[Peetwo]

Via Oz Flying today - Carmody at Estimates on ADS-B  

Shane Carmody fronts the Senate Estimates Committee yesterday. (still from parliament house feed)

Carmody holds the Company Line on ADS-B
18 October 2016

Acting Director of Aviation Safety Shane Carmody has reinforced the Civil Aviation Safety Authority's position on the February 2017 IFR mandate for Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) equipment.

Responding to a question posed by NXT senator Nick Xenophon in yesterday's Senate Estimates Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport, Carmody defended CASA's reluctance to push out the mandate until after the technology was adopted in the USA.

Senator Xenophon tabled AOPA's figures showing the decline of general aviation in Australia, then asked Carmody if, in that context, CASA had considered pushing out the mandate until ADS-B units became cheaper.

"There are many, many operators that over the last five years, individuals and organisations that made a commitment to fit ADS-B, and they fitted it on the basis that the mandate was in place and coming in," Carmody replied.

"There are a number of operators that would therefore not thank me, and would come back at us as a regulator and say 'you are making it less safe by deferring fitment when we've already made our investment in accordance with your direction.'

"So we've made very clear the directions for the mandate up to 2017, they've invested very significantly in many cases in this, so that's a second aspect.

"..there is nothing to suggest that the prices will decrease as fitment increases in the United States..."

"And the third aspect is that there is nothing to suggest that the prices will decrease as fitment increases in the United States and elsewhere, and in fact there might be more competition for equipment and the prices may not decrease, making it more difficult to get equipment closer to the time.

"[there is a] view from one group of people that it will get cheaper if we wait until afterwards. The challenge for us is that ADS-B is a safer technology, which indicates where every aircraft is. That's the safety case we're working towards."
Xenophon immediately asked a follow up question that was more direct.

"Is there any possibility given the alarming decline in numbers with respect to general aviation in this country, that there may be consideration on CASA's part to stretching out the date for implementation of ADS-B?", he asked.

"There are no plans at this stage to delay implementation," Carmody replied, "but I've only been in place a week. I'd like to look at possibilities, but at this stage there are none."

CASA has repeatedly refused to push the ADS-B mandate out, despite calls from the general aviation community to move the deadline out to 2021 to match New Zealand, 12 months after the technology becomes compulsory in IFR aircraft in the USA.

Read more at http://www.australianflying.com.au/lates...fVUkVk4.99

 
Also from AOPA today:

18th October 2016


Mr Michael Dwyer AM
Chief Executive Officer
First State Super
PO BOX 1229
Wollongong NSW 2500
Australia

The Hon Darren Chester MP
Minister for Infrastructure and Transport
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia.

- Members of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
- Users of the Aviation Advertiser – Australia network
- Government Ministers and Senators
- Industry media

FIRST STATE SUPER & BANKSTOWN AIRPORT (YSBK)
NOW AND INTO THE FUTURE


Mr Michael Dwyer AM,

My name is Benjamin Morgan and I am the Executive Director of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) of Australia.  I am writing to you on behalf of Australia’s general aviation industry, with regard to the recent acquisition of the company which holds the head lease of Bankstown Airport (YSBK) by First State Super.

Bankstown Airport (YSBK) is one of Australia’s most important general aviation assets and is integral to the future of flight training and aircraft maintenance for Australia.  Bankstown Airport (YSBK) has been the cornerstone of Australian general aviation and for the past 15 years has been subjected to considerable devaluation and destruction by its operators post privatisation.  

The AOPA maintains its head office at Bankstown Airport and has witnessed the impacts of this improper management has seen the large scale closures and bankruptcies of the businesses located on the airport.  Past airport management has resorted to desperately seeking non-aviation commercial tenants to fill the voids, rather than work to establish a strong aviation strategy and masterplan for the asset.  The result has been disastrous, with prospective aviation tenants now being turned away with regard to leasing opportunities.

Contrary to the perceived views of previous airport management, Australia’s general aviation community have only ever sought a fair go, seeking to establish a strong working relationship with the privatised airport lease-holder.  Industry has sought a relationship based on mutual respect and a clear understanding of the value and importance that this aerodrome has to our national general aviation economy and to future generations of Australians, yet we have been ignored and sidelined.

