[Peetwo]

As the title suggests a thread for comment & updates on the latest from AOPA's Project Eureka...  

First from off the 'Forsyth report - IOS monitoring of progress':

Sky Wars - The Force awakens - GA uprising?? Bring it on! 

 {Hint 4 Boyd: This bloke/roadblock needs to be escorted from the building ASAP}

From off the Oz this AM it would appear the troops are mobilising finally

From the Prez De Stoop.. :



{Hint 4 Boyd & the Board: This guy needs to be escorted into the building ASAP - https://www.linkedin.com/pub/mike-smith/2/595/785}


Mike Smith

Civil Aviation & Regulatory Program & Operations Auditing

P666:

..Full marks to De Stoop. The man has integrity, balls, and isn't afraid to show the world the true state of play. One can only wish that sort of strong respected leadership was in play years ago, back when corporate kiss arses as well as weak and arrogant batty boys were running AOPA, ain't that right Lookleft?


I like how De Stoop also isn't afraid to 'out' the reason, or at least one reason, why reform keeps getting scuttled - long term bureacratic survivors who have overstayed their welcome for far too long and ensured that the Iron Ring survives. Nice work Mark, diplomatically worded and succinctly put. Not something the Gobbledock could do!

It's funny how the Forsythe review, a catalyst for change, has been buried and cremated. Yet whenever the Governments authorise other reviews on things such as tax reform, unions, anything they actually want to change, they use a review to start the ball rolling and they make changes pretty quickly! The buried Forsythe review is proof that the Miniscule wants no change whatsoever. Shame on you, you out of touch, prehistoric numbnut...

 
TBC..P2

[Kharon]

A Sunday ramble – on Tuesday.

It is difficult to disagree with MdS – in the broad.  Indeed, I do not disagree, but, there are missing elements which must be addressed as part of any reform process – if it is to be effective.  

Politics and politicians; we have all seen the efforts made by individuals and committee frustrated.  Pel-Air the most obvious, Truss support for the ASRR, Polar, Barrier and several other companies, all with political support. All lost causes.  What the politicians can do is vote an Act into being.  In primus there must be a move to change the Act, if Nick Xenophon or one of the independents came up with private members bill to this effect then, at very least, there would be a debate.  There are many persuasive arguments which would assist convince the house that an industry, investment and many jobs wholly depend on urgent, essential changes being effected.  It’s true enough.  I’m fairly certain no politician, of any stripe, wants to see an industry decimated, beaten to death with Australia’s very own laws as the radical.  It’s a nonsense and we have tolerated the imposition for too many years.  

A revised Act will set the tone and make the already relatively easy, tried and tested method of adopting the better regulations from leading aviation nations into the regulatory suite a reality.  We have, despite protestations to the contrary managed to successfully do this in the past – much to industry’s benefit.  

This is all well, good and desirable but will it cause serious change where most needed?  The short answer is No.  Industry has limped along for the past 30 years with the existing regulations; not perfect but serviceable for all that.  Certainly in need of overhaul and modification, tightening where history shows a need and relaxing where evidence indicates that may be possible – a sensible, practical balanced approach, taken over a period of time.

These desirable outcomes will not address the very real problems industry faces. The unspoken, toxic, highly dangerous ‘silence’.  The equally deadly ‘blame game’ and the fear factor.  This all stems not from the regulations, but from those who apply the regulations and the way in which the spirit and intent of those rules is abused to secure a desired outcome.  This is subverting safety: – the visible paperwork perfection on the surface – underneath the vastly different reality of fiscal and operational survival.  The real beast, lurking just beneath the surface tensions.

The Rev. Forsyth nailed it down; before we contemplate reform of Act or regulation – CASA itself must be reformed; radically, completely and utterly.  Top to bottom – soup to nuts, without hesitation or quarter.  Without a commitment to and empirical evidence of that reform; the efforts of Marc and the other fine fellahin, will, as have in recent times the recommendations of both Senate Committee and Forsyth ASRR, fall on stony ground to whither and perish.

Jeff Boyd and his Board must, first and foremost somehow effect the demanded changes to CASA. Treat the cause, not the symptom.  I am certain Jeff has been in the job long enough now to see the real problem; he, as are both DF’s, nowhere near being anyone’s fools. It would be a grave error for any to discount their intelligence or determination.  Furthermore, it is highly probable that the Board have a solution.  Effect that remedy, bring in Fawcett and Forsyth – short term – to drive the nail and matters aeronautical will become much less a threat.   The NZ government did this, with little repercussion and a great deal of success.  

REFORM the REGULATOR; the rest will fall into place, aided and abetted by full industry support and gratitude.

Selah.

The world 'as got me snouted jist a treat;

   Crool Forchin's dirty left 'as smote me soul;

An' all them joys o' life I 'eld so sweet

   Is up the pole.

Fer, as the poit sez, me 'eart 'as got

The pip wiv yearnin' fer -- I dunno wot.

 
C.J. Dennis. (A Spring Song).

[Peetwo]

As the title suggests a thread for comment & updates on the latest from AOPA's Project Eureka...  

First from off the 'Forsyth report - IOS monitoring of progress':

Sky Wars - The Force awakens - GA uprising?? Bring it on! 

 {Hint 4 Boyd: This bloke/roadblock needs to be escorted from the building ASAP}

From off the Oz this AM it would appear the troops are mobilising finally

From the Prez De Stoop.. :

Excellent post Ferryman, I see it has already been blogged - Some fell on rocky places - good call & title...

Thought I would add to the discussion (with permission - TY Sandy ) from an intercepted email chain, between MdS & Sandy, the topic - 'Project Eureka' of course :

Marc,


As a member of AOPA for some forty-five years and dismayed at the death by a thousand cuts by government of what was our perfectly good GA industry, I am happy to have my name published. Marc I really appreciate your forthright approach to the reforms that are required. 

Great to see AOPA taking the fight up to government for our rights to fly. 

I would like to see AOPA make the following points part of our non negotiable minimum demands before we give any respect to CASA, let alone detailed cooperation.

1.  Formally eschew the outdated notion that government confers "privileges" of flight to a free people, our right to fly is part of our right to life and pursuit of happiness.

2.   Demand of government an amendment to the Civil Aviation Act that adds the well being and efficiency of the aviation industry.

3.   Take immediate action to reduce the medical requirements for private pilots in line with the low weight.  category as in car driving standards, and as in the US movement to delete the Cl

4.    Instigate a moratorium on the compulsory SIDs program. 

5.    Allow instructors to teach without our super expensive unnecessary Air Operator Certificate, as in the US 70% pilots taught by individual instructors.

6.   Allow LAMEs to work without C of A in field maintenance.

7.   Delete the strict liability provisions from the rules.

We must make it crystal clear to government that we will not abide by anything but root and branch reform. No more polite talks or time wasting fiddling at the edges or picking over minutiae through thousands of pages of strict liability straight jacket rules.

We must make it clear that action is required now, no more talk.

Finally, could we get a large meeting organised  in Canberra next year when Parliament is sitting with help from MPs to promote our growth policies for GA? 

Kind regards,

Sandy Reith

10,000 hr former aircraft and airport owner operator IFR Chief Flying Instructor, CASA approved license testing, Chief Pilot, RPT, charter, freight, flying school 

AOPA #17871

&..also from SR:

..I like Marc's use of Eureka as the name of the AOPA campaign, we are just as unfairly treated as the celebrated Ballarat miners and we will take the fight up to government in the same vigorous way, but without the guns.

I'm very keen that people now understand that "engaging with the regulator" is just playing into their hands, worse than a waste of time.

Without some major reforms in the immediate future the industry will simply sink further into the mire. You may have already seen my favourite letter, see attachment, but it's worth revisiting and should be shoved under the respective noses of Mr. Skidmore and Mr. Truss, or any well meaning but deluded CASA apologists. Wouldn't be difficult because the latter number would fit comfortably in a Pawnee's hopper ( I know what you're thinking).

We should be looking at demolishing a number of other shibboleths, like flight time log book keeping for private pilots (not needed for car journeys) after we do away with medicals for private flying. We should have a list, yesterday's revolutionary idea, if sensible, becomes today's accepted orthodoxy. I think it's starting to dawn on me that we have put up with a huge amount of costly nonsense in a herd instinct manner or because it wasn't too onerous, and it made us special, and we did not have time to worry...

   

MTF...P2

[Peetwo]

Safety & power in numbers?

Quote from this post off the CVD thread - Pilot Medical certification - Point of difference US v Oz.

[quote pid='2739' dateline='1447406710']
Sandy - Non negotiable reforms before any, stress any, cooperation:-
1. Delete reference to flight "privileges" from the rules. Free people have a right to fly.
2. Amend the Act to include the health of the industry, safety cannot improve without a growing and healthy industry.
3. Allow individual instructors to teach without our super expensive Air Operators Certificate, as in US 70% taught this way.
4. Allow LAMEs to maintain aircraft without Certificate of Approval, like US.
5. Remove the strict liability provisions from the regulations and most of the criminal law to be migrated to civil law.
6. Simplify the rules like FAA or NZ.
7.  No more AVMED for PPLs, car driving standard is proven just as safe.

Remember how quickly the immigration rules were changed when the pilots went on strike? Hawke said bring in pilots from other countries, mainly the US, they were here in days. These pilots were trained as above point point 3.

Aviation groups urge passage of medical reform

17 groups sign letter to key Senate committee


331641
November 17, 2015
By Elizabeth A Tennyson

Seventeen aviation groups have sent a joint letter to leaders of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, urging them to pass third class medical reform and other measures designed to protect general aviation pilots.

