades and met with resistance in the early 2000s. The aviation authority has more recently come under intense criticism for the way it introduced new rules in areas such as flight crew licensing as well its failure to consult properly with the industry.

However, CASA said this time it had conducted comprehensive consultation on the proposed rules with airlines, smaller air ­operators, industry groups and unions.

It said consultations in nine working groups had culminated in the proposal, an associated technical draft of the manual of standards and draft acceptable means of compliance and guidance material.

The most recent consultation resulted in changes to the new rules, which are based on Euro­pean standards for air transport operations, to incorporate standards and rules commonly used in Australia.

A risk analysis had also shown that in most cases the new rules would mitigate known safety risks, the authority said.

“Generally, the application of a rule would not change the outcome but would reduce the probability of the risk being realised,’’ it said.

The regulator says it will consider all comments received as part of consultation process and wants them lodged by close of business on November 27.

  
Also covered by Hitch's fill in bloke:

Charter passenger and cargo aircraft with more than nine passenger seats or a max takeoff weight of more than 8618 kilograms will have to comply with new rules designed to bring such operations in line with regular public transport flights.


CASA releases new charter rules for public comment
09 Oct 2015

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority has released for public comment proposed changes that will bring safety standards for charter flights in to line with those of regular public transport.

The new Part 121 rules will apply to passenger and cargo operations in aeroplanes fitted with more than nine passenger seats or with a maximum take-off weight of more than 8,618 kilograms.

CASA believes this means there will be improved safety standards in some areas of operations for non-scheduled flights which are currently classified as charter.

Other key changes include provisions for the use of new technology such as synthetic vision and enhanced vision systems, requirements for underwater locating devices on some flights, requirements for additional medical equipment on aircraft, restrictions on rostering inexperienced flight crew and new training and checking requirements for cabin crew.

Other changes proposed include new terminology and rules for extended diversion time operations, clearer rules for operations on narrow runways, simplified equipment regulations, new datalink recording requirements, options for more flexible pilot training and checking programs, simplified pilot recency requirements, formalising a cabin crew to passenger seat ratio of one to fifty and new recency requirements for cabin crew.

After a consultation program with air operators, aviation industry representative groups and pilot and cabin crew unions, CASA has now released the proposals in detail to the broader Australian aviation community for further consultation and comment.  The comment period closes on 27 November 2015.

The proposed new rules are designed to align to the maximum extent possible with International Civil Aviation Organization standards and recommended practices.

They consolidate all existing regulations for charter and regular public transport operations into one rule set, which is supported by a manual of standards as well as compliance and guidance material.

Many of the proposed changes will formalise current practices, while others will simplify compliance.

While with Oz Flying I noticed some comments in recent months worth regurgitating..

CASA has Scope for Improvement: Skidmore

Eyrie • 4 months ago

Sorry Mark. After the last 20 years plus of thrashing around it is clear that CASA cannot be reformed or improved. All that remains is to take it out to the parking lot and quietly put it out of its misery. Burn both the new and old regulations in a ceremonial bonfire.

Other small nations which have been unable (I think we qualify - look around you) or unwilling to run their own aviation systems have simply adopted the FAA rules in toto, including I'm told, Indonesia, a place where aviation is NOT optional, just like vast areas of this country.

There must be FAA people retiring all the time who would like a couple of years in Australia bedding down their rules here.

So be an Australian aviation hero who will be remembered for decades, Mark. Bite the bullet and do it.



Steve • 4 months ago

Why is CASA involved with small air craft , CASA must have better things to do with commercial / hire and the air lines. There is the SAAA , RAAus doing a similar thing , why does CASA waste heaps of private and public money doubling up controlling such a small industry. It seems CASA has controlled the small air craft operators to the point there is less flying GA every year . The cost of compliance is too great for some and they just withdraw from the industry and why would young people waste their time and money training etc just to leave the industry disillusioned , The fun of flying is being erroded by over regulation

A lot of GA pilots are flying 15 to 20 hours or less, why? Someone should ask why.
ASIC card is a furphy and a waste of money, medicals are restrictive, intrusive and turn people away from the industry.

Think of this, less GA pilots , in turn these is less planes being sold and less hours flown, less maintenance staff , air strips close, then there will be less CASA staff .
Why not give GA a chance , look at RA Aus isnt it working and it's less restrictive,why wouldn't the same work for GA ?

AOPA demands Compensation for ADS-B Mandate

Anderson • a month ago

All this ADS-B infrastructure is of course an aviation / taxpayer funded "safety" drive to "fatten the pig" so to speak.
(Ever notice, whether it's in aviation or anything other government policy - the reason is "safety" or "security" - these are of course thinly veiled smokescreens for more nefarious objectives).

Anyone who can't see what's happening here must be either wilfully igorant or some sort of dullard.

ADS-B, massive cost reductions of existing infrastructure (dismantling of NDB and VOR navaids), revisions to fee structures: Who honestly can't see that Airservices is simply being ripened up to be sold off.

It's a classic case of socialising the costs and privatising the profits.

The beneficiaries of the new ATC system will be some private equity consortium - some action certainly to get in on if you can since monopoly enterprises (no matter how regulated) are always cash cow. The great Sydney Airport sell-off con anybody....?!!?

We dare not mention this though... In the same vein as any comments about the obvious fate of YSBK and YSCN by the end of the decade don't see the light of day...

Let's see what happens shall we, my guess is Airservices is private well within 5 years (regardless of which side of the fake political Hegelian dialectic might be in power)

From that man Eyrie again: The Last Minute Hitch: 25 September 2015

..Mark Skidmore is obviously prepared to tell the rest of the CASA board and the Minister exactly what the state of play is. His recent memo to CASA internal staff stated that he was prepared to ignore the government's deadline to finish the regulation review if it meant getting it right. This is a bit of a quandry for GA. The regulation reform program has been running longer than The Simpsons, but hasn't been anywhere near as much fun, and realistically maybe we've all had enough. It has been badly mismanaged and several deadlines directed by several ministers have done nothing more than be measuring sticks for the extent of the problem. So, for Skidmore to come out now and say he's prepared to ignore another one takes guts, especially when he's running in the face of a storm of criticism that nothing's happening. On the contrary, if that is what it will take to get the regulations right, maybe that's what needs to happen. Do we really want another Part 61 generated by a desperate need just to hit a deadline? Bad regulation won't hurry the end of this, it will only drag it out further as we try to battle even more nonsense...



Eyrie • 14 days ago
They've only had 21 years so far. If they can't finish by the deadline now just scrap the whole project and adopt the US FARs, or better still just outsource the management of the regulation of Australian aviation to the FAA. Other small, incompetent Pacific nations have done this.
If Skidmore can't or won't work to requirements he needs to resign or be fired. - I'll drink to that

MTF..P2