Bankstown Airport has been marred by inappropriate management which has devalued the asset enormously and has impaired the ability of the airport lease-holder to maintain a working relationship with industry.  Instead of establishing a strong and thriving aviation business precinct onsite and attracting thousands of pilots and aircraft owners, whereby the airport operator could seek to achieve strong commercial returns, previous management have driven aircraft and owners away and have left aviation business struggling to survive in a customer vacuum.

To help you understand the issue, I would submit to you that if Westfields constructed a $200 million-dollar mall, installed hundreds of leading retailers within it (each investing hundreds of thousands) and then charged individual shoppers a $50 per day to access it, additionally charged $35 per day to park their cars - how long would this mall stay in business?

The above analogy may seem absurd, yet this is what continues to occur at Bankstown Airport (YSBK) to this very day and it needs to stop as it is devaluing your asset and damaging our industry.

A successful future for Bankstown Airport (YSBK) can only be achieved through a strong working relationship between the privatised airport lease-holder and industry itself, striking a sustainable balance between commercial interests and those of industry.

With the above in mind, the AOPA are seeking to meet with you and your board in person to discuss the airport and your future plans for it.  We are seeking to understand your intentions and to set in motion a partnership whereby we can work together by assisting your organisation by increasing the value of your asset whilst developing and growing general aviation simultaneously.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to meeting with you in person.

Best regards,

BENJAMIN MORGAN
Executive Director - Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
Mobile: 0415 577 724
Email:  ben.morgan@aopa.com.au

Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
PO BOX 26, Georges Hall NSW 2198, Australia.

Update: Via the Yaffa -

A schematic showing how ADS-B technology will revolutionise navigation. (Honeywell)

Will ADS-B Units get Cheaper after US Mandate?
20 October 2016

One of the key pillars of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) demand for the IFR ADS-B mandate in Australia to be pushed out past 2020 was brought into question this week.

In Senate estimates last Monday, Nick Xenophon questioned Acting Director of Aviation Safety (ADAS) Shane Carmody about whether CASA had considered extending the mandate until after the technology becomes compulsory in the USA to make units cheaper in Australia.

Carmody replied that there was "nothing to suggest that the prices will decrease as fitment increases in the United States and elsewhere ..."

According to the US-based Aircraft Electonics Association (AEA), there is some substance to what Carmody said.

AEA Director of Communications Geoff Hill told Australian Flying that prices for ADS-B unit had decreased steadily since the Federal Aviation Administration announced an ADS-B Out mandate in 2010, but now they had reached a nadir.

"The AEA represents the manufacturers of ADS-B equipment," Hill said, "and we constantly monitor and discuss with them new products coming to market, as well as any significant future prices—both increases and decreases.

"All of [the manufacturers] are telling us that the price of equipment for TSO’d certified equipment has reached their lowest price point."

If the AEA is correct, the cost of ADS-B units will not get cheaper as more units are installed in US aircraft, undermining part of the argument for the deadline in Australia to be extended beyond February 2017.

However, AOPA Australia maintains a deadline extension stands to save the aviation community a substantial sum of money.

"Mr Carmody’s and CASA’s belief that ADS-B installation prices will increase, in effect is correct, as he and CASA are driving these price increases, forcing aircraft owners to pay an absolute premium as a result of their unworkable mandate deadline," AOPA CEO Ben Morgan said.

"Based on CASA’s own numbers the unworkable mandate deadline will cost industry in excess of $30 million.

“Extending the ADSB deadline to 2021 does not represent a risk to the safety of air navigation and would provide the Australian aviation industry with a reasonable timeframe to meet the compliance requirements in an affordable manner. 

"CASA and Mr Carmody need to take responsibility for this bungled mandate and demonstrate their willingness to work with industry.”

US manufacturers have approached the question very carefully, but neither Garmin nor BendixKing have indicated that an increase in demand in the USA will trigger lower unit prices.

AEA's Geoff Hill concedes that in the USA, installers are planning to raise labour costs closer to the deadline.

"As the US mandate grows closer to 1 January 2020 (38 months away now), the installers have shared that they may have to raise their labor and install rates to meet the demand," he said. "They plan to hire additional technicians and invest in more tools and test equipment, plus schedule overtime hours for their technicians.