In the Nov. 16 letter, AOPA and others urged the committee to adopt the Manchin Amendment to the Pilot’s Bill of Rights 2 (PBR2), which is scheduled to be considered by the committee later in the week. Other amendments to PBR2 will also be considered at that time.

Noting that third class medical reform is a pivotal issue for the future of general aviation, the aviation groups told the committee that the “FAA’s medical certification system has evolved into an onerous and costly one. The FAA recognized that fact more than 10 years ago when it created the Sport Pilot standard of medical certification.”

The letter went on to note that proposed third class medical reforms could save pilots more than $20 million each year and save the FAA approximately $2.5 million each year.

“We have never been closer to achieving meaningful third class medical reform, and this letter is indicative of the widespread support this measure enjoys in the general aviation community,” said AOPA President Mark Baker. “Pilots want and need relief from the outdated and unreasonably burdensome third class medical process, and this legislation would allow hundreds of thousands of pilots to fly safely while saving them, and the FAA, both time and money.”

In addition to promoting third class medical reforms, the Manchin Amendment includes reforms to the FAA’s Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) program, which ensures pilots receive critical safety information as part of their preflight preparation, and provides protections to volunteer pilots who fly in the public interest.

The letter supporting the amendment was signed by AOPA and the Academy of Model Aeronautics, Allied Pilots Association, Commemorative Air Force, Experimental Aircraft Association, Flying Dentists Association, Flying Physicians Association, General Aviation Manufacturers Association, Helicopter Association International, International Council of Air Shows, National Agricultural Aviation Association, National Association of State Aviation Officials, National Air Transportation Association, National Business Aviation Association, NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots, Recreational Aviation Foundation, and Southwest Airlines Pilots’ Association.

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has set Nov. 18 as the date to move S. 571, better known as PBR2. The legislation, which was sponsored by Sens. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), and John Boozman (R-Ark.), boasts 69 bipartisan cosponsors in the Senate.

It would allow hundreds of thousands of pilots who have held a valid third class medical, either regular or special issuance, over the past 10 years to fly without needing to get another FAA medical exam. It would apply to pilots flying VFR or IFR in aircraft weighing up to 6,000 pounds and carrying up to five passengers at altitudes below 18,000 feet and speeds up to 250 knots.

For pilots whose medical certificate lapsed more than 10 years ago and those who have never held a medical certificate, a one-time medical certification will be required. Once a pilot has been medically certified once, either through the regular or special-issuance processes, he or she will also be able to fly indefinitely without needing to go through the FAA medical certification process again. Pilots with certain medical factors, including some cardiac, psychological, or neurological conditions, will have to get a special issuance medical one time only. For more information, visit AOPA’s frequently asked questions regarding third class medical reform.



Elizabeth A Tennyson | Senior Director of Communications, AOPA
AOPA Senior Director of Communications Elizabeth Tennyson is an instrument-rated private pilot who first joined AOPA in 1998.

[/quote]

In regards to Sandy's seven points of reform & the AOPA Australia 'Project Eureka', just for a moment imagine if you had the kind of horsepower the comparative associations/industry groups here in Australia - that signed the Nov. 16 letter - were all collectively hitched to the AOPA Oz PE campaign (bottom of letter)   :

Dear Chairman Thune, Ranking Member Nelson, and Members of the Committee:

As representatives of hundreds of thousands of individuals and companies from all segments of the aviation community, including general aviation pilots, aircraft owners, operators, businesses that utilize aircraft, mechanics, manufacturers, physicians, pilot unions, and state aviation officials, we are writing to express our strong support for the Manchin substitute amendment during Committee consideration of S. 571, the Pilot’s Bill of Right 2.

General aviation has been losing an average of 6,000 pilots per year over the past 10 years. Manufacturing of new piston powered aircraft in the United States has fallen drastically, and this critically important amendment includes provisions that will help general aviation move in a positive direction and provides common sense safety protections to pilots.

The Manchin amendment includes reforms to the FAA’s Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) program, which ensure pilots receive critical safety information as part of their preflight preparation, provides protections to volunteer pilots who fly in the public interest, and reforms the cumbersome and costly third class medical process for general aviation pilots.

Third-class medical reform remains a pivotal issue for general aviation and its future. The FAA’s medical certification system has evolved into an onerous and costly one. The FAA recognized that fact more than 10 years ago when it created the Sport Pilot standard of medical certification, which allows pilots to operate certain aircraft without obtaining a third-class medical certificate. It has been utilized safely and effectively by thousands of pilots flying tens of thousands of hours.

This amendment stands to reduce barriers to medical certification in a manner that allows for the continued safe operation of general aviation aircraft while providing cost savings to both the FAA and the general aviation community. According to an FAA analysis and adjusting for inflation, today’s total average cost of obtaining a third-class medical certificate to be $241. With the common sense reforms included in the amendment, pilots could save more than $20 million dollars each year. A conservative estimate also shows an annual savings of about $2.5 million to the FAA. The money saved by reforming the third-class medical process could be used in ways that have the potential to do far more to improve safety, including increased proficiency flying, attaining additional ratings, and installing new safety equipment on aircraft.

The original Pilot’s Bill of Rights provided important protections to pilots and this amendment stands to expand on them. The rights of pilots facing FAA investigation or enforcement action are enhanced by ensuring they are accorded a fair shake throughout the process. The FAA’s NOTAM system transmits important safety of flight information to pilots, and it is crucial that the FAA continue to provide that service and information in a timely and relevant manner. Additionally, pilots who volunteer their time and aircraft to provide public benefit flights through non-profit organizations deliver valuable services to the community and the nation. Such public benefit flights provide no-cost transportation to patients receiving specialized medical treatment, deliver humanitarian aid, and assist in disaster relief efforts. The provisions in this amendment will make it easier for these organizations and pilots to continue offering these important flights.

On behalf of an industry that each year contributes $219 billion to the U.S. economy, moves 170 million passengers, and supports 1.1 million jobs, this amendment will help ensure the future sustainability of our industry and its valuable contributions to the nation’s economy and transportation system.

Sincerely,

Academy of Model Aeronautics
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
Allied Pilots Association
Commemorative Air Force
Experimental Aircraft Association
Flying Dentists Association
Flying Physicians Association
General Aviation Manufacturers Association
Helicopter Association International
International Council of Air Shows
National Agricultural Aviation Association
National Association of State Aviation Officials
National Air Transportation Association
National Business Aviation Association
NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots
Recreational Aviation Foundation
Southwest Airlines Pilots’ Association

 Do you reckon 'Malcolm in the Middle' & 'Farmer Truss' would dare to ignore the will of that many like-minded industry stakeholders singing from the same hymn sheet?


I know..I know back in my box....P2

[Kharon]

The dynamics of moribund.



The glaringly obvious difference between the US of and Down-under is the performance of the FAA.  Even after some monumental tussles between NTSB and FAA, where and when required the FAA shift and things get done; same-same when ‘government speak – things happen in a timely manner.  It would be unnatural if the aviation community did not moan and groan about the regulator – operators and aircrew from every country I’ve met have a complained over an ale or two – but warts and all – the FAAA will do the things requested and required of them.

You don’t need to look far to see the difference between CASA and FAA, that stupid survey for example – not to enhance or improve, but a box ticking exercise, so they can say a Forsyth recommendation has been met.  Senate – ignored, Minister – ignored, Rev Forsyth – ignored and now we are to believe that industry will be ‘heard’ – BOLLOCKS.  Not much has changed in the past 30 years – unless you count Strict Liability and criminal records as improvement, or part 61 as a gift from the heavens, or part 145 as the answer to a maidens prayer.

There may be some discussion and a bit of push and shove over the Bill of Rights – but you watch; the Americans will have it done and dusted, before Skidmore and Co. have even worked out why 61 is pile of crap and worked out a way to keep it.  Disgusting.

Aye; it’s rum – but no matter – in another 15 years we shall have the Skidmore vision splendid. But only the colour version, CVD need not apply, the CAD test will have weeded them out by then, if the new clerical medicals don’t get you first.  I can hardly wait.

Toot toot.

[Peetwo]

Project Eureka update - Prez Marc De Stoop provides an update to Project Eureka and announces the 'Lion Leaders' membership...
 



What a team...



MTF...P2

[Kharon]

Extract from a tale of two Titties.

Enter - Bareknuckle Bill and the Fair young maiden. Act 1, scene one.  

“Eureka” – exclaimed the Fair young maiden (FYM).

“Aye well, you don’t smell so good yourself.” Gruffed Bareknuckle Bill. (BB).

FYM.  “Hurry, can’t be late. Let us away to the castle and see what we get in the way of tea, biscuits and mind numbing platitude”

BB.  “Nah, bugger that; tell them to come here and we’ll kick seven bells out ‘em”.

FYM.  “We can’t do that, they may get upset.”

BB.  “Upset ‘em; FFS they’ve been annoying the crap out of us for years”.  “Time to set ‘em straight”.

FYM.  “But what if they make things really tough after that?”

BB. “Tough! – tough, how much tougher could they make it than it is now?”  “Nah, tell ‘em to get here, then we can at least save the bus fare”.

Exeunt, Fair young maiden in a flutter “Oh dear, oh dear, what if they break our best China”.

Exeunt, Bareknuckle Bill “ Now,  where’s that flaming baseball bat?”

