[Peetwo]

And from Ironsider, via the Oz today :

AOPA’s misery over medicals
ROBYN IRONSIDE
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association is lobbying for further changes to medical tests for general aviation pilots.

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CASA accused of double standards over pilot medical tests

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association is lobbying the federal government for further changes to medical tests for general aviation pilots, despite the simplification of requirements in July.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority introduced a basic Class 2 category to allow general aviation pilots to renew their medical certificate for as little as $10 based on an assessment by their GP.

But AOPA executive director Benjamin Morgan said it was not fair that CASA allowed members of the privately run Recreational Aviation Australia (RAAus) to be self-certified.

He said the same privilege should be afforded to general aviation pilots overseen by CASA.

“Quite simply it is either safe or unsafe for a private pilot to operate an aircraft in Australia on a self-certification private licence medical standard,” Mr Morgan said.

“CASA must end the double standards.”

He said there was something “smelly” about CASA’s willingness to allow a private company to abide by a different set of standards to the rest of the aviation industry.

“It’s a private company that’s being looked after by the regulator,” said Mr Morgan, who met with Liberal, Labor and crossbench senators in Canberra this week to discuss the issue.

RAAus chairman Michael Monck said it was ridiculous to suggest the organisation was getting special treatment.

“I don’t think there are double standards. There’s just a different approach to different activities,” Mr Monck said. “Our members are limited to aircraft under 600kg, we’re limited to flying during daylight hours, we can’t fly at night or in cloud, and the flight can’t involve any sort of commercial arrangement.”

A CASA spokesman said the authority had carefully assessed the safety issues and risks in determining the various classes of aviation medical certificates, taking into account things like other airspace users, aircraft passengers and people and property on the ground.

“CASA considers self medical certification to be appropriate for recreational pilots operating in small aircraft with one passenger, and outside controlled airspace under licences issued by Recreational Aviation Australia,” the spokesman said. “CASA considers medical certification based on an assessment by a medical professional to be appropriate for pilots flying in all classes of airspace, including controlled airspace under a CASA issued licence.”

He said since July, more than 200 general aviation pilots had applied for a basic Class 2 category of medical certification.

Meanwhile, CASA will explore ways to make it cheaper and easier for aircraft flying under visual flight rules to voluntarily use automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) technology.

The technology automatically broadcasts the precise location and altitude of the aircraft and is compulsory on instrument-flight rules aircraft.

CASA chief executive Shane Carmody said so far uptake in the visual flight rules community had been low despite there being strong support for voluntary adoption.

As a result, CASA was proposing to relax the equipment and installation standards for ADS-B fitment in visual flight rules aircraft.

MTF...P2