[Peetwo]

Knee jerk or Jerk?

I think it would be wise to wait and read the full article in Australian Flying. Dick Smith says :-

“(By the way, the September/October 2018 issue of Australian Flying is one of the best issues that has ever come out – it would have taken a lot of hard work. Congratulations to everyone involved.)”

Before we sort out exactly what Monck was rattling on about:

Dick Smith – “In an article in the September/October 2018 issue of Australian Flying headed “Monck on changing the Act” it states that he is not supporting my proposed change to the Act.”

Monck - “… I think by making the Act dual purpose, I think we are opening ourselves up to trouble like we saw in the US…”

BUT – a big one; if RAA are even thinking that the Act does not need changing, then they are ignoring the root of all evil; for that is where the CASA power to do exactly what they’ve been doing is drawn from. Break the Act – break the Iron Ring. Although without the onerous impositions on ‘real’ flying in proper aircraft, RAA have no real purpose – do they. If AOPA had the same concessions – in law, that RAA have (and restrictions for the medically challenged), with an even playing field; then it would be a whole different ball game. Just saying.

By the by – Seems as though AOPA had a very good session with the Senate Committee; positive and productive. Hansard will tell the tale properly. Well done – again – AOPA. Watch now as the CASA board tries to cuddle up and mend fences with AOPA. Typical behaviour of the clan, start a brawl then cry foul because they were only kidding. BOLLOCKS. Don’t start it, if you can’t finish it – that’s what I taught my younglings. IF, big one, CASA suddenly want to mend the fences, it is only because AOPA have hurt them; not beaten them, but hurt them. Aye - Beware the angry man – Machiavelli understood this very, very well.

“If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared”.

Don’t care; darts practice in half an hour and we have Canadian visitors this evening to entertain. Should be fun – hat, coat, darts – Ale awaits (P7’s shout) – gods sparing – weather permitting that is….

Toot toot

Bye the bye AGAA members unite behind AOPA Oz...  

Via the SAAA Facebook page:

[url=https://www.facebook.com/sportaircraftassociationaustralia/?ref=nf&hc_ref=ARSzH-w0RDLitQ5KyZtUrg9WVmt7v2UaBeWGfQ96WlQrUAbXMYJPChidccOiyn65WoI][/url]
Sport Aircraft Association of Australia

August 22 
A message from AMROBA, one of the partners in the Australian General Aviation Aliance supporting the AOPA 'Freedom to Fly' and referencing the AOPA logo from 1939.

---

 
MTF? - No doubt...P2 

[Kharon]

From the sheep’s arse to your ears.

It is probably only a wind driven rumour, but it’s vile, even if only half true. I shall paraphrase what was whispered to me, for there are big ears with long knives waiting to pounce on those who dare tell the truth.


“CASA want to kiss and make up with AOPA”.

There is no way Morgan and his AOPA crew can take their foot of the gas pedal now, to do so would be a serious mistake. Until there are some ‘deep and meaningful’ changes made and tangible proof that those changes are real, there can be no armistice. And anyway, there is too much momentum to the reform movement for anyone to resile from their position, not with any credibility at least.

There are so many small things which could be done to promote peace and goodwill, these would show a willingness, without a CASA loss of face, to accept the demands of industry. Proof positive of reform and good sense.

For example, acquiesce to the changes in the ACT, that would be a win-win for both parties.  An even better peace offering, and a great place to demonstrate willingness would be to redraft the preface to the infamous ‘Enforcement Manual’; which still is as blatant an insult now as it was the day McConvict signed the wretched thing. Let’s have it redrafted as a token of good faith. Of course, Carmody could ‘release’ several of his people to spend more time with their remaining marbles or families. That would open the door for people who would be happy to assist making CASA a decent corporate citizen, model litigant and an agency this country, government and industry could be proud of.

Actions not words. The very thought of AOPA ‘working’ within the existing system, as it stands is the stuff of nightmares. AOPA has the whip hand, they need to  keep using it, as hard and as often as required. Motivation should come from the disgraceful treatment the good Rev. Forsyth’s ‘opinions’ were given, before they were pissed on and tossed into the skip.

Then again, this probably all a faery story, told to frighten the children. I seriously hope that is the case. Because if AOPA back off, CASA win and it will be another 30 years before the aviation rules are decriminalized, let alone reduced in volume and made ‘safe’ for industry to work within.

The gas driven pellet of sheep pooh, parading as minister could make the changes happen almost overnight. Perhaps that is where CASA could begin the peace process – by whispering to him that changes to the Act would be a jolly good thing. Now that would indeed pave the way peace in our time. But until tangible proof of change is presented, Morgan would be a mug to take his foot off the gas pedal.

Thank the gods its only a rumour; because if there is any substance to it, then not only has nothing changed, but the entrenched opposition to change has just tried to blindside the call for the change. Let’s wait and see.

Toot – toot.

[Peetwo]

QF flying school X 2 confirmed - 

Via Oz Flying: 

Qantas commits to Second Academy Location
29 August 2018

Qantas announced last week that it is looking for two locations around Australia to establish flying training academies instead of only one as originally stated.

According to the airline, the second location has become necessary because of the forecast demand for pilots and the interest the airline has received for flight training.

Plans for the Qantas Group Pilot Academy were announced in February this year and it’s expected the first site will be operational during 2019. Nine regional cities across Australia – Alice Springs, Bendigo, Busselton, Dubbo, Launceston, Mackay, Tamworth, Toowoomba and Wagga Wagga – have been shortlisted as potential sites, with an announcement expected in the next few weeks.

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said that initial scoping had shown that two locations would be needed to reach the academy’s potential.

“We’re aiming to train up to 100 pilots in year one but we expect this to grow to as many as 500 a year and that can only be achieved if we have more than one location,” he said.
“Adding up to 250 students plus instructors and support staff to any of these places needs the right infrastructure at airports, but also in the towns themselves.

“The academy represents a commercial opportunity for Qantas, but it’s also important for the future of Australian aviation. We expect that pilots completing their training with the academy could fly for other airlines, the defence force or services like the Royal Flying Doctors.”

Boeing’s latest estimates show that 790,000 more pilots will be required globally over the next 20 years, around one third of them in Asia Pacific, figures which have led to Qantas entering the flight training market.

According to Qantas, almost 17,000 people have so far registered their interest in the Qantas Group Pilot Academy, 16% of which are femaie, a mark much higher than the current industry participation of 3% female.

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

---

&..

Race for Qantas pilot academy
ROBYN IRONSIDE
Regional towns are battling it out to secure the lucrative addition of one of two new Qantas pilot academies.

Good news followed by bad news...
SA TAFE LAME cock-up update:

Via the Oz:

Training bungle hits taxpayers
MICHAEL OWEN
Almost 90 aircraft maintenance ­engineers have been paid more than $2 million after their licences were revoked.

Almost 90 Australian and international aircraft maintenance ­engineers have been paid more than $2 million in compensation and retraining fees after their ­licences were revoked in the wake of a training bungle at TAFE SA.

A routine Civil Aviation Safety Authority audit early last year, which ultimately led to a widespread TAFE SA training scandal affecting about 800 students across 16 “substandard” courses, found the aircraft maintenance training course was non-­compliant.

The training bungle was ­exposed during an investi­gation by The Weekend Australian.

Former Labor skills minister Susan Close, who is now state Deputy Opposition Leader, was informed of the investigation five months earlier, but had kept it from the public.

The incident saw Qantas no longer use TAFE SA for training.

South Australian Treasurer Rob Lucas, who will deliver the new Liberal government’s first budget next week, said the TAFE SA settlement would cover the cost of students’ lost wages, re-training fees, and accommodation and airfares for interstate and overseas students.

The cost to taxpayers includes sending TAFE SA staff on “travelling roadshows” across Australia to conduct their retraining.

“This whole sorry saga is just another example of the sheer incompetence of the former Labor government and the mess they’ve left us to clean up,’’ Mr Lucas said yesterday.

“Aircraft maintenance training students — who had paid around $5000 to $10,000 for a module and up to $52,000 for a full ­diploma — were told their licences were invalid and forced to suspend all work directly related to them.”