Ring, ring – Hello - yes Bill, -  a party you say – good idea – No, but I have a well seasoned cricket bat, will that do? – Great, see you then.....  ....  ....  .

Toot - toot.

[Peetwo]

From the Prez Feb-Mar '16:



MTF..P2

[Peetwo]

Aviation Advertiser support for Project Eureka:

5th April 2016


The Hon Paul Fletcher MP

Minister for Major Projects, Territories and Local Government
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia.

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


The 94,000+ Users of the Aviation Advertiser Network


Dear Minister Fletcher and Chester,


AVIATION ADVERTISER ENDORSES AND STANDS WITH AOPA PROJECT EUREKA



Aviation Advertiser (www.aviationadvertiser.com.au) is Australia’s largest online aircraft marketplace and has been operating since 2008.  Our digital services are used by over 94,000+ persons across Australia and New Zealand.  We provide the Australian aviation industry with aircraft sales, marketing and advertising services.

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) have recently furnished you with a letter, outlining its ‘Project Eureka’ and the ‘need for bold and innovative policy reform’ if aviation in this country is to survive.  
 
Aviation Advertiser endorses the AOPA Project Eureka paper and stands with the AOPA Board and its membership in ensuring that the Federal Government is held to account.

Through the course of normal business, Aviation Advertiser is in direct regular communication with a broad spectrum of aviation users.  Students, recreational, private and commercial pilots, private and commercial aircraft owners and aviation businesses.

All of whom are desperately concerned for the future of aviation in Australia.

The Australian aviation industry has been failed by successive Labour and Liberal governments and Ministers whom have lacked a mature and developed understanding of the aviation system as a whole.  Ministers and advisors whom have lacked an appreciation and recognition for the value of small to medium sized aviation enterprise.

I have now worked as part of the aviation industry long enough to see Ministers come and go.  Ministers whom hide behind white paper studies, who refuse to give direct answers and who fail to provide informed policy direction.

The hard working men and women in the aviation industry in this country deserve better.

I urge you both as Ministers to stand with AOPA and with the Australian aviation industry at this time.  I would like to encourage you both to work with industry in establishing an independent industry taskforce, with the purpose and scope to identify and quantify the issues affecting our industry.   To take the findings of this taskforce and implement responsible and appropriate policy, so as to create an environment for opportunity and growth.

If you would like discuss any of the above, please feel free to contact me.
 
Best regards,
 
BENJAMIN MORGAN
Chief Executive – Aviation Advertiser Digital Group
 
Telephone: (02) 8215 6292
Mobile: 0415 577 724
Email: bmorgan@aviationadvertiser.com.au 

Mailing Address:
PO BOX 465
Edgecliff NSW 2027
Australia.

Also from Mr Morgan some weeks ago:

Mark & Industry,


As Australia’s largest aircraft marketplace, our team have daily discussions with aircraft owners, pilots and aviation businesses throughout the country.  Every day, we are hearing stories and being given examples of how owners and operators have been sent to the wall through ridiculous compliance costs – and they’re calling it quits!

Just before I got your email this morning, I received a call from an operator out at Gunnedah who has just put his entire fleet of Ag aircraft and private aircraft up for sale.  Calling it quits, no longer wanting to endure the financial destruction CASA is causing them.  And I won’t get started on SID’s.

Our statistics show that over 70% of the GA fleet in Australia is FOR SALE!  We are facing a crisis not a problem.  It is my belief that if we do not set in motion an industry correction in the next 12 months, we will NOT have an industry in the next 3 years.

Are we all just going to lay down and capitulate or are we going to actually fight to keep the damn industry flying?

The time has come - enough is enough!  We need to start taking some very public actions or the cause is lost.

We are at a cross-road here - No idea is now too extreme and I think everything should be on the table.

Best regards,


BENJAMIN MORGAN
Chief Executive – Aviation Advertiser Digital Group


Telephone: +61 (0) 2 8215 6292
Mobile: +61 (0) 415 577 724
Email:  bmorgan@aviationadvertiser.com.au

The ground swell is growing...TICK...TOCK PM & Ministers

[Peetwo]

Aviation Advertiser support for Project Eureka:

5th April 2016


The Hon Paul Fletcher MP

Minister for Major Projects, Territories and Local Government
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia.

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


The 94,000+ Users of the Aviation Advertiser Network


Dear Minister Fletcher and Chester,


AVIATION ADVERTISER ENDORSES AND STANDS WITH AOPA PROJECT EUREKA



Aviation Advertiser (www.aviationadvertiser.com.au) is Australia’s largest online aircraft marketplace and has been operating since 2008.  Our digital services are used by over 94,000+ persons across Australia and New Zealand.  We provide the Australian aviation industry with aircraft sales, marketing and advertising services.

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) have recently furnished you with a letter, outlining its ‘Project Eureka’ and the ‘need for bold and innovative policy reform’ if aviation in this country is to survive.  
 
Aviation Advertiser endorses the AOPA Project Eureka paper and stands with the AOPA Board and its membership in ensuring that the Federal Government is held to account.

Through the course of normal business, Aviation Advertiser is in direct regular communication with a broad spectrum of aviation users.  Students, recreational, private and commercial pilots, private and commercial aircraft owners and aviation businesses.

All of whom are desperately concerned for the future of aviation in Australia.

The Australian aviation industry has been failed by successive Labour and Liberal governments and Ministers whom have lacked a mature and developed understanding of the aviation system as a whole.  Ministers and advisors whom have lacked an appreciation and recognition for the value of small to medium sized aviation enterprise.

I have now worked as part of the aviation industry long enough to see Ministers come and go.  Ministers whom hide behind white paper studies, who refuse to give direct answers and who fail to provide informed policy direction.

The hard working men and women in the aviation industry in this country deserve better.

I urge you both as Ministers to stand with AOPA and with the Australian aviation industry at this time.  I would like to encourage you both to work with industry in establishing an independent industry taskforce, with the purpose and scope to identify and quantify the issues affecting our industry.   To take the findings of this taskforce and implement responsible and appropriate policy, so as to create an environment for opportunity and growth.

If you would like discuss any of the above, please feel free to contact me.
 
Best regards,
 
BENJAMIN MORGAN
Chief Executive – Aviation Advertiser Digital Group
 
Telephone: (02) 8215 6292
Mobile: 0415 577 724
Email: bmorgan@aviationadvertiser.com.au 

Mailing Address:
PO BOX 465
Edgecliff NSW 2027
Australia.

Also from Mr Morgan some weeks ago:

Mark & Industry,


As Australia’s largest aircraft marketplace, our team have daily discussions with aircraft owners, pilots and aviation businesses throughout the country.  Every day, we are hearing stories and being given examples of how owners and operators have been sent to the wall through ridiculous compliance costs – and they’re calling it quits!

Just before I got your email this morning, I received a call from an operator out at Gunnedah who has just put his entire fleet of Ag aircraft and private aircraft up for sale.  Calling it quits, no longer wanting to endure the financial destruction CASA is causing them.  And I won’t get started on SID’s.

Our statistics show that over 70% of the GA fleet in Australia is FOR SALE!  We are facing a crisis not a problem.  It is my belief that if we do not set in motion an industry correction in the next 12 months, we will NOT have an industry in the next 3 years.

Are we all just going to lay down and capitulate or are we going to actually fight to keep the damn industry flying?

The time has come - enough is enough!  We need to start taking some very public actions or the cause is lost.

We are at a cross-road here - No idea is now too extreme and I think everything should be on the table.

Best regards,


BENJAMIN MORGAN
Chief Executive – Aviation Advertiser Digital Group


Telephone: +61 (0) 2 8215 6292
Mobile: +61 (0) 415 577 724
Email:  bmorgan@aviationadvertiser.com.au

The tales of woe continue -

Sandy forwarded this email from DOC (www.airtrek.com.au) for general consumption:

Hello Sandy,

 
Some opinions and thoughts on my 48 years in GA.
 
As discussed, in my opinion the punitive philosophy and prosecution of GA by CASA has decimated the engineers, operators and pilots to the point where the industry has collapsed.  Just look at Moorabbin and Bankstown Airports
 
I began flying in 1968 and obtained a Charter Licence in my own right.   I have worked in aircraft sales, GA “RPT”, and charter continuously to today.
 
From Aviation being considered quite rightly as a national asset I fear that CASA has led that asset to it’s doomed.  
 
The recent liquidation announcement by  the Royal Queensland Aero Club and associate companies Airline Academy of Australia and their engineering training school ATAE is just the latest in failures, forced closures and just too hard ‘give-ups’ to add to the list.
 
In my opinion CASA and Airservices need to be scrapped and a DCA be re-created to implement the FAA system or the EASA model or at least follow NZs lead.  CASA have failed on every criteria.
 
Used aircraft sales have dropped by over 50% and the aircraft prices halved.   Some perhaps are not saleable at all.  With less sales and less turnover and less flying aviation without participation is not sustainable.  Most businesses start as one man bands that grow to employ staff and foster growth.  Some CASA personnel telling pilots they will die in old aircraft has not helped sales of the national fleet.
 
It can perhaps take 1 year or more to get a new type onto an AOC.  Usually the buyer has to purchase and then apply.  No commercial flexibility for like types or the same personnel participation.

Rules in one state do not necessarily apply in another due to “interpretation” by CASA officers.   Rules, rules and more rules.  But turn the page and you can comply with more odd ball rule requirements.
 