 "As a result, the closer we get to the US mandate, and the longer an aircraft owner waits to install in hopes of lower-priced equipment, the greater the chance that higher installation rates will offset any savings of lower-priced equipment."

Australian Flying has no direct information on what will happen with installation costs in Australia as the industry battles to complete all the work needed in the time remaining until the February 2017 deadline.

Read more at http://www.australianflying.com.au/lates...g1zpIaT.99

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&...

Once the busiest GA airport in Australia, Bankstown has been in decline over the last decade. (Steve Hitchen)

AOPA calls for Meeting over Bankstown
20 October 2016

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) has called on the lease-owner of Bankstown and Camden airports, First State Super, to meet with them over the future of Bankstown.

In a letter to First State CEO Michael Dwyer AM dated 18 October, AOPA President Ben Morgan laid out some issues the association has with the operation of the airport before requesting a meeting.

First State Super and Altis Property Partners, bought BAC Holdco from Mirvac and Colonial First State for a reported $203 million in December 2015.

"AOPA are seeking to meet with you and your board in person to discuss the airport and your future plans for it," Morgan told Dwyer in the letter.

"We are seeking to understand your intentions and to set in motion a partnership whereby we can work together by assisting your organisation by increasing the value of your asset whilst developing and growing general aviation simultaneously."

The letter also lays out the problems AOPA believes are restricting the ability of GA operators to use Bankstown as a base, blaming most of the airport's woes on what it believes is poor management.

"Bankstown Airport is one of Australia’s most important general aviation assets and is integral to the future of flight training and aircraft maintenance for Australia," Morgan says. "Bankstown Airport has been the cornerstone of Australian general aviation and for the past 15 years has been subjected to considerable devaluation and destruction by its operators post privatisation.

"The AOPA maintains its head office at Bankstown Airport and has witnessed the impacts of this improper management has seen the large scale closures and bankruptcies of the businesses located on the airport. Past airport management has resorted to desperately seeking non-aviation commercial tenants to fill the voids, rather than work to establish a strong aviation strategy and masterplan for the asset.

"The result has been disastrous, with prospective aviation tenants now being turned away with regard to leasing opportunities."

AOPA believes that a successful future for Bankstown Airport can be achieved by First State Super and the general aviation community industry working together to find a sustainable balance between commercial interests and those of industry.

The full AOPA letter can be downloaded from the link below.

 AOPA letter to First State Super

Read more at http://www.australianflying.com.au/lates...ao13QWi.99

 
Update: Via Oz Flying

Leased hangars at Bankstown. (Steve Hitchen)

First State Super to organise Bankstown Meeting
25 October 2016
  
First State Super CEO Michael Dwyer AM has promised to arrange a meeting to discuss the future of Bankstown Airport, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA).

Last week, AOPA CEO Ben Morgan wrote to Dwyer outlining concerns with the health of general aviation at Bankstown offering to collaborate with the lease-holder to improve the outlook. First State Super is one of the co-owners of BAC Holdco, which owns the lease for the airport.

In a letter to members today, Morgan outlined the reply he received from First State.
"I have today received a response from Mr Michael Dwyer AM, CEO of First State Super, who has advised that he is now organising a meeting between AOPA and the airport head-lease holder, so that we may open discussions with regard to the future of the airport and general aviation within the Sydney Basin.

"The AOPA believes the meeting is an important first step towards clear and open communication between industry and the new lease-holder, with a view towards establishing a working relationship that can deliver higher airport asset values and increased industry activity and output.

"The past 15 years for the aviation community at Bankstown Airport has been devastating, with aviation tenants forced to accept unconscionable lease valuation increases with unworkable short tenures. The result of the historical mismanagement has been the large scale destruction of the aviation business community at both Bankstown and Camden airports, damaging the national general aviation economy."

Bankstown Airport has experienced a 33% drop in movements between the 2001 and 2015 calendar years. In 2001 Bankstown was ranked as the busiest airport in Australia, but by December 2015 had slipped to sixth behind Sydney, Moorabbin, Parafield, Melbourne and Jandakot.

Figures for Camden in that period have increased 33%, but the 24,770 increase in movements at Camden does not completely offset the 111,254 movements lost at Bankstown.

Read more at http://www.australianflying.com.au/lates...0fxdLEt.99

MTF...P2