There were only three other centres in the country offering the training: TAFE NSW, Aviation Australia and Federation Training in Gippsland, Victoria.

Mr Lucas said four students from Dili, East Timor, had paid $98,000 to take the course at the Parafield Airport campus of TAFE SA and sit their exams.

“On the advice of the Crown Solicitor’s Office, the government is now covering their lost wages and paying for them to be retrained but, because many of them live interstate, there is an added $1m cost to fly TAFE SA staff on travelling roadshows to Darwin, Cairns, Brisbane and Perth to conduct the retraining,” Mr Lucas said.

He said the total cost to compensate 87 students was $2,037,888. There also was significant international brand damage to TAFE SA, he said.

The taxpayer-funded payout is among more than $12m in claims the Marshall government is ­settling with about 100 victims of previous issues that occurred on the watch of the former Labor government, including the Oakden aged-care scandal, chemotherapy under-dosing, missed breast cancer detection and Pathology SA’s incorrect prostate test results.

Mr Lucas said there would be a big hit to the state’s budget from TAFE SA’s problems, including a “very significant” operating cost blowout for vocational training courses.

“It is the government’s view that TAFE SA (still) has an important role to play, if properly managed,” Mr Lucas said.

---

Course crash costs millions
MICHAEL OWEN

The SA government has paid out 87 TAFE aircraft maintenance students who had their licences revoked after a damning audit.
The South Australian government has paid more than $2 million in compensation and retraining fees to 87 TAFE SA aircraft maintenance training course students who had their licences revoked following a damning Civil Aviation Safety Authority audit.

The audit early last year, which led to the exposure of a widespread TAFE SA training scandal affecting about 800 students across 16 “substandard” courses, found the aircraft maintenance training course was non-compliant for a number of reasons.

It was only after an investigation by The Weekend Australian that the serious training bungle was exposed in September last year.

Former Labor skills minister Susan Close, who is now the opposition’s deputy leader, was informed of the investigation five months earlier, but kept it from the public.

The incident saw Qantas no longer use TAFE SA for training.

South Australian Treasurer Rob Lucas, who will deliver the new government’s first budget next week, said the TAFE SA settlement would cover the cost of students’ lost wages, retraining fees, accommodation and airfares for interstate and overseas students — as well as the cost of sending TAFE SA staff on “travelling roadshows” across Australia to conduct the retraining.

“This whole sorry saga is just another example of the sheer incompetence of the former Labor government and the mess they’ve left us to clean up,’’ Mr Lucas said today.

“Aircraft maintenance training students — who had paid around $5000 to $10,000 for a module and up to $52,000 for a full Diploma — were told their licences were invalid and forced to suspend all work directly related to them.”

There were only three other centres in the country offering the training: TAFE NSW, Aviation Australia and Federation Training in Gippsland, Victoria.

Mr Lucas said four students from Dili, East Timor had paid $98,000 to take the course at the Parafield Airport campus of TAFE SA and sit their exams.

“On the advice of the Crown Solicitor’s Office, the government is now covering their lost wages and paying for them to be retrained but, because many of them live interstate, there is an added $1m cost to fly TAFE SA staff on travelling roadshows to Darwin, Cairns, Brisbane and Perth to conduct the retraining,” Mr Lucas said.

The taxpayer-funded payout is among more than $12m in claims the Marshall government is settling with around 100 victims of previous issues on the watch of the former Labor government, including the Oakden scandal, chemotherapy under-dosing, missed breast cancer detection and Pathology SA’s incorrect prostate test results.

MTF...P2 

[Gobbledock]

SURPRISED??? HARDLY.

“Almost 90 Australian and international aircraft maintenance ­engineers have been paid more than $2 million in compensation and retraining fees after their ­licences were revoked in the wake of a training bungle at TAFE SA”.

Just another moronic Government department screwing up and costing the taxpayer millions.
Governments, ha, how laughable. Useless, pathetic dipshits turning everything they touch and everything they do into steaming piles of excrement!

[Peetwo]

Top stuff Wellsy - 

Via the Oz today:

Local flight school inks Asia deal
MATTHEW DENHOLM
About 75 Malaysian pilots will be trained in Tasmania each year under a deal between the state’s regional airline and Air Asia.

---

Local flight school in deal to train 75 Air Asia pilots

About 75 Malaysian pilots will be trained in Tasmania each year under a landmark deal between the state’s regional airline and Air Asia.

The managing director of Hobart-based Par Avion, Shannon Wells, told The Australian the deal showed that Australian flight schools could play a role in addressing the global pilot shortage.

An initial 10 Malaysians who had started their flight training in Malaysia would come to Hobart in the next month to complete their qualifications.

“Then, provided the Malaysian government is happy with the standard we set, Air Asia is intending to send about 75 pilots to Tasmania to learn to fly, which is really exciting,” Mr Wells said.

“The pilot shortage is getting pretty serious but hopefully we play a bit of a role in Tasmania. We’ve got the airspace, we’ve got the great education standards, the weather and the terrain. It’s the perfect place.

“Air Asia is rapidly expanding across Southeast Asia and while they’ve got lots of cadets that want to fly for them, there is a real lack of infrastructure in the country to train up the vast numbers that they want.”

Air Asia spokesman Kris Taute said the deal was part of the airline’s global training program, which offered new cadets “the opportunity to learn from some of the best instructors and aviation training schools”.

“In the coming year, around 75 new recruits will undertake their CPL (commercial pilot licence) and instrument training under the direction of an Australian instructor, alongside nine months of practical training in Hobart,” Mr Taute said.

Mr Wells said it was the first deal of its kind for Tasmania. “It means five to 10 more (instructor) jobs for us and we have to invest millions of dollars more in aircraft,” he said.

It may also require Par Avion to expand its current Hobart pilot school, based at Cambridge Aerodrome, to new operations in Devonport, in the state’s northwest.

Australian pilots and flight schools have long complained the shortage of pilots in this country is in part linked to the excessive and costly regulatory burden of training pilots for domestic aviation.

In recent years, some Australian pilot schools have been taken over by Chinese companies to meet their needs, while Australia has allowed the use of foreign ­pilots on skills shortage visas.

At the same time, Asian airlines have poached senior Australian pilots and instructors.

Mr Wells said his company’s deal with Air Asia showed that Australian flying schools could play a role in addressing the global pilot shortage.

“It has cost a lot of money in (regulatory) approvals, a lot of administration, so it is difficult. But if you can find an opportunity, there is demand,” he said.

“There are lots of (pilot) schools across the country desperate to grow and expand their ­businesses.

“It’s just a matter of whether they have the money, the time and the patience to do it.”

MTF...P2 

[Peetwo]

TAAAF and the ASAP show their true colours -  

I kind of predicted this was going to happen because apparently there is a large rift appearing in the Oz aviation safety matrix...

Via the Yaffa:

Spat erupts over ASAP Endorsement of Medical Policy

14 September 2018

AOPA Australia has targeted The Australian Aviation Assocations Forum (TAAAF) after the forum endorsed the CASA position that driver's licence medicals would not be available for general aviation pilots.

TAAAF is part of CASA's Aviation Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) and is one of the few members of the panel that represents general aviation organisations.

In November last year, CASA asked ASAP members to agree to the new medical reforms, which cleared the way for the Basic Class 2 and other changes to be implemented this year. The policy presented to the panel included the following statement.

While there have been industry calls for a 'self-certification' standard similar to that introduced in the US, the requisite training requirements were considered ultimately more complex and with less integrity of outcome compared to a routine 'Austroads' review by any GP.

Self-certification is currently allowed for RAAus pilots and members of the Gliding Federation of Australia.

Meeting notes show that ASAP endorsed the new policy, which AOPA says shows that TAAAF is not providing proper representation of general aviation needs.

"AOPA Australia mounted a very public campaign throughout 2016/2017 to reform Australia’s private pilot medical certification, seeking a self-certification standard based on the Austroads Private Drivers Licence," AOPA CEO Ben Morgan said in an e-mail to TAAAF members.

"Our submission to CASA was supported by over 1,700+ signatures, representing the largest volume of response to the entire consultation process.