Typically you can have a one pilot AOC holder who hires a single aircraft and can conduct ‘regular’ charters with almost no supervision by CASA.  Then you have the dedicated charter operator who has to have the IFR, Class A twin engine aircraft, infrastructure, HR personnel, maintenance engineers and supervisors etc  with extreme CASA supervision.  Not a level playing field.   
 
Much the same with the 2 different levels of flying schools.
 
Some maintenance  mods are not recognized and illegal overseas.  Eg. Piper Chieftain spar mods are ‘illegal’ and render the aircraft un-airworthy.  Beech C90 spar limits are only applicable here etc.   Australian mods and EOs etc are generally not recognised in the USA.  Is our documentation worthless?
 
The USA develop, manufacture and operate about 23 times the total aircraft population of Australia with a better safety record.  Yet Australian CASA knows better and sets their own rules for maintenance, licencing and regulation.   The removal of some requirements and additional limits on other requirements exclude the industry from participating in the world market as equals.  The recent stated attempt at bringing Australia in line with the world  in maintenance, pilot and engineering compliance took Australia further away, increased costs, complicated compliance issues and compounded the problems.  Unattainable requirements?   Removing insurance indemnity for ATOs?  Limiting the daily allowable renewals of ATOs?   Australian licences not compatible or compliant with the new system?
 
Of particular annoyance is the lack of responsibility for aircraft ownership.  Unlike the FAA, CASA specifically do not take responsibility for ownership.   Therefore, there is not available a clear title document for an aircraft that can be banked like the FAA system.   But CASA require the owner to be stated on registration of an aircraft.   Often the finance company involved in an aircraft purchase were forced to be named as the owner to get some documented recognition.  But they were mostly not the owner which is difficult for them and the owner in future dealings.  CASA’s defence is that it is then the financier’s or owner’s problem.
 
Recently CASA stopped issuing Export Certificates but continued to advise the receiving authority as required.   However, the majority of authorities still required the Certificate.  So CASA,  as a favour, copy a letter to the owner saying “ did you do this” and this is sent this off as proof of de-registration.   Very unprofessional. 
 
We need help and encouragement and advice from the regulator.  Not persecution and punishment by an authority that has lost the respect of the industry.
 
Advance Aviation at Emerald Queensland has failed and Westwing in Mt Isa and Townsville apparently shut in the last weeks.   Many other flying schools, charter companies and engineering businesses are un-saleable.  What have they got to sell?
 
Sometimes CASA or governments dictate an older twin piston aircraft has to be used over a turbine aircraft.  This is generally a less safe option for a number of reasons and counterproductive for growth and advancement of the industry.
 
Helicopters are another nightmare with some ill-conceived requirements dictating the use of types.
 
The recreational aircraft industry is another problem.
 
Privatisation of airports led to charges for aircraft and operators not previously seen.   The lack of interest, support and funding for the industry and regional airports by CASA and governments has been pivotal in the industry’s decline.  The user pays system embraced for aviation is flawed in my opinion.   We need a massive change to protect our nationally vital industry
 
The time, cost and mindless bureaucracy imposed by CASA today would likely stifle any start-up company and limits the growth, flexibility and commercial viability of established operators.  The CASA philosophy must change.   As this is blatantly impossible, CASA must be changed out.
 
Qantas would be unlikely to get a start today.
 
Best wishes and safe flying.
DOC
 
Regards,
David O'Connor

MTF..P2

[Peetwo]

A red letter week -

Project Eureka by Mitch in today's Oz -

Project Eureka: red tape ‘crushing general aviation’

• Mitchell Bingemann
  
  
• The Australian
  
  
• April 8, 2016 12:00AM
  

Marc De Stoop, president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

A wide-ranging review of Australia’s aviation industry has called on the government to sell off its billion-dollar-a-year Airservices air traffic controller organisation to help fund a revival of the struggling general aviation sector.

The 130-page report — dubbed Project Eureka — has been put together by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and is scathing of aviation ­bureaucracies, blaming creeping over-regulation for a dramatic decline in aircraft movements at secondary airports, a drastic reduction in aviation mechanical engineering apprenticeships and the destruction of small aviation businesses.

The AOPA — which represents 2600 general aviation aircraft owners and pilots in private, commercial charter and airline operations across Australia — claims the general aviation sector is collapsing under the weight of onerous regulation.

In a radical proposal, the review has urged the government to privatise Airservices, the government-owned organisation that employs more than 4000 staff and manages air traffic around the nation’s busiest and largest airports as well as co-ordinating rescue and firefighting services for on-site accidents.

The organisation brings in ­annual revenue of about $1 billion, pulled largely from airports, light aircraft operators and ­airlines including Qantas and ­Virgin, which pay for the organisation’s ser­vices.

According to the author of Project Eureka, AOPA president Marc De Stoop, Airservices should be privatised and the proceeds funnelled into the general aviation industry.

“We want to create an industry trust fund with an independent board like the Future Fund that will support local jobs in general aviation and maintenance, and generate new sources of revenue through the creation of innovative aviation companies,” Mr De Stoop told The Australian.

The Eureka report claims a full privatisation of Airservices could bring in as much as $4bn. It proposes that the proceeds of the sale be split, with half going to the commonwealth to help claw back its budget deficit and the other half used to establish an industry trust fund to be chaired by aviator and businessman Dick Smith.

Privatising national air traffic controllers is not unprecedented territory. Canada privatised its national air traffic controller in 1996 for $1.5bn while the British government has partly privatised and owns 49 per cent of its air navigation system.

The AOPA proposes that this fund could be used to reinvest capital in the general aviation industry to buy back secondary airports, spur on job creation and increase the sector’s involvement in new research and development activities. It also recommends that portions of this fund could be used to provide venture capital for innovative start-ups.

This would allow the fund to take equity stakes in potential innovative businesses, which in turn could provide ongoing returns.

“Funds could be allocated to both industry and universities in partnerships to provide the high tech innovation the industry constantly needs to survive, grow and prosper,” the report said.

The Eureka report also bemoans the slow death of secondary airports around Australia, saying exorbitant leasing fees and the encroachment of commercial property developments is resulting in a decline in aircraft movements from these airports.

“The statistics prove this undeniably. Bankstown Airport, the centre of the Australian GA industry in the 1980s, was the busiest airport in the southern hemisphere with over 550,000 aircraft movements per annum. It is now below 180,000,” the report said.

“Commercial business parks can be established anywhere where appropriate land zoning exists. Aviation businesses need a runway to survive. Runways just can’t be built or located anywhere. They are essential pieces of infrastructure.

“Funds from the trust should be used to finance the buyback of the secondary GA airports. The current owners are not acting in the spirit of the Airport Sales Act which was supposed to foster aviation activities. Instead they are simply being run as a business park with rents benchmarked or based upon similar business parks in the surrounding areas.

“This was not the intent of the Coalition’s Airport Privatisation Policy.”

A spokesman the Department of Infrastructure did not say if the government was considering selling Airservices but said it would examine the issues raised in the Project Eureka report once it was provided by AOPA.

“General aviation issues are already being considered by the General Aviation Action Group that has been established by the government-formed Aviation Industry Consultative Council. The group includes members across a range of general aviation sectors,” a department spokesman said.

A re-hash of the week that has been so far -

And Oliver apparently Dick will see you in court if you don't provide the following..

Much to the horror of George Glass, who can't seem to see the wood for the trees & continues to hold onto some 20 yr grudge for Dick Smith, the President of the 'Tendentious Bloggers Association' Ben Sandilands astutely explains to his audience, that mostly couldn't give a fig about GA, what Dick Smith is trying to achieve in his lawyer's correspondence to DAS Skidmore:

Mixing cattle choppers and big jets on the same radio frequency headed to court

Ben Sandilands | Apr 02, 2016 12:06PM |

It is highly likely that few Australians, or for that matter, readers of The Australian are paying much attention to Dick Smith’s episodic attacks on the competency of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.

But they should, because what is at stake goes beyond even air safety, to the willingness of elected governments to be heard and obeyed by public servants who arguably are impervious to considerations of public interest.

For those who have made it to this, the third paragraph, the supremacy of the executive branch over the administrative branch of government isn’t just about Dick Smith’s well argued concerns about several hundred people being slaughtered in a scheduled airliner because CASA apparently doesn’t give a damn about what Ministers say, but about Australia being an effective parliamentary democracy.

The technicalities of Dick Smith’s objections to CASA edicts as to how airspace should be managed in this country—in a remarkably asinine way in the opinion of this observer—ensure that few members of the public, or their elected reps, ever get their heads around them.


Dick Smith flying his Longranger over the east coast of Tasmania

However last week Smith, aviator, adventurer, businessman and philanthropist, had law firm Mark O’Brien, serve notice on Mark Skidmore, director of safety, CASA, of his intention to put Mr Skidmore in the witness box in the Federal Court to explain or defend Mr Smith’s claims that he has ignored government direction in framing changes to airspace management in Australia’s skies.

This is something which ought to interest not just Australian carriers, but foreign users of our airspace, such as Emirates, Etihad and Cathay Pacific, who have like Qantas and Virgin Australia, been on the receiving end of some shoddy lapses in performance by AirServices Australia that have been detailed in various legally privileged incident investigations by the ATSB.

For those who have made it thus far, the core issue is a direction by CASA that pilots using mostly light aircraft at low altitudes in a range of remote locations use the same radio frequencies as civil airlines operating at high altitudes to keep themselves aware of each other’s movements.

That direction is not only idiotic in terms of the distractions and confusion that they can cause, but inherently harmful in its potential to block vital communications between large high jets and ATC controllers in a range of situations.