"It is certain that the TAAAF Chairman was given clear and concise advance notice of CASA’s proposed policy and failed to pass this information back to the TAAAF forum where it could have been discussed and actioned by its members.

" ... TAAAF’s acceptance of CASA’s medical reform policy has significantly disadvantaged the aircraft owner and pilot community and has denied the general aviation industry an advancement with respect to genuine reform, whilst at the same time handing CASA the opportunity to claim, ‘you the GA industry accepted it’.

"Sham consultation, sham representation, utterly shameful behaviour."

TAAAF Honorary Chairman Greg Russell told Australian Flying that he has no recollection of AOPA raising the issue of medicals before AOPA resigned as a member of TAAAF, and that meeting notes don't reflect that the AOPA policy was tabled at any stage.

However, TAAAF meeting notes from 8 December 2016 do show that AOPA asked TAAAF to adopt the AOPA policy on Class 2 medicals.

Ben Morgan stated to Australian Flying that he believed the general aviation community should be "bitterly disappointed that TAAAF has misrepresented the industry. The members of TAAAF were aware of the AOPA policy," he said, "and any statements to the contrary have been loose with the truth."

Russell has declined to issue any response to AOPA's accusations, but did say that TAAAF had voted to approve the new policy.

Jim Davis, Chairman of the The Regional Aviation Association of Australia (RAAA), which is a member of ASAP and TAAAF, said they had also no knowledge of AOPA's position.

"The RAAA supported the [medical] reforms as they contained some changes that Mike [Higgins - RAAA CEO] had been pushing for some time such as allowing Instructors to have Class 2 medicals," he said in response to Morgan's e-mail.

"However I was not aware of the AOPA campaign for changes to PVT medicals so unfortunately it was not part of our decision in supporting the new rules."

TAAAF's last aviation policy was released in 2016, before AOPA became a member organisation, and makes no mention of a medical reform policy.
 
Read more at http://www.australianflying.com.au/lates...yL0QUwj.99

MTF...P2 

[Peetwo]

Via Oz Aviation...

AND THE WINNER IS ….. TOOWOOMBA!
written by Australianaviation.Com.Au September 27, 2018


Construction of the academy’s new facilities at Wellcamp Airport will commence next month.[/i][/align]

Qantas has announced Wellcamp Airport in Toowoomba as the first of two sites for its pilot training academy.

The facility at Wellcamp Airport, which will be built to handle up to 250 students a year and will comprise a new hangar, classrooms and accommodation facilities, is expected to open in mid-2019, Qantas announced on Thursday.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Wellcamp Airport owner and operator Wagner Corporation director Denis Wagner made the official announcement at Wellcamp Airport.

Robyn Ironside @ironsider

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce announcing Toowoomba’s Wellcamp Airport will be the site of the first Qantas pilot training academy.


10:22 AM - Sep 27, 2018

Construction of the $35 million facility is expected to start in October, with the “majority of this funding contributed from private sector partners”.

Further, Qantas said L3 Commercial Aviation will be the training provider for the Toowoomba site. It will be the company’s first training school in Australia. Qantas said L3 will use a mix of modern single and twin-engine aircraft with glass cockpits to support the training.

Joyce said the pitch from the airport, state and local governments, and the local community convinced Qantas that Toowoomba was a great choice.
“Toowoomba will be an amazing place to learn to fly,” Joyce said in a statement.

“It’s home to Australia’s newest airport and offers over 300 days of Queensland sunshine each year and an environment that is textbook for pilot training.

“In partnership with the Queensland Government and the Wagner Corporation, who own the airport, we’ll build state-of-the-art training facilities and student accommodation. What we’re ultimately creating is a world-class pilot school for students from Australia and around the globe.”

Wellcamp was chosen from a list of nine shortlisted regional centres announced earlier in 2018.

Qantas planned to have a second location for its flight school up and running by 2020, with the remaining eight cities on the shortlist – Alice Springs, Bendigo, Busselton, Dubbo, Launceston, Mackay, Tamworth and Wagga Wagga were still under consideration for the second academy site.


Qantas plans to establish the Qantas Group Pilot Academy, expected to open its doors during 2019. (Qantas)

The airline said about 18,000 people have registered their interest in the academy.

Premier Palaszczuk welcomed the investment being made in Toowoomba.
“The Q in Qantas stands for Queensland and it’s clear that home is where Qantas’s heart is,” Palaszczuk said in the Qantas statement.

Wagner said the world-class facilities would “enhance the training opportunities for our future airline pilots”.

“This decision by the Qantas Group highlights that when the private sector, Australia’s national carrier, the Queensland State Government and our local Council work cohesively, we can achieve a long term economically sustainable future for our regional communities,” Wagner said.


A QantasLink Q400 touches down at Wellcamp Airport. (Wellcamp)

[Peetwo]

Via Oz Aviation...

AND THE WINNER IS ….. TOOWOOMBA!
written by Australianaviation.Com.Au September 27, 2018


Construction of the academy’s new facilities at Wellcamp Airport will commence next month.[/i][/align]

Qantas has announced Wellcamp Airport in Toowoomba as the first of two sites for its pilot training academy.

The facility at Wellcamp Airport, which will be built to handle up to 250 students a year and will comprise a new hangar, classrooms and accommodation facilities, is expected to open in mid-2019, Qantas announced on Thursday.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Wellcamp Airport owner and operator Wagner Corporation director Denis Wagner made the official announcement at Wellcamp Airport.

Robyn Ironside @ironsider

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce announcing Toowoomba’s Wellcamp Airport will be the site of the first Qantas pilot training academy.


10:22 AM - Sep 27, 2018

Construction of the $35 million facility is expected to start in October, with the “majority of this funding contributed from private sector partners”.

Further, Qantas said L3 Commercial Aviation will be the training provider for the Toowoomba site. It will be the company’s first training school in Australia. Qantas said L3 will use a mix of modern single and twin-engine aircraft with glass cockpits to support the training.

Joyce said the pitch from the airport, state and local governments, and the local community convinced Qantas that Toowoomba was a great choice.
“Toowoomba will be an amazing place to learn to fly,” Joyce said in a statement.

“It’s home to Australia’s newest airport and offers over 300 days of Queensland sunshine each year and an environment that is textbook for pilot training.

“In partnership with the Queensland Government and the Wagner Corporation, who own the airport, we’ll build state-of-the-art training facilities and student accommodation. What we’re ultimately creating is a world-class pilot school for students from Australia and around the globe.”

Wellcamp was chosen from a list of nine shortlisted regional centres announced earlier in 2018.

Qantas planned to have a second location for its flight school up and running by 2020, with the remaining eight cities on the shortlist – Alice Springs, Bendigo, Busselton, Dubbo, Launceston, Mackay, Tamworth and Wagga Wagga were still under consideration for the second academy site.


Qantas plans to establish the Qantas Group Pilot Academy, expected to open its doors during 2019. (Qantas)

The airline said about 18,000 people have registered their interest in the academy.

Premier Palaszczuk welcomed the investment being made in Toowoomba.
“The Q in Qantas stands for Queensland and it’s clear that home is where Qantas’s heart is,” Palaszczuk said in the Qantas statement.

Wagner said the world-class facilities would “enhance the training opportunities for our future airline pilots”.

“This decision by the Qantas Group highlights that when the private sector, Australia’s national carrier, the Queensland State Government and our local Council work cohesively, we can achieve a long term economically sustainable future for our regional communities,” Wagner said.


A QantasLink Q400 touches down at Wellcamp Airport. (Wellcamp)

Via the Oz today: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/busines...c538c8be38

Wagners to build Qantas academy
ROBYN IRONSIDE
The Toowoomba family that built an airport in 19 months will establish a Qantas pilot academy by the middle of next year.

---

The Toowoomba family that built a new airport in 19 months has been tasked to establish the first Qantas Pilot Training Academy by the middle of next year.

The Wagners, who recently won a $3.7 million defamation lawsuit against broadcaster Alan Jones, are stumping up much of the $35m cost of the new facilities at their Wellcamp Airport.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce flew into Toowoomba yesterday to announce the site of the first flight school, with the US-based L3 Commercial Aviation as the training provider.