There is no radar coverage over much of the interior of Australia, and separation standards between the jets that overfly these areas not only require strict position reporting, but prompt actions when for example a jet has to make a medical diversion, or descend lower because of a cabin pressure problem or an engine failure in a twin engine airliner.

There are large ranges of normal, as well as abnormal requirements in air traffic control that in a sensible, competently run air traffic control operation would never have to accommodate the communications of aircraft managing cattle, or organizing their own separation when using rough or often unchartered landing strips which exist in their hundreds under the paths flown by A380s, 777s, 787s and A330s.

This sort of infantile pandemonium endorsed by CASA in contradiction of specific government policy settings is something that the newly responsible Minister, Darren Chester, ought to deal with inbetween the other numerous distractions of his infrastructure portfolio.

But infrastructure is a department impervious under both sides of politics to informed direction by its responsible ministers. The disgusting conduct of CASA and the ATSB in relation to the Pel-Air accident is but one example of that.

The comic opera decision to force cattle mustering aircraft onto the airwaves of giant jets flying across Australia contrary to the clearest of instructions has its deadly upside.

That risk is a reason to hope that CASA is too set in its ways to blink, and that these matters do come to court, because such fundamental conflicts between the executive and administrative branches do really need to be dealt with in public.

"..That risk is a reason to hope that CASA is too set in its ways to blink, and that these matters do come to court, because such fundamental conflicts between the executive and administrative branches do really need to be dealt with in public.."

Spot on Ben, bring it on I say

Dear Ben perhaps to help reinforce the greater message in your short but excellent piece, that seems to have been totally missed by George Glass , you could draw your readership to the following off the Alphabets thread:

Willy-leaks:-

If the wing beat of a butterfly can start a tornado; we need to consider if a worm fart in Cantberra could trigger a shit-storm. Seriously.

Can a small, almost insignificant event, such as the CASA director no longer wishing to be ‘associated’ with aircraft owners and pilots trigger such a thing. He has cancelled, with immediate effect, his AOPA  membership.  The single line, peevish, spiteful sentence, speaks volumes.  

It speaks to the character of the man; the “I no longer want to be” etc. part being particularly telling.  It’s not my ‘email’ to distribute so I’ll leave it at that, but the notion of a dummy spitting event, followed by a curling up of toes to prevent socks being put on springs to mind.  Clearly facts, common sense and expertise are an anathema to the DAS; truth and light shining into the dark places where the real evil lives is unwelcome.  A decent man would write a letter, to the boss AOPA explaining that, with respect, there was a potential conflict of interest; or, a philosophic difference which could not be resolved, that would be acceptable.  Nothing too fluffy, a salutation, a soupçon of regret and a Regards at the end would have been a completely understandable response to the AOPA campaign.  None of that for OST; just the immortal words “I no longer want”.  Ever watched a two year old rebel against spinach.   

One of the very, very good things is the event demonstrates to the general population that AOPA is freeing it’s self from the toils of Casamiteism; and becoming, once again an independent voice with some lobbying power.  This, standing alone, should increase the membership and assist regaining lost reputation.  An active, respected AOPA free of ‘Yes men’ and ‘external’, political interest could be a shot in the arm.

As the AOPA president rolls out Eureka and continues the campaign to restore sanity and balance to the embuggerance system, we should all be there supporting his efforts.  Industry needs every bit of help it can get; time to bury old hatchets, heal the rifts and for the dwindling pool of aircraft owners and pilots to get involved.

Well done Willy-leaks; bravo.  I’d love to see the thing that rattled Oliver’s cage; patience children; this is one time where I will seek permission rather than forgiveness.

Toot toot.....

After thought; one of the problems with hiring in ‘military’ help is that they are so very unused to being openly challenged it creates all manner of mental aberrations. How dare a lowly other rank tell me I’m a duck wit, waste of time, space and money.   The unnatural event of being told to go and ‘boil your bottom’ must do dreadful things to the psych.   Who in the forces would dare tell an AVM, to his face, he was wrong; or of his past value, present worth and future prospects?

How pathetic - OST are you a man or a mouse? Off with you then you parasite don your Hawaiian shirt, grab your box of Cubans and go & sulk with all your sparkling Chardonnay sipping mates down at the RAeS, ducking WOFTAM!

Meanwhile in the struggling IOS world of Oz GA the fight back is on

A Letter to the Minister


As AOPA members will be aware the board of AOPA commissioned a comprehensive briefing paper, Project Eureka, written by leading aviation industry figures detailing problems with the General Aviation industry and providing real solutions to these problems.

The paper is now complete, and will be available on the AOPA website next week.

AOPA President Marc De Stoop has prepared the following covering letter to the Minister for Major Projects, Territories and Local Government which summarises the recommendations made in Project Eureka.

AOPA will be meeting with the Minister and key advisors in the coming weeks, as well as circulating the executive summary to media outlets.

Please take the time to read this letter and familiarise yourself with the main changes we will be calling for in order to revitalise one of Australia’s most important industries.
It is vital that AOPA members support the board in getting Project Eureka as much traction as possible with politicians across the country.

Please view the PDF of the letter here: Letter to Minister re Project Eureka Apr-16

Extracts from the letter:

My comment off PT:

11
PAIN_P2

Posted April 4, 2016 at 8:20 am | Permalink

“..I am not here to defend Dick or his actions, he is quite capable of doing that for himself..” – Well said stuaero, I am of the same mind and have witnessed many years of Dick Smith doing that on the Pprune Forum.

There are many Dick Smith detractors that feel the same as George, Fred & co; that DS in Australian aviation circles is the root of all evil. However I disagree with George’s statement ending with..

“..is a mystery to those of us at the pointy end..”

..that may be from your perspective from the lofty altitudes of a Sky God but it is definitely not the view of those struggling to make ends meet at the small end of town.

As for Dick’s ‘latest tantrum’ that is also blatantly untrue and you only need to read the lawyer’s letter (see here: http://auntypru.com/forum/-Skimore-Corner?pid=3949#pid3949 ) or see the past Oz articles dating back more than two years.

However like stuaero I am not here to defend Dick and what is really sad about some of the posts above is that for pilots who have supposedly reached the pinnacle of their careers that they have completely missed the point of Ben’s article.

Anyway I am not sure if it helps but the following is a link for the current AOPA Australia President’s letter announcing the upcoming release of their Project Eureka http://www.aopa.com.au/assets/583/Letter_to_Minister_re_Project_Eureka_S28C-116033110110.pdf

Here is the preamble to that letter:

“..A Letter to the Minister

As AOPA members will be aware the board of AOPA commissioned a comprehensive briefing paper, Project Eureka, written by leading aviation industry figures detailing problems with the General Aviation industry and providing real solutions to these problems.

The paper is now complete, and will be available on the AOPA website next week.

AOPA President Marc De Stoop has prepared the following covering letter to the Minister for Major Projects, Territories and Local Government which summarises the recommendations made in Project Eureka.

AOPA will be meeting with the Minister and key advisors in the coming weeks, as well as circulating the executive summary to media outlets.

Please take the time to read this letter and familiarise yourself with the main changes we will be calling for in order to revitalise one of Australia’s most important industries.

It is vital that AOPA members support the board in getting Project Eureka as much traction as possible with politicians across the country..”

MTF..P2

[Peetwo]

A red letter week -

Project Eureka by Mitch in today's Oz -

Project Eureka: red tape ‘crushing general aviation’

• Mitchell Bingemann
  
  
• The Australian
  
  
• April 8, 2016 12:00AM
  

Marc De Stoop, president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

A wide-ranging review of Australia’s aviation industry has called on the government to sell off its billion-dollar-a-year Airservices air traffic controller organisation to help fund a revival of the struggling general aviation sector.

The 130-page report — dubbed Project Eureka — has been put together by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and is scathing of aviation ­bureaucracies, blaming creeping over-regulation for a dramatic decline in aircraft movements at secondary airports, a drastic reduction in aviation mechanical engineering apprenticeships and the destruction of small aviation businesses.

The AOPA — which represents 2600 general aviation aircraft owners and pilots in private, commercial charter and airline operations across Australia — claims the general aviation sector is collapsing under the weight of onerous regulation.

In a radical proposal, the review has urged the government to privatise Airservices, the government-owned organisation that employs more than 4000 staff and manages air traffic around the nation’s busiest and largest airports as well as co-ordinating rescue and firefighting services for on-site accidents.

The organisation brings in ­annual revenue of about $1 billion, pulled largely from airports, light aircraft operators and ­airlines including Qantas and ­Virgin, which pay for the organisation’s ser­vices.

According to the author of Project Eureka, AOPA president Marc De Stoop, Airservices should be privatised and the proceeds funnelled into the general aviation industry.

“We want to create an industry trust fund with an independent board like the Future Fund that will support local jobs in general aviation and maintenance, and generate new sources of revenue through the creation of innovative aviation companies,” Mr De Stoop told The Australian.

The Eureka report claims a full privatisation of Airservices could bring in as much as $4bn. It proposes that the proceeds of the sale be split, with half going to the commonwealth to help claw back its budget deficit and the other half used to establish an industry trust fund to be chaired by aviator and businessman Dick Smith.

Privatising national air traffic controllers is not unprecedented territory. Canada privatised its national air traffic controller in 1996 for $1.5bn while the British government has partly privatised and owns 49 per cent of its air navigation system.

The AOPA proposes that this fund could be used to reinvest capital in the general aviation industry to buy back secondary airports, spur on job creation and increase the sector’s involvement in new research and development activities. It also recommends that portions of this fund could be used to provide venture capital for innovative start-ups.

This would allow the fund to take equity stakes in potential innovative businesses, which in turn could provide ongoing returns.

“Funds could be allocated to both industry and universities in partnerships to provide the high tech innovation the industry constantly needs to survive, grow and prosper,” the report said.

The Eureka report also bemoans the slow death of secondary airports around Australia, saying exorbitant leasing fees and the encroachment of commercial property developments is resulting in a decline in aircraft movements from these airports.

“The statistics prove this undeniably. Bankstown Airport, the centre of the Australian GA industry in the 1980s, was the busiest airport in the southern hemisphere with over 550,000 aircraft movements per annum. It is now below 180,000,” the report said.

“Commercial business parks can be established anywhere where appropriate land zoning exists. Aviation businesses need a runway to survive. Runways just can’t be built or located anywhere. They are essential pieces of infrastructure.

“Funds from the trust should be used to finance the buyback of the secondary GA airports. The current owners are not acting in the spirit of the Airport Sales Act which was supposed to foster aviation activities. Instead they are simply being run as a business park with rents benchmarked or based upon similar business parks in the surrounding areas.

“This was not the intent of the Coalition’s Airport Privatisation Policy.”

A spokesman the Department of Infrastructure did not say if the government was considering selling Airservices but said it would examine the issues raised in the Project Eureka report once it was provided by AOPA.

“General aviation issues are already being considered by the General Aviation Action Group that has been established by the government-formed Aviation Industry Consultative Council. The group includes members across a range of general aviation sectors,” a department spokesman said.

Update 09 April 2016 - A battered & bruised Hitch, on the week that has been on the AOPA PE front..

The Last Minute Hitch: 8 April 2016

08 Apr 2016



There are some weeks when we scribblers feel like the shiny rolling thing in a pinball machine. This week was definitely one of those; my head still has marks from some of the bumpers. It's all about a meeting in Canberra where AOPA president Marc De Stoop presented a letter outlining Project Eureka to the Department of Infrastructure and Transport. One day later, CASA DAS Mark Skidmore resigned from AOPA. GA commentators have since over-worked the phrase "dummy-spit". OK, let's try to unravel what this is about with the use of a handy bulleted list.

• AOPA's Project Eureka is a different approach, but doesn't contain much different from what we as an industry have been clamouring for for years. It's all logical and necessary.
  
  
• Skidmore is not saying why he resigned. Pundits say it's because he's upset that AOPA went directly to the minister or because the letter criticised CASA. Personally, I don't believe that. I think Skidmore resigned because the letter implied he would bury the document in the CASA bureaucracy. That is the sort of thing that Skidmore is trying to change, so AOPA's assertation could be read as showing lack of faith in what he's trying to do.
  
  
• Marc De Stoop is actually a supporter of Skidmore and points out that the problem is the safety regulation model that is holding back genuine reform, and has shied away from any direct criticism of Skidmore's agenda or capability.
  
  
• The CASA DAS shouldn't be a member of AOPA anyway. AOPA is first and foremost a political lobby organisation whose prime nemesis is CASA. Gotta be a conflict there! To give him credit, when Skidmore first took the job he told me he felt that the head of CASA should be a member of AOPA. I have always felt that was unsustainable, and the DAS clearly understands that now.
  
  
• His resignation e-mail should never have been leaked to the public. Poor form. Having said that, it could also have been worded more diplomatically.
  
  
  

Now, lots of loud clapping from me for AOPA's move and Project Eureka. AOPA has not taken the lead in GA for a couple of years and this does show leadership. Standby for a Last Minute Hitch take on Eureka, hopefully next week. - look FWD to that Hitch 

For the record, I also am not a member of AOPA. I was actually a Vic/Tas representative years ago, but had to resign when AOPA put their magazine on the newsagent shelves. That created a clear conflict with Australian Flying and I knew it.

Please see my post HERE, quote:

..Besides the Dick Smith threatened legal action is way more than merely the CTAF v ATC area frequency issue. IMO it is about tackling CASA under those parts of the Act, in particular S9A & in this case 11A,  that they hide behind when questioned or threatened by industry stakeholders.

9A  Performance of functions

             (1)  In exercising its powers and performing its functions, CASA must regard the safety of air navigation as the most important consideration..

11A  Compliance with Australian Airspace Policy Statement


             (1)  Subject to subsection 9A(1), CASA must exercise its powers and perform its functions in a manner consistent with the Australian Airspace Policy Statement.


             (2)  If CASA proposes to exercise a power or perform a function in a manner that is inconsistent with the Australian Airspace Policy Statement, CASA must notify the Minister in writing that it is proposing to do so and of its reasons.

             (3)  In this section:


Australian Airspace Policy Statement means the statement made under subsection 8(1) of the Airspace Act 2007.

Simply put Dick is asking CASA to provide the evidence (empirical or otherwise) that they have considered S9A in compliance with S11A in making the radio frequency decision contrary to RAPAC and industry concern. The 'show me the money' approach from Dick could equally be used under other aviation safety matters where CASA point to S9A for justifying a decision, for example the archaic 19th century Skates adopted policy on CVD pilots...

In my humble opinion this is where the fight should be taken up and focussed. Breakdown the 'mystique of aviation safety' - that seems to place minister after minister, PM after PM, MP after MP into some kind of pollie trance - then you are halfway to winning real reform and stopping the bureaucratic decimation of the GA industry. At the end of the day we don't vote for the fat cat bureaucrats!

If you want a classic example of a bureaucratic 'safety mystique' being seriously broken down, so that Joe Public and even a pollie gets it, you only need look at how the Owner/Operator Truck driver v the RSRT - HERE - matter has escalated.

Senator Barry (legend) O'Sullivan -   “This (pay order) defies every single principle of the free-­market environment,” Senator O’Sullivan told The Australian. “It’s going to pit owner-drivers against company drivers. It’s clear that this is going to require a legislative solution. This is as big and probably bigger that the suspension of the live-cattle trade in 2011. This is that serious.” - Bazza really gets it

 

Senator Glenn Lazarus - “I am going to make as much noise as I can possibly make about this because this is absolute bulls*** what they are doing to you guys,” he told the crowd, Owner Driver reported...

...Senator Lazarus said he would support the government and if the bill failed he would bring to parliament his own private bill to abolish the tribunal. - Lazarus gets it

And NX is beginning to get it - Crossbench Senator Nick Xenophon, who supported the Gillard government in setting up the tribunal, said he had changed his mind on its effectiveness.


“I’ve spoken to many owner-operators who are very fearful for their livelihoods,” he told AAP.

Wouldn't we love to hear the words that government are going to legislate/amend the Civil Aviation Act to force CASA to foster and promote aviation in this country...


MTF...P2   

Ps In latest developments the National Road Transport Association late yesterday started a petition that already has over 1700 names:

Delay the Road Safety Remuneration Order & abolish the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal

[/url]

NatRoad Association





NatRoad Association
[url=https://www.change.org/organizations/natroad_association]
1,731

Supporters

The Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (RSRT) has delivered the 2016 Road Safety Remuneration Order (RSRO) that is effective as of 4.15pm 7th April. The RSRO discriminates between small owner-drivers and larger transport companies with different rules for different people and businesses that put the money into the hands of large business.

With this order in place it will impact not only 35,000 owner-drivers but also the industry and the Australian economy. Increasing prices of groceries, loss of trucking businesses and all of the peripheral business that rely on the industry. The mum’s and dad’s who have worked hard to set up businesses, put their own money (houses & families) on the line, employ others and pay people for services.

These businesses operate all over Australia and are the lifeblood of many communities whether they be located rurally, regionally or in cities.

The fate of the owner-driver now lies in your hands.

Minister Cash will introduce a bill into parliament at the next sitting and we call on you to delay the 2016 RSRO until 1 January 2017 with the aim to ultimately have the RSRT abolished.

This petition will be delivered to:

• Leader of the Opposition
  Bill Shorten
  
• Senator
  Nick Xenophon
  
• Senator
  Jacqui Lambie
  

7 more decision makers...

• Senator
  Glenn Lazarus
  
• Senator
  David Leyonhjelm
  
• Senator
  Bob Day
  
• Senator
  John Madigan
  
• Senator
  Zhenya Wang
  
• Senator
  Ricky Muir
  
• Senator
  Richard Di Natale
  

---

Read the letter

 
Please consider signing for our RT brothers & sisters...  

[Kharon]

Cheers Hitch, nicely done.

Hitch – “AOPA's Project Eureka is a different approach, but doesn't contain much different from what we as an industry have been clamouring for, for years. It's all logical and necessary.”

Spot on. PE is not everyone’s cup of tea and although it takes a different approach as Hitch says; it makes sense and is necessary.  What it is, for mine, is a very good starting point for the alphabet soup groups to discuss.  A chance to beat the eternal problem of ‘fragmentation’ and narrow interest.  GA needs a ‘voice’ which speaks for all – on the broad issues, like the Act, the Forsyth report, self administration and getting out from under the CASA boot heel through true reform of the regulator and the rules.  Accidental non compliance, under strict liability for anything other than deliberate acts of endangerment could stand a tune up, starting by providing clear definition of ‘what’ constitutes ‘dangerous’ and the rules for proving the case.  ‘A danger’ is one the most misused catchalls that CASA use, which, more often than not, relies on hearsay and the ‘mystique’.