Although Qantas will have a presence on site, the airline was unable to say how many of its own employees would work there.

Mr Joyce said the “best airport had won” the race for the first academy, with a further eight cities still in the running for a second ­facility.

“They had the best proposition in terms of facilities, the time frame, the community where people can be based, the attractiveness of it, the location to Brisbane and the world gateway,” he said.

“And having the Queensland government getting fully behind it was critical, and having the Wagners as the airport owners getting fully behind it.”

Denis Wagner said the family expected a good return on its “significant investment” in the academy through a commercial arrangement with Qantas.

“Our obligations are to have it operational by July next year so work will start in the morning,” Mr Wagner said.

“The academy is on our land so we’ll have a commercial arrangement with Qantas to provide those facilities on an annual basis.”

Mr Joyce said in the first year, 250 pilots would be trained at the academy for the Qantas Group but in future years the two training academies would turn out pilots for other airlines.

With industry forecasts suggesting an additional 790,000 pilots would be needed worldwide in the next 20 years, demand was expected to be high, he said.

“Given the Qantas brand name for the selection and training of pilots is second to none, we think we can use that to actually make it a business opportunity,” said Mr Joyce. “That’s why we’re making it two schools. We will not need 500 pilots a year for Qantas so a significant amount of those will be for other airlines and overseas training.”

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk applauded the decision but would not reveal how much money taxpayers had pitched in to secure the facility.

MTF...P2 

[thorn bird]

Congratulations to the Wagner's and via their tenacity, drive and innovation the people of toowoomba.

I have been lead to believe an American company will actually run the school side of things.

Wonder what they will make of the "Australian" way of teaching people to fly as opposed to the US?
Hope they have made allowance in their budget for vast amounts of crushed tree's that will be needed.
Thousands of pages of manuals to write against thousands of pages of regulations. Thousands of pages
of boxes to be ticked to establish compliance. Hundreds of thousands of dollars expended before they even
buy an airplane to train in.

I find it passing strange that Quaintass built their heavy maintenance hub in North America, allegedly because it was more cost effective, but some would say to escape Australian red tape, yet decide to base their training school in Australia.
Comparing the cost of training and red tape here compared with there and also the US is a far safer place to fly, the decision is puzzling.

[Kharon]

Off the backhand.

TB – “Comparing the cost of training and red tape here compared with there and also the US is a far safer place to fly, the decision is puzzling”.

Oh, don’t know that it’s a puzzle TB – I reckon the minister wants to piggy-back on the Qantas effort to sort out the mess left by successive useless ministers and tame, CASA trained ‘advisors’. Mind you, I hear that the Big Q application for a part 142 tick is having a rough ride; been knocked back a couple of times – CASA know best etc.

You’d reckon, just for ease and economy, Big Q would tell ‘em to bugger off and just do all  their training in the USA; I suspect quiet deals have been done over a coffee; the minister can then say – hand on heart – that the government have moved to ‘sort’ the pilot shortage problem. Disgusting – but hey, you can still drink the water; provided you live far enough away from an aerodrome that is.

Toot – toot.

[Peetwo]

CASA's duplicity in airport security - 

Via Oz Flying:

AOPA takes aim at CASA over ASICs
25 October 2018

AOPA Australia this week sent a letter to CASA and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack demanding equity with RAAus over ASIC requirements.

According to AOPA Executive Director Ben Morgan, CASA demands Recreational Pilot Licence (RPL) and Private Pilot Licence (PPL) holders must have an Aviation Security Identification Card (ASIC) to fly, whereas those holding Recreational Pilot Certificates (RPC) administered by Recreational Aviation Australia (RAAus) do not.

"Under the current rules of the RAAus a pilot training for their RPC does not require a valid ASIC card in order to be issued their license," Morgan says. "In many cases, pilots training for the RPC operate the same aircraft as their RPL/PPL counterparts from the same airports and in the same airspace.

"Yet despite this fact, RPL and PPL holders are being forced to maintain a higher standard of security that increases the end-cost of obtaining a license.

"CASA by way of approving the RAAus rules have communicated that there is insufficient risk to warrant the requirement to hold an ASIC card for the issue of an RPC.

"Therefore, there is no valid reason as to why a CASA RPL/PPL holder should continue to be exposed to the significant economic disadvantage that obtaining an ASIC card prior to their license issue represents."

However, Australian Flying has confirmed that neither RPLs nor PPLs require an ASIC to fly, but can operate on an Aviation ID (AVID), which costs less and is valid for longer. AVIDs, however, are not valid for access to secured airside areas where ASICs are required.

A CASA spokesperson also said yesterday that the ASIC is not demanded nor administered by CASA, but is the responsibility of the Office of Aviation Security, which sits with the Department of Home Affairs under minister Peter Dutton.

RPL and PPL holders must have either an ASIC or an AVID because the Department of Home Affairs deems them to be "security designated authorisations", whereas RPCs administered by RAAus are not.

The Department of Home Affairs has been contacted for comment on why RPC holders are not required undergo any form of security check.

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

Hmm...why does that not surprise me - 


MTF...P2 

[Gobbledock]

DHS = Dick Head Security

The DHS are a JOKE. ASIC’s are a money making scheme. They are probably used to pass on data to the ATO and god knows what other big brother database that is spying on us. Probably tells them if we are straight, queer, or have herpes.

“RPL and PPL holders must have either an ASIC or an AVID because the Department of Home Affairs deems them to be "security designated authorisations", whereas RPCs administered by RAAus are not”.

Meanwhile, basically no domestic cargo is screened and any fool can get a piece of freight onto a domestic plane, especially from some of our ‘not so intelligent regional locations’. But oh no, a 70 year old retiree ticking off his bucket list or a kid wanting to fly his dad’s Cessna needs an ASIC!!

Better not end with a ‘tick tock’ this time....

[Sandy Reith]

The 5 year $153 AVID is offered on the CASA website alongside the 2 year $288.20 ASIC. The explanation of the uses between the two is ambiguous to say the least, its easy to find. I defy anyone to make sense of it. In one sentence it says that an AVID will suffice for infrequent use at a security controlled airport. Too bad that airport officials don’t agree or in fact don’t have the slightest knowledge of the relevant CASA advice.
As regards gaining a PPL licence is concerned, whether or not to the letter of the law, the bureaucratic system always goes to the highest, most costly level where there is the slightest doubt because that for them is the safest option.
Why we need these special IDs is anyone’s guess, why they couldn’t run for ten years or lifetime for professional pilots are further questions that could only be answered satisfactorily by a person with no ability of logic.

[thorn bird]

Other than getting the occasional "Crew" discount at a few Airport Coffee
shops, what good is an ASIC? except perhaps a nice little earner for a few nefarious
individuals with political connections.

[Peetwo]

Tamworth goes with VA flight school & pulls out of QF bid?? 

Via Oz Aviation...

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA TO SET UP PILOT SCHOOL IN TAMWORTH
written by Australianaviation.Com.Au October 31, 2018

A 2015 file image of Virgin Australia chief executive John Borghetti with pilots and cabin crew at Tamworth Airport. (Virgin Australia)

Virgin Australia says it plans to set up a pilot training school at Tamworth Airport.

The airline said on Wednesday it had been chosen by Tamworth Regional Council as the preferred airline group to establish the facility, which chief executive John Borghetti described as an “aviation centre of excellence”.

“Our industry is currently facing a global pilot shortage and this world-class facility will develop a pipeline of skilled pilots funnelling into the Virgin Australia Group and other airlines around the world,” Borghetti said in a statement.

Tamworth Regional Council Mayor Col Murray said Virgin Australia put forward a “very compelling proposition” that made best use of its facilities and offered a sustainable return for the airport.

“While details of our agreement will be released in due course, we remain impressed with the innovative approach taken by the Virgin Australia Group and their genuine desire to work in partnership with Council, our airport and the business community,” Cr Murray said.

No start date for the facility was given, with negotiations ongoing between Virgin Australia and the Council on the details of the proposed facility.