Hitch – “[AOPA] has not taken the lead in GA for a couple of years and this does show leadership.

This, to me is the good news.  The ‘heavy’ (for wont of better) end of aviation bodies, AAAA, AMROBA and RAAA etc. are well supported, have some serious expertise, clout and excellent representatives.  I would like to see AOPA on the same podium, but it’s a tough row for De Stoop to hoe.  Credibility is an issue, internal politics are an issue and depleted membership remains a problem.  ‘Leadership’ is a queer concept in this case; has AOPA assumed the mantle without broad support?  I can only speak for myself here, but before I parted with my hard earned, I’d want to see the membership increase, progressively: some associations teaming up with AOPA, the odious stench of Casamitism eradicated; and, some runs on the board.    Eureka is one four run shot from a middle order batsman in what has been, so far, a lacklustre innings; put a couple of boundaries up on the scoreboard and watch the crowd attitude change from ennui to full throated support.

It’s all to play for.

Toot toot.

[P1_aka_P1]

AOPA have today released the project Eureka for general consumption.  The document may be downloaded from AOPA web site or from the AP library.  The PDF does take a little while to download and is a long read, patience essential.  

Project Eureka.

[Kharon]

First read through and until I have a chance to really read it; least said, soonest mended.  First reads should IMO always be done while pretending to be a low level filter in a series of filters before anything like Eureka gets to a ministers table, boiled down to a one page summary.  By trying to ‘see’ it as those opposed would and looking for the parts which can and will be used to discredit the document is the only way to edit the piece.  

There are some specious, dubious parts with horse and cart sized holes which will be where the rot starts.  I will, dutifully read the thing between now and Sunday, but it’s not a task I look forward to.

MTF?  Have to be, I suppose....

[Peetwo]

Oz Flying today on PE release. :

(K. Lovell)



Project Eureka Papers released
13 Apr 2016

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association this week released the Project Eureka papers to the aviation industry.

Project Eureka is a brief to government containing a plan to revitalise the general aviation industry in Australia.

The 161-page document covers recommendations on regulation reform, ADS-B, competition barriers, flight training, user fees, structural changes, aviation medicine, airspace and more.

"AOPA is calling this Project Eureka because we see this as a last stand against inappropriate Government industry regulation; regulation that has decimated our once thriving GA industry," AOPA states in the summary.

"It may sound melodramatic to those not associated with the industry, but those of us who have been in the industry through the period 1960-1990 feel very frustrated that government bureaucrats, through lack of understanding of the need for businesses to be commercially viable, have failed this industry.

"Through Project Eureka, AOPA and the General Aviation community presents to Government the means to revitalise this important industry for growth of jobs and businesses; and for expansion of educational and training opportunities while encouraging greater technical innovation.

"Our proposals will, if accepted, reduce taxpayer liabilities and generate very substantial revenue, external and internal, into the future.

AOPA also recommends the government establish an Industry Trust Fund created from the sale of Airservices Australia to reinvest in new technology, university research and development.

The full Project Eureka papers can be downloaded from the AOPA website.

MTF..P2

[Peetwo]

Oz Flying today on PE release. :

(K. Lovell)



Project Eureka Papers released
13 Apr 2016

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association this week released the Project Eureka papers to the aviation industry.

Project Eureka is a brief to government containing a plan to revitalise the general aviation industry in Australia.

The 161-page document covers recommendations on regulation reform, ADS-B, competition barriers, flight training, user fees, structural changes, aviation medicine, airspace and more.

"AOPA is calling this Project Eureka because we see this as a last stand against inappropriate Government industry regulation; regulation that has decimated our once thriving GA industry," AOPA states in the summary.

"It may sound melodramatic to those not associated with the industry, but those of us who have been in the industry through the period 1960-1990 feel very frustrated that government bureaucrats, through lack of understanding of the need for businesses to be commercially viable, have failed this industry.

"Through Project Eureka, AOPA and the General Aviation community presents to Government the means to revitalise this important industry for growth of jobs and businesses; and for expansion of educational and training opportunities while encouraging greater technical innovation.

"Our proposals will, if accepted, reduce taxpayer liabilities and generate very substantial revenue, external and internal, into the future.

AOPA also recommends the government establish an Industry Trust Fund created from the sale of Airservices Australia to reinvest in new technology, university research and development.

The full Project Eureka papers can be downloaded from the AOPA website.

Hitch on the weeks events so far - The Last Minute Hitch: 15 April 2016 ..

..Normally dark clouds are not something we like to see in aviation, but there is a storm coming that could be of significant benefit. Aviation lobby groups are starting to smell the blood oozing from a wounded government that is staring down an unfriendly federal election, and they're taking advantage of it. AOPA's Project Eureka papers were released during the week following several meetings between the industry and the Department of Infrastructure and Transport. Then, with only three days' notice, a meeting was held in Tamworth attended by Dick Smith, AOPA reps, former New England MP Tony Windsor, general aviation people and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce via telephone. Now we hear that The Australian Aviation Associations Forum (TAAAF) is due to release a new policy paper on 28 April. All of this equates to a demand not only to be heard, but to be heeded. Naturally all of this need to be taken in context with the impeding election. Promises are easy before a poll, but apparently so hard to keep afterward...

Another CF for Hitch - hmm..he'd better watch those zits & waistline..


MTF...P2

[Peetwo]

From the Prez -



MTF...P2

[Peetwo]

Project Eureka - The Jabiru embuggerance continues -

A brief reminder where the Jabiru tale of woe seems to be stuck..   

OST bullshit factor is mounting -

Have gone through the CASA Estimates appearance last night and IMO the Oliver Skidmore-Twist performance was totally underwhelming, mixed with incompetent (NFI), arrogant and at times completely disrespectful of the Senators and their questioning.

Here is the first two Senators representing the concerns of their constituents, that have now got a wake up call on how CASA is all spin, plenty of bullshit & a law unto themselves.

First from QLD Senator Barry O'Sullivan on Jabiru aircraft:

From Oz Flying today on the Senator O'Sullivan inquisition & rant:

Jabiru J230



Queensland Senator questions CASA over Jabiru Engine
11 Feb 2016

Queensland Liberal National Party senator, Barry O'Sullivan, has questioned the way the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has handled the restrictions placed on aircraft with Jabiru engines.

After what it says is an unacceptable rate of engine failures compared with other manufacturers, CASA banned aircraft with Jabiru engines from flying over built-up areas as "precautionary limitations."

In Senate Estimate Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport in Canberra on Monday, Senator O'Sullivan questioned CASA Director of Aviation Safety Mark Skidmore and Associate Director Jonathon Aleck over the performance of the Jabiru engine since modifications were made, and suggested the issue had dragged on too long.

"During a meeting on 14 November were you advised that there had been design developments that had been made to the Jabiru engine over recent years?" O'Sullivan asked Aleck. "You were made aware of that?"

"That there had been design developments to the engine over the years—yes, certainly. We were aware ..." Aleck replied.

O'Sullivan continued: "And they submitted to you that they felt they had resolved some of these critical issues that you had used to place these limitations on them? Did they make that submission to you?"

Aleck: "They suggested that was so."

O'Sullivan then expressed some frustration and finished with the suggestion that a Senate Inquiry might be needed to sort it out if CASA was not forthcoming.

"What evaluation have you now done on the enhanced engines to see whether their performance is better, and up to an acceptable standard, versus the old engines?" he asked.

"Gentlemen, this company [Jabiru] is on the verge of tipping over and this has been a long-running saga ... If any of the facts that are being presented to me are correct in relation to how CASA has dealt with this company—how long it has taken and the manner in which the consultations occurred—then there is a problem: a serious problem.

"I will not have time to deal with it today, but maybe we can have a quiet audience for me to go through some of these issues with you; otherwise I will be asking my colleagues to join me to have an inquiry to have a look at how you have dealt with this."

Aleck replied that CASA would be happy to talk the senator through the issues outside of the committee room.

Earlier, both Skidmore and Aleck confirmed that a tear-down test of a Jabiru engine with three modifications showed the engine could endure 900 hours, when the standard called for only 200 hours.

"This [engine] had 900 hours," Aleck said, "so that was quite impressive."
According to CASA, Jabiru engines had 2-3 failures every 10,000 hours, when the US National Transport Safety Board had established an acceptable level of one every 10,000 hours.

Next from Senator 'Wacka' Williams, on Cessna SIDS:

MTF?- Definitely..P2   

From the Klan Man - via the Oz:

Project Eureka report says Jabiru and industry ‘tangled in red tape’

• Anthony Klan
  
• The Australian
  
• April 22, 2016 12:00AM
  

Journalist
Sydney
Anthony Klan is a journalist specialising in corporate malfeasance and business reporting. He has won many awards including a Walkley Award in 2007 for Business Journalism, the 2014 News Corporation Australia Business Journalist of the Year, and the 2015 Citi Journalism Award for Excellence, Personal Finance. Have a tip off? Complete confidentiality assured: klana@theaustralian.com.au
https://plus.google.com/110790254144288601738

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association says CASA’s treatment of Jabiru lacks respect.

The aviation safety regulator’s treatment of local aircraft manufacturer and exporter Jabiru was unnecessarily savage and a prime example of the flaws facing the local industry, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

AOPA Australia, which has 2600 members, has presented the federal government with a report, Project Eureka, in which it claims local aviation is “slowly dying” as a result of inappropriate and excessive regulation by government.

The group says pilots and aviators are being routinely ignored by government and it calls for policy reform, such as cutting red tape and regulatory overlap and working with industry members.