TAMWORTH AIRPORT’S FLIGHT TRAINING FACILITIES CURRENTLY OCCUPIED BY BAE SYSTEMS

The flight school could be located in the space currently occupied by BAE Systems, which has operated the ADF’s Basic Flying Training School (BFTS) at Tamworth, since 1999.

The company also delivers military training services to the Republic of Singapore Air Force, Royal Brunei Air Force and Papua New Guinea Defence Force out of Tamworth.

It was understood that the flight school has up to 60-70 flights a day.
However, under the ADF’s Project AIR 5428 initial pilot training for all three arms of the Defence Force is being relocated to RAAF Base East Sale. As a result, BAE Systems was finishing up defence flight training by the end of calendar 2019.

While defence flight training was ending at Tamworth, BAE Systems has said previously it would continue to deliver services to Flight Training Tamworth civil customers as contracted until mid-2020.

In November 2017, BAE Systems announced it had leased part of its Flight Training Tamworth facility to CAE Oxford Aviation Academy for commercial pilot training.

The initial undergraduate pilot training “wings” course on the PC-21 at East Sale was planned for early 2019.

Basic Flying Training School CT-4 aircraft participate in a formation flypast over Tamworth, New South Wales. (Defence)

[size=undefined]
Cr Murray said Tamworth Airport was the ideal site for a flight training school.

“Few regional airports boast facilities the calibre of those in Tamworth so we have been in the very fortunate position of attracting more than one proposal to deliver commercial pilot training services at our airport,” Cr Murray said.

“It is thanks to visionary community leaders of the past that today we can offer such well-established pilot training facilities. It is now time for Tamworth Regional Council’s vision, along with the global vision of the Virgin Australia Group, for Tamworth Regional Airport to grow and become a world-class Aviation Centre of Excellence.”

[/size]

A file image of Tamworth Airport. (Tamworth Regional Airport)

[size=undefined]

NEW SCHOOL TO BOOST VIRGIN AUSTRALIA’S PILOT TRAINING CAPACITY

Virgin Australia has offered a pilot cadetship program run by Flight Training Adelaide in South Australia since 2012, training between 10-20 cadets a year.

In May, the airline announced its latest cadet intake would comprise two ab initio courses, which is designed for those without any previous flying experience, starting in January and July 2019.

Those cadets who successfully compete their training would receive a commercial pilot’s licence and go on to fly on Virgin Australia’s ATR turboprops or Boeing 777-300ERs as either first or second officers.

The proposed facility at Tamworth would likely expand Virgin Australia’s capacity to train and recruit pilots for the Virgin Australia airline as well as its low-cost carrier unit Tigerair Australia.

Further, it would offer those currently working at BAE Systems’ flight school the opportunity to remain in Tamworth and seek employment with the Virgin Australia facility.

[/size]
[/size]

A film image of Virgin Australia pilots and cabin crew. (Virgin Australia)

In March 2018, Virgin Australia group executive for airlines Rob Sharp said pilot recruitment has been a “significant area of focus” for the airline.

“It’s been an interesting dynamic,” Sharp told delegates at the Routes Asia 2018 conference in Brisbane.

“We’ve been talking about it for about five years that I can recollect that as the Middle Eastern carriers and the Chinese carriers grow they are looking to secure pilots and they have been doing that.

“Also, there has been a dynamic as new aircraft types come in, pilots like the new toys and they go for those jobs and then there is a cascade of training that occurs.

“So it puts a lot of pressure on training organisations because you are effectively backfilling and then bringing in new pilots. For us, we ramped up our cadet program. It has been very, very successful.”

The focus on pilot training and ensuring airlines have a reliable pipeline of aviators to meet the growing demand for flying comes is reflected in the Boeing 2017-2036 Pilot and Technician Outlook, published in July 2017.

The report showed there is a need for 790,000 new pilots, 754,000 airline maintenance technicians and 890,000 new cabin crew members around the world over the next two decades.

In the Asia Pacific alone there would be a need for 261,000 new pilots, representing 33 per cent of total demand around the world.

Boeing’s pilot forecast for 2018-2037. (Boeing)

Tamworth was one of nine regional centres shortlisted for the Qantas pilot training academy.

The airline announced Wellcamp Airport in Toowoomba as the first of two sites for its flight school, with the facility to open in 2019. A second location was expected to be up and running by 2020.
[/size]
[size=undefined]TAMWORTH TO ALSO GET INTERMODAL FREIGHT HUB

The announcement of a Virgin Australia pilot training school follows recent moves to develop an intermodal freight hub at Tamworth.

In November 2017, the NSW state government put forward $7.4 million towards a freight rail line, with private companies expected to build the intermodal hub linked both to the airport and an industrial park.

It was hoped the facility would lead to Tamworth having an international freight terminal.

Virgin Australia serves Tamworth from Sydney with 68-seat ATR 72-600 turboprops. It started the route in May 2015 and currently has up to 14 flights a week, depending on the time of year.[/size]

MTF...P2 

[Peetwo]

Alphabet allegiances tested by PC airport inquiry - 

It would appear that the current Productivity Commission inquiry into the economic regulation of airports is creating much angst and division within the ranks of the major aviation industry alphabet groups...  

Here is a short rehash of where the Airports vs Airlines bun-fight currently sits:

McDo'Naut does naut on airports vs airlines war - Part IV

Via the Oz today:

Airport probe exposes rift

ROBYN IRONSIDE

The Productivity Commission inquiry into the economic regulation of airports has exposed tensions between airlines and airports.

---

Inquiry exposes tensions between airports and airlines

The Productivity Commission inquiry into the economic regulation of airports has exposed considerable tension between airlines and airports in Australia.

Almost 50 submissions have been lodged, some running to more than 100 pages.

While airlines say airports are exploiting their monopoly status by price-gouging, airports claim airlines are the real powerbrokers and are “overstating” the impact of their fees on airfares.

With billions of dollars in capital improvements to back them up, the monitored airports of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth have some credibility.

But as anyone who has used an airport would know, large terminals can mean high costs — for parking, taxis, food, drinks, retail items and trolleys — so it’s not much of a stretch to believe airlines are being ripped off as well.

In its submission to the inquiry this week, Qantas highlighted a couple of incidents as evidence of the need for more regulatory oversight of airports. These included sums of $18,000 and $64,000 charged by Canberra Airport in landing fees for Qantas aircraft forced to divert to the terminal because of bad weather.

The national carrier also called out Townsville Airport, with which it has been involved in protracted commercial negotiations, for positioning seats in such a way as to inconvenience passengers heading to the Qantas lounge.

Along with Virgin Australia, Air New Zealand and Regional Express, Qantas wants “faster and fairer access to independent arbitration to resolve disputes”.

It says this will encourage and incentivise airports to behave competitively during commercial negotiations to deliver lower ­prices and greater efficiencies, leading to innovations for passengers and users.

The Australian Airports Association, representing more than 300 airports and aerodromes, believes the present light-handed regime is working well and questions the need for change.

The AAA says since 2002, members have invested more than $15 billion in infrastructure, of which about $10bn has been in aeronautical assets.

“These investments have been necessary to improve safety, sec­urity and amenity for passengers, as well as provide the necessary capacity to allow total airport passenger throughput to grow from 76 million in 2002 to 159 million in 2017,” the AAA ­submission says.

In the airports’ court is the Airports International Council and the Australian Airports Investors Group, both of which believe changes to the present system would inhibit airports’ ability to invest in infrastructure.

The airlines have the Inter­national Air Transport Association onside in their calls for a more effective monitoring system. Other groups, including the Tourism and Transport Forum, the Australian Chamber of ­Commerce and the Business Council of Australia, are more concerned with easing constraints on the nation’s major gateway of Sydney Airport, particularly flight movements and night-time operations.

TTF’s submission says the curfew restrictions in Sydney have failed to take into account the growth in quieter aircraft.

The federal Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities says its preliminary view is that the case for changing the current “light-handed” approach has not yet emerged, but it will await the outcome of the inquiry before forming a final view.

Either way, the inquiry is shaping up to be one of the most significant for the aviation industry since the privatisation of airports in the 1990s.

---

McDo'Naut does naut on airports vs airlines war - Part V

In the Oz today, Rex takes a shot at the airports...  

Rex hits out at airports

ROBYN IRONSIDE
Regional Express has taken aim at airports for adopting a ‘build it and they will come’ mentality at a significant cost to carriers.

---

Australia’s largest regional airline has taken aim at airports for adopting a “build it and they will come” mentality at a significant cost to carriers.

In a scathing submission to the productivity commission inquiry into the economic regulation of airports, Regional Express (Rex) Airlines said many airports were undertaking upgrades to accommodate larger aircraft, without any real demand for those ­services.

In the case of Orange airport, the submission said a $19 million terminal and runway upgrade had resulted in the airport head tax per passenger rising 15.2 per cent, from $15.50 to $17.85. But the largest aircraft using the airport continued to be Saab 340s, with “not an A320 or B737 in sight” and passenger numbers stagnant.

“Orange airport is one of the best examples of airports that are comfortably making a tidy surplus from airport revenue and having a good reliable service …. who then started having aspirations for jet-loads of passengers based on wishful projections by consultants hired precisely for churning out such rosy outcomes,” the submission said.

Rex also singled out Mildura, Wagga Wagga, Dubbo, Mount Gambier, Kangaroo Island and King Island airports.

Melbourne airport was described as “a big cheat” because of its practice of “accepting 61 movements an hour on a runway that can only handle 50 movements”.

“Rex cannot state strongly enough that the actions of (Melbourne airport) are an extreme abuse of its market power and are both morally and ethically reprehensible,” the submission said. “Melbourne Airport should also be directed to compensate all the carriers who have suffered damages as a result of its behaviour.”

Like other airlines, Rex wants more effective regulation of airports, and the ability for the ACCC to intervene when negotiations for new commercial agreements stall.

“Rex is strongly of the belief that regional airports need to be regulated to dissuade the local councils from acting in a myopic manner that could end up destroying the local community,” the airline’s submission says.

Rex submission link:  https://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_...rports.pdf

   
It is therefore with interest that I note the following Ironsider article in today's the Oz...
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/busines...6fbf504dfb

Airports snub for Qantas, Jetstar

ROBYN IRONSIDE

It is Australian airports’ biggest customer but Qantas has been left off the guest list for the annual Australian Airports Association conference.

Due to be held in Brisbane next week, the conference will hear from 95 aviation industry leaders over four days.

Among the featured speakers are Virgin Australia group executive Rob Sharp, Civil Aviation Safety Authority chief executive Shane Carmody and Australian Transport Safety Bureau chief commissioner Greg Hood.

Deputy Prime Minister ­Michael McCormack will also take part, along with dozens of airport managers and other stakeholders, but neither Qantas nor Jetstar are represented ­despite carrying 65 per cent of domestic passengers, and 26 per cent of international passengers. At last year’s conference, in Adelaide, Qantas executive Andrew Parker spoke as well as Mr Sharp, and in previous years chief executive Alan Joyce has delivered a keynote address.

Qantas confirmed it had not been invited to make a presentations at the conference but ­declined to comment on the ­apparent snub. The AAA also refused to comment on the guest list other than to say it was a packed schedule for the conference.

This comes at a time of high tension between airlines and airports due to the Productivity Commission inquiry into the economic regulation of airports.

Submissions to the inquiry have exposed some deep-seated animosity including allegations of corporate bullying by Qantas and of price gouging by airports.

Several airports used their submissions to call out Qantas for refusing to pay increased fees, ­including Darwin, Alice Springs, Gold Coast and Townsville. In its submission, the AAA says Qantas sought to restrict airports from encouraging competition against them. “Qantas is able to procure these outcomes because of its dominance in relation to the aeronautical revenues of most airports, coupled with its ability to avoid payment of charges it does not agree with,” AAA says.

AAA chief economist and former Productivity Commission commissioner Warren Mundy will address the conference on the “truth about charges, profits and airfares”.

In its submission, Qantas takes aim at airport charges, pointing out that while airfares have fallen by nearly 40 per cent in real terms over the past decade, the four major airports have earned an ­average 25 per cent more per passenger. The airline is seeking more effective regulation of airports to allow for a third party to help negotiate agreements.

“Under the current ineffective regulatory regime, the only leverage an airport user has is the possibility of withdrawing services from an airport,” Qantas said.

“In reality, airlines cannot afford to make good on that possibility for reasons including loss of network connectivity, loss of business, claims by passengers with bookings, loss of revenue … and competition from other entrants.”

MTF...P2 

[Peetwo]

Flight training fee-help stuff up gets in the spotlight - 

Another Govt head in the sand approach to aviation policy could see more disincentives for the younger generation to consider becoming commercial pilots, via the Oz:   

Trainee pilot squeeze
ROBYN IRONSIDE

Universities and flight-training schools fear a cap on loans for trainee pilots will deter people from pursuing careers in the aviation industry when there is a global pilot shortage.

From next year, the maximum amount of financial assistance available to trainee pilots will be a little more than $100,000, instead of $130,000. The reduction came about as a result of the student loan sustainability legislation that was ­designed to limit the number of “serial students”, or people doing degree after degree.

The only exceptions to the $104,400 cap on the higher education loan program are medicine, dentistry and veterinary science courses, where students can borrow up to $150,000.

Deputy chair of aviation at Melbourne’s Swinburne University, Stephen Fankhauser, said the changes could have serious implications for those providing pilot training and education.

“You don’t have to be Einstein to work out that if university courses have less students enrolling, that will put them under stress,” Mr Fankhauser said. “University courses run on budgets and they’re calculated around predictions of student load, and if you have a reduction in students that will impact on budgets.” He said the cost of obtaining the qualifications needed to work for an airline or as a flight instructor was generally more than $140,000.

“We need experienced and qualified commercial pilots that have multi-engine instrument ratings and air transport pilot ­licence theory who are qualified to fly in both charter and regular public transport,” he said. “We don’t need single engine CPL (commercial pilot licence) holders that are only qualified to do joy flights or the like.”

CAE Oxford Aviation Academy Australia general manager Michael Drinkall said that from a business perspective, they could simply reallocate resources to training internationals if demand from Australian students dried up.

But that would not solve the shortage of experienced flight ­instructors, who were in ­unprec­edented demand.

“When the industry is trying to rapidly expand, you’ve got a government that’s going to cap funding for the people to complete the training,” Mr Drinkall said. “There’s a lot of lobbying going on to have the cap increased to $150,000, which would give enough coverage for people to go through and do the training.”

Industry forecasts suggest 790,000 more pilots will be ­needed in the next two decades, with the Asia-Pacific region leading the growth in demand. Boeing’s outlook this year suggests 261,000 more civil aviation pilots will be needed in this region, more than any other part of the world.

Par Avion Tasmania flight training managing director Shannon Wells said he shared the concerns about the responsiveness of commonwealth education agencies towards industries such as aviation training, which were ­affected by rapid global and domestic market change. “Our industry cannot afford to be 12 months or more behind market demands for commercial pilots and flight instructors,” he said. “We don’t as yet know what our VET student loan cap is for 2019 and, speaking to other operators, they are the same, which makes it difficult for us and our students to plan.”

Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan said the passage of the student loan legislation would help manage the escalating growth in outstanding student debt. He argued that seven out of 12 providers offering a CPL diploma were charging tuition fees less than the student loans course cap.

Mr Fankhauser said it would be unfortunate to see a ­return to a time when only the wealthy could ­afford to become pilots.

“When the FEE-HELP support for aviation courses came in about 12 years ago, what we saw at Swinburne was a 50 per cent lift in enrolments, virtually overnight,” he said. “Now we have a scenario where we have quite a severe pilot shortage that, combined with this legislation, will result in a reduced output of pilots. That’s not going to be good for the industry.”

MTF...P2 

[Peetwo]

RAAA GA advocacy? - Too little, too late..   

Personally I don't think Carmody and the Iron Ring would do little more than roll over and fart when they read this Oz article from Mike Higgins CEO of the RAAA:

RAAA calls for CASA to consult
MIKE HIGGINS
The Regional Aviation Association of Australia is proud to be a strong supporter of general aviation in this country.