Jabiru, Australia’s biggest manufacturer and exporter of light aircraft engines, and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority have been in heated dispute since 2014 when the regulator placed strict flight restrictions on all aircraft here after Jabiru engines suffered a series of failures.

In what has been a damaging period for the company, based in Bundaberg, aircraft with Jabiru engines face restrictions when flying over populated areas and student pilots and passengers have been forced to sign litigation waivers.

AOPA says Jabiru has been treated with a “complete lack of respect” by CASA.

“The ban was supposed to be temporary, allowing time for a safety investigation of the aircraft, (but) the ban remains in force today, almost 16 months later,” AOPA says.

“In no other countries (have) national aviation regulators seen fit to impose any flight restrictions on this Australian-made aircraft. Jabiru has been very harshly treated by its regulator ... (and) the value of the aircraft and the manufacturer have been severely compromised.”

Last month, CASA released a report supporting its concerns, which found that one in 10
Jabiru engines had failed during flight, when analysing flight incidents for the six years to 2014.

However, Jabiru has attacked that report as “extremely biased”, and noted the engine was by far the safest in its light sport market segment in terms of fatalities — a fact overlooked by the report.

Jabiru general manager Susan Woods has told The Australian the report is misleading in that it fails to take into account the fact Jabiru’s engines were regularly used in experimental or home-built planes and therefore were more susceptible to backyard tinkering by inexperienced owners.

The AOPA says over-regulation and unnecessarily dense bureaucracy are key problems facing aviation in Australia.

Australia’s pilot certification regulations cover 3000 pages, but the same material in the US — which has better safety statistics than Australia by
flown hours — covers just 100 pages.

“In order to revive the general aviation industry, the regulatory and compliance cost to general aviation businesses has to be reduced,” AOPA says.

When contacted by The Australian yesterday, CASA spokesman Peter Gibson said: “As the Project Eureka report is a political document, CASA will not be commenting.”

Pinocchio said:

“As the Project Eureka report is a political document, CASA will not be commenting.”

They won't be commenting but this is what they will be doing with it, courtesy AOPA & Ken (legend) Lewis.. :

 

One of our authors and team leader, Mr Ken Lewis, is a current International Air Transport Operational Safety Auditor (IOSA) and former Chairman of the International Air Transport Association Safety Committee (IATA) and retired QANTAS Group General Manager Safety and Environment 1980-2002. Drawing on 50 years of experience dealing with the Australian regulators, CAA and CASA he stated:



"From my experience I can assure you they (the politicians) will send it (Eureka) to CASA for 'guidance.' CASA will then defer comment as long as they can which will be after any coming election. CASA comment to the politicians will be 'we are analysing the document and whilst we think it has some merit it is not a document drafted by experienced and proven regulation drafters such that exist within the professional ranks of CASA'."



The result will be that the Brief, like many before it, will not see the light of day. When such an eminent Australian aviation person, who is actively engaged globally in aviation regulations, loses complete faith in the ability of our regulators it is time for drastic remedial action.

 
Let us hope that this time it will be different, otherwise I fear the industry is doomed...


MTF...P2

[Peetwo]

Project Eureka - The Jabiru embuggerance continues -

From the Klan Man - via the Oz:

Project Eureka report says Jabiru and industry ‘tangled in red tape’

• Anthony Klan
  
• The Australian
  
• April 22, 2016 12:00AM
  

Journalist
Sydney
Anthony Klan is a journalist specialising in corporate malfeasance and business reporting. He has won many awards including a Walkley Award in 2007 for Business Journalism, the 2014 News Corporation Australia Business Journalist of the Year, and the 2015 Citi Journalism Award for Excellence, Personal Finance. Have a tip off? Complete confidentiality assured: klana@theaustralian.com.au
https://plus.google.com/110790254144288601738

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association says CASA’s treatment of Jabiru lacks respect.

The aviation safety regulator’s treatment of local aircraft manufacturer and exporter Jabiru was unnecessarily savage and a prime example of the flaws facing the local industry, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

AOPA Australia, which has 2600 members, has presented the federal government with a report, Project Eureka, in which it claims local aviation is “slowly dying” as a result of inappropriate and excessive regulation by government.

The group says pilots and aviators are being routinely ignored by government and it calls for policy reform, such as cutting red tape and regulatory overlap and working with industry members.

Jabiru, Australia’s biggest manufacturer and exporter of light aircraft engines, and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority have been in heated dispute since 2014 when the regulator placed strict flight restrictions on all aircraft here after Jabiru engines suffered a series of failures.

In what has been a damaging period for the company, based in Bundaberg, aircraft with Jabiru engines face restrictions when flying over populated areas and student pilots and passengers have been forced to sign litigation waivers.

AOPA says Jabiru has been treated with a “complete lack of respect” by CASA.

“The ban was supposed to be temporary, allowing time for a safety investigation of the aircraft, (but) the ban remains in force today, almost 16 months later,” AOPA says.

“In no other countries (have) national aviation regulators seen fit to impose any flight restrictions on this Australian-made aircraft. Jabiru has been very harshly treated by its regulator ... (and) the value of the aircraft and the manufacturer have been severely compromised.”

Last month, CASA released a report supporting its concerns, which found that one in 10
Jabiru engines had failed during flight, when analysing flight incidents for the six years to 2014.

However, Jabiru has attacked that report as “extremely biased”, and noted the engine was by far the safest in its light sport market segment in terms of fatalities — a fact overlooked by the report.

Jabiru general manager Susan Woods has told The Australian the report is misleading in that it fails to take into account the fact Jabiru’s engines were regularly used in experimental or home-built planes and therefore were more susceptible to backyard tinkering by inexperienced owners.

The AOPA says over-regulation and unnecessarily dense bureaucracy are key problems facing aviation in Australia.

Australia’s pilot certification regulations cover 3000 pages, but the same material in the US — which has better safety statistics than Australia by
flown hours — covers just 100 pages.

“In order to revive the general aviation industry, the regulatory and compliance cost to general aviation businesses has to be reduced,” AOPA says.

When contacted by The Australian yesterday, CASA spokesman Peter Gibson said: “As the Project Eureka report is a political document, CASA will not be commenting.”

Pinocchio said:

“As the Project Eureka report is a political document, CASA will not be commenting.”

They won't be commenting but this is what they will be doing with it, courtesy AOPA & Ken (legend) Lewis.. :

One of our authors and team leader, Mr Ken Lewis, is a current International Air Transport Operational Safety Auditor (IOSA) and former Chairman of the International Air Transport Association Safety Committee (IATA) and retired QANTAS Group General Manager Safety and Environment 1980-2002. Drawing on 50 years of experience dealing with the Australian regulators, CAA and CASA he stated:

"From my experience I can assure you they (the politicians) will send it (Eureka) to CASA for 'guidance.' CASA will then defer comment as long as they can which will be after any coming election. CASA comment to the politicians will be 'we are analysing the document and whilst we think it has some merit it is not a document drafted by experienced and proven regulation drafters such that exist within the professional ranks of CASA'."

The result will be that the Brief, like many before it, will not see the light of day. When such an eminent Australian aviation person, who is actively engaged globally in aviation regulations, loses complete faith in the ability of our regulators it is time for drastic remedial action.

 
Let us hope that this time it will be different, otherwise I fear the industry is doomed...

&..also off the Airports thread:

Also on the Project Eureka & airports front, this from Binger in the Oz today..  

Soaring rents pushing general aviation business to the brink

• Mitchell Bingemann
  
• The Australian
  
• April 22, 2016 12:00AM
  

Lindsay Edmonds of Heliflite in Bankstown says rent have risen while leases have been reduced. Picture: James Croucher

 
Soaring rents and onerous leasing conditions are pushing general aviation businesses to the brink of collapse, according to operators at some of the nation’s best-known secondary airports.

Aviation business owners at Cairns and Bankstown airports have been hit hard by rising rents over the past decade, which they say has led to a dramatic decline in aircraft on site and a loss of jobs at secondary airports.

The offer of short-term leases is also causing problems for businesses trying to secure bank loans.

“We’ve been in business 38 years and hope to stay in business but it’s clear these people don’t want us,” said Lyndsay Edmonds, who runs helicopter sales business Heliflite at Bankstown Airport.

“Our rent was $32,000 a year in 2000 but that’s jumped more than 250 per cent to $82,000 a year now. It is obvious Bankstown is trying to squeeze as much money out of us as possible.

“We came here at a time when the government was encouraging the general aviation industry. When the aerodrome was government-owned we were given a 25-year lease and low rent as an incentive. But now we struggle to get more than a five-year lease extension, which causes great uncertainty for the business.”

Murray Ireland, who runs aviation maintenance company Aero Enterprise, said he had to move his business from Cairns Airport after 15 years of tenure because of rising costs and harsh lease conditions.

“We decided to leave Cairns Airport after they increased our rent from $50,000 a year to $120,000 a year. We had invested a lot of money building hangar space but were told we would have to demolish or give the building back to the aerodrome upon cessation of the lease,” he said.

“I wasn’t going to pay for the demolition so just walked away and left the building there. The industry is struggling enough without these conditions being forced on operators. It’s putting the industry on its knees and you can see that by looking at the reduced aircraft at Cairns and the 30 per cent fall in staff numbers.”

Representatives at Bankstown could not be reached but North Queensland Airports’ chief executive Kevin Brown said the rents at Cairns Airport reflected the costs of building infrastructure, including runways