A strong GA sector is vital as we acknowledge that, in many cases, flight instructors, pilots and maintainers tend to move up into the regional airlines after gaining valuable experience in the smaller GA organisations.


As another recent example, the RAAA is a key and vocal member of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority technical working group on Civil Aviation Safety Regulations Part 43.

The proposed new Part 43 will be a much improved way of maintaining aircraft operating in the private and aerial work sectors (not the RAAA world directly).

Under the proposal, future compliance costs for existing maintenance providers will be substantially reduced by the removal of obligations to conduct internal audits and obtain CASA approval to expand or change the range of maintenance ser­vices they provide.

In a nutshell, the proposed rules are based on the GA safety standards found in the US. Therefore, we can expect the changes to maintain or raise existing levels of safety and concurrently increase productivity, as less time will need to be devoted to the soon-to-be-redundant CASA red tape that has not improved safety outcomes.

This is a great initiative for maintainers and aircraft operators based in regional, rural and remote Australia. Congratu­lations to CASA on this one.

On the other hand, the new CASR Part 135, which will affect every current charter operator in the country, is before the parliament without any reference to how this sector is to be maintained. Therefore, the Australian community (via their sitting members) is being asked to vote on a half-baked package.

How can one reasonably make such a momentous decision affecting every charter operator in the country when 50 per cent of the picture (maintenance requirements and therefore costs) are not yet available?

To make matters worse, there is a rumour within CASA that CASR parts 42 and 145 (currently applying to the largest aircraft operators and maintainers in the country) will be tweaked and pushed down on to current Civil Aviation Regulation 30 maintenance and charter organisations. This would be a disaster.

There is a way forward.

Sector risk profiles are collaborative meetings between CASA and experts in industry. The RAAA has been represented in almost every SRP undertaken to date. The RAAA is urging CASA to pause and conduct a SRP on the CAR 30 rules and organisations. A CAR 30 SRP would determine exactly what, if any, improvements might need to be made for current CAR 30 organisations to continue maintaining charter operators under the new Part 135.

Mike Higgins is chief executive of the Regional Aviation Association of Australia.

Hmm...no comment, except to say is this an attempt by the RAAA - & by association TAAAF - to try to placate their smaller GA operator membership? 


MTF...P2 

[Peetwo]

RAAA GA advocacy? - Too little, too late..   

Personally I don't think Carmody and the Iron Ring would do little more than roll over and fart when they read this Oz article from Mike Higgins CEO of the RAAA:

RAAA calls for CASA to consult
MIKE HIGGINS
The Regional Aviation Association of Australia is proud to be a strong supporter of general aviation in this country.

A strong GA sector is vital as we acknowledge that, in many cases, flight instructors, pilots and maintainers tend to move up into the regional airlines after gaining valuable experience in the smaller GA organisations.


As another recent example, the RAAA is a key and vocal member of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority technical working group on Civil Aviation Safety Regulations Part 43.

The proposed new Part 43 will be a much improved way of maintaining aircraft operating in the private and aerial work sectors (not the RAAA world directly).

Under the proposal, future compliance costs for existing maintenance providers will be substantially reduced by the removal of obligations to conduct internal audits and obtain CASA approval to expand or change the range of maintenance ser­vices they provide.

In a nutshell, the proposed rules are based on the GA safety standards found in the US. Therefore, we can expect the changes to maintain or raise existing levels of safety and concurrently increase productivity, as less time will need to be devoted to the soon-to-be-redundant CASA red tape that has not improved safety outcomes.

This is a great initiative for maintainers and aircraft operators based in regional, rural and remote Australia. Congratu­lations to CASA on this one.

On the other hand, the new CASR Part 135, which will affect every current charter operator in the country, is before the parliament without any reference to how this sector is to be maintained. Therefore, the Australian community (via their sitting members) is being asked to vote on a half-baked package.

How can one reasonably make such a momentous decision affecting every charter operator in the country when 50 per cent of the picture (maintenance requirements and therefore costs) are not yet available?

To make matters worse, there is a rumour within CASA that CASR parts 42 and 145 (currently applying to the largest aircraft operators and maintainers in the country) will be tweaked and pushed down on to current Civil Aviation Regulation 30 maintenance and charter organisations. This would be a disaster.

There is a way forward.

Sector risk profiles are collaborative meetings between CASA and experts in industry. The RAAA has been represented in almost every SRP undertaken to date. The RAAA is urging CASA to pause and conduct a SRP on the CAR 30 rules and organisations. A CAR 30 SRP would determine exactly what, if any, improvements might need to be made for current CAR 30 organisations to continue maintaining charter operators under the new Part 135.

Mike Higgins is chief executive of the Regional Aviation Association of Australia.

Update to the latest Fort Fumble clusterduck - 

Via the Yaffa:

Industry in the Dark over Part 135 Maintenance Rules
6 December 2018

General aviation advocates are concerned that the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has sent the new CASR Part 135 to rulemaking without including any maintenance requirements.

Part 135 covers air transport operations for small aircraft, and effectively applies regulation for heavy Regular Public Transport (RPT) to charter operations.

With the announcement in July that CASA will develop new GA-specific rules, operators and maintenance engineers are waiting to see if these new, less onerous, regulations can be applied to Part 135 operations as they are in the USA.

According to Ken Cannane, Executive Director of the Aviation Maintenance Repair and Overhaul Business Association (AMROBA), sending Part 135 to rulemaking without any maintenance requirements has left the industry in the dark.

"When you go down the line of adopting one direction or the other, it has to be adopted in a total format," he told Australian Flying. "We're doing maintenance rules for general aviation, which interlink closely with the CASR Part 91 sub-part, which covers requirements of the USA.

"As for Part 135, CASA hasn't given any indication whether it's going to be the FAR sub-section of 135. Operators need to understand the maintenance requirements, not just maintenance people.

"[CASA] needs to bring it together into a single platform. I was under the assumption that Part 135 would include the maintenance requirements for a Part 135 operator!

"It's a foolish thing we've done. Years ago we included a sub-part in every part, so every operator knew what was going to be applied within that new regulation.

"If you follow the FAR system, it does have a separate sub-part in every FAR operational rule which lays out the maintenance rules for that standard of operation."

Inquiries to CASA about which maintenance regime will be applied have not yielded any answers, which Cananne believes is not helpful to companies operating under Part 135 in the future.

"All they've said is 'we'll look at it after we get the maintenance rules in based on the FAR system for general aviation'," Cannane says. "It's a never-never situation that leaves people not knowing in which direction they're trying to head. Operators really should know now!"

Other charter operators have told Australian Flying before of fears that Part 135 will apply maintenance rules applicable to heavy RPT, which is likely to come with a greater cost impost than the new GA rules being developed.

In the USA, FAR Part 135 enables aircraft to be maintained using the general aviation rules. It is yet to be seen if CASA will allow that given they have defined all passenger-carrying operations out of GA and into CASR 135.

According to a CASA spokesperson, the maintenance rules have not been included because CASR 135 differs from FAR 135 in that the Australia regulation is operational and therefore doesn't include maintenance.

"The airworthiness/maintenance elements of the program have been split up according to the current operational classifications RPT/charter/aerial work/private," the spokesperson said. "We covered RPT back in 2010 with CASR Parts 42 and 145. Maintenance for charter, aerial work and private is still under CAR.

"The remainder of the airworthiness reg reform program (charter, aerial work and private) has been split into two projects, one to cover the private and aerial work sectors, and a second to cover charter."

Read more at http://www.australianflying.com.au/lates...Tv7hTyG.99

And in response to RAAA's Mike Higgins article above, via Linkedin:

Shannon Wells
Managing Director, Airlines of Tasmania (Par Avion)
They really looking at 42 for 135 ops ?

Ben Wyndham
Owner/Director/Chief Pilot at Airspeed Aviation
Shannon Wells we could call it a HAAMC?

Ben Wyndham
Owner/Director/Chief Pilot at Airspeed Aviation
Are we all agreed then that the Civil Aviation Safety Authority are making a monumental hash of this and are actually putting business, jobs, and lives at risk by their legislative jihad on GA?

---

Ben Wyndham
Owner/Director/Chief Pilot at Airspeed Aviation
Mike Higgins the proposed Part 43 policy released today makes it clear that CAR 30 will be phased out and Part 135 operators will be pushed up to Part 145 maintenance.
It may not be too late yet, but you cannot say that CASA aren't making an enormous hash of this.

---

Ben Wyndham
Owner/Director/Chief Pilot at Airspeed Aviation
Great to see some support for CHTR from the RAAA and the RPT Sector Mike Higgins ?

---

Ben Wyndham
Owner/Director/Chief Pilot at Airspeed Aviation
I have been out getting quotes.
CAMO will cost me $50,000 pa
Contract safety manager $36,000 pa
Maint bills will go up 35-50% if our CAR30s have to go CASR 145.
CASA's answer is "well if you're the last man standing you will be able to charge more".
Family GA businesses are about to become history. 
It may not be too late yet, but you cannot say that CASA aren't making an enormous hash of this.

Stuart Burns
Airfreight & Corporate Aircraft Charter Specialist
Is it a monumental hash Ben, or a calculated destruction of the industry that carries a great part of the Australian economy through providing the regional and remote regions with essential services? Anyone who lives or works outside of a capital city needs to be very concerned.

---

Paul Carey
Managing Director | Avtrac Pty Ltd | Avtrac WA Pty Ltd | Avdocs - CASA Delegate
Organisations like ours at Avtrac have the added burden of multiple CAMO approvals for our Operators (massive duplication) instead of allowing an Independent CAMO like EASA regulations.

---

Stuart Burns
Airfreight & Corporate Aircraft Charter Specialist
Cheers Mike, the damage CASA is doing to SME aviation operators through mismanaged regulatory reform is criminal.

&.. from Wellsy:

Finally for those FB followers, yesterday AOPA Australia's Ben Morgan and AMROBA's Ken Cannane convened a video conference discussion on Part 43 General Aviation Maintenance Regulation reforms: 

 

MTF...P2 

[Cap'n Wannabe]

From Nicholas Christie via Facebook

Yesterday, I received a call from Mark Smith, Editor of Sport Pilot indicating that 'Michael Linke' CEO of RAAus had e-mailed him demanding that Sport Aircraft Sales (a business owned by me) no longer be allowed to advertise in this RAAus publication.

I wrote to Mr Linke & the RAAus board to seek clarification and the response was a confirmation of this decision (although I am unable to publish it here as it was marked 'commercial in confidence').

This comes just a few days after I had personally reached out to RAAus (along with another party close to RAAus) to try and bring ALL the industry players 'together' in a round table meeting to find common ground, and work towards a sustainable and co-operative Recreational Aviation industry. The SAAA and AOPA agreed in principle to this meeting and was awaiting a response from RAAus. Mr Linke knew that the meeting was being planned and the RAAus board was to be made aware of - and vote towards having - this historic meeting, in their next board meeting in February.

Sadly, only a few days after this, Mr Linke tried to disrupt the process (or me, or my business) by 'banning' Sport Aircraft Sales from advertising in their publication.

I'm passionate about aviation, and most share my passion. Every bone in my body says to me that the industry can't go on fractured if we want it to survive and thrive!

The CASA and RAAus have been left unhindered to do 'secret deals' behind closed doors that are harming the entire industry in Australia. We need a united voice to level the playing field and allow 'Recreational Aviation' (whether RAAus or GA) to have the same privileges, rights and obligations. There is no room in Australia for a private company 'monopoly' on Recreational Aviation alongside a Government that is complicit in its biased dealings with that private company.

It is un-Australian at best. At worst, it's bordering on corrupt, and Australian values don't accept corruption, or the monopolising of industries. It goes against our values as a Country, irrespective of our political, socio-economic or other backgrounds.

Here's the letter (attached) that Sport Aircraft Sales has written to Mr Linke and the RAAus board. Please take the time to read it and make up your own mind about how Mr Linke and RAAus have behaved in this instance.

If you are passionate about aviation, whichever memberships you hold or licenses you exercise, or aircraft you fly, make your own voice heard in whichever way you want. The industry needs us to speak up now, and show that you care about all pilot's 'freedom to fly'.

Sport Aircraft Sales will continue to provide excellent service to all RAAus members and will continue to broker RAAus and VH aircraft into the future. But you won't see our advertising in the RAAus magazine.

But you also won't see me flying an RAAus aircraft, or instructing in one any longer. I wrote to the board last night notifying them that I've cancelled my RAAus membership yesterday, and that I have voluntarily pulled a further full-page advertisement that I had booked (for 12 months) in the magazine on behalf of another company.

Game-playing seems to have been the hallmark of the RAAus organisation over the last few years, under Mr Linke, Mr Monk and this seemingly fractured board. Making noises that you want to talk and engage with the industry while looking the other way and doing deals with CASA instead is one thing.

But when a private company engages in bullying of a small business operator because they can't bring themselves to engage openly in dialogue with the rest of the industry (for the benefit of their members and the Australian aviation community), its downright shameful.

Ben Morgan's reply..

Nick I think you’re right, there is an “us versus them” culture, but lets recap some of the past two years;
1. In late 2017 RAAUS sought to ban and exclude key associations and businesses from AirVenture, which lead to the majority of industry associations walking away from the funding and the event. The situation backfired on RAAUS spectacularly, with the industry simply walking away and relaunching AUSFLY;
2. In 2017 the RAAUS refused to support self certification medical standards for GA pilots during the reform push - arguing that such medical standards were their exclusive “competitive advantage” and shouldn’t be available to anyone else. They stood against creating universal medical standards that would benefit all pilots regardless of what you fly, thinking about their profits not pilots rights;
3. The RAAUS attended the Australian General Aviation Alliance Summit in Wagga Wagga 2018, taking the stage and arguing that the government should OPPOSE the GA Industry call for a change to the Civil Aviation Act, standing directly against key reform aimed at helping reignite our aviation industry.
4. The RAAUS trademarked the AOPA “Freedom to Fly” slogan in 2018 in an effort to undermine and pointlessly agitate the GA associations. I’m sure everyone is as confused as I was on this one. The only thing RAAUS achieved was to find itself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons;
5. The RAAUS in 2018 partnered with the Australian Airports Association (a lobby body setup by the monopoly privatised airport owners and operators to extract millions from the federal government and to encourage greater non-aviation development) to introduce fees and charges on RAAUS members - whilst AOPA and others were busy nationwide fighting uncontrollable increases in airport landing, parking and leasing fees. A fact that leaves me speechless.
6. The RAAUS in 2018 worked feverishly behind the scenes directly cahoots with CASA to undermine the entire sport aviation community funding, seeking to vastly increase their CASA subsidy support at the cost of devastating their Sport aviation association peers. This has also backfired with the sport bodies formally communicating that they are no longer willing to work with the RAAUS, as they are clearly only thinking of themselves. The relationship breakdown has been entirely avoidable, yet the RAAUS are determined to dominate at all costs regardless of who they put offside in the process.
7. In late 2018 the RAAUS attended a senate inquiry in Canberra on pilot medical standards, where it had the opportunity to show support for the GA community. But instead, the RAAUS acting Chairman and Leg; Counsel provided wildly misleading statements in an attempt to justify a continued monopoly over self-certification medical standards.
I think it’s fair to say that we are each deeply concerned for the future of our industry. Whilst there has been push-back from the GA associations over the past two years, it has not been without clear merit or cause.
With respect to working together, the AOPA, SAAA, AMROBA, GFA, HGFA, APF, AWAL and all the type groups associations have come together respectfully and are working shoulder to shoulder on all the key issues.
A great example of the work that we are doing together is this year's Junior Pilots programme. The SAAA, AMROBA, GFA, HGFA and the type group associations have all joined the AOPA Australia program in 2019 as key partners and will be out on the road with us encouraging youth to become part of our industry.
However, if you pick up the January 2019 edition of RAAUS SportPILOT magazine, you will read all about how the "alphabet" associations are apparently at war, at each others throats and making loud noises to people who are not listening!
Why can I hear the theme song to twilight zone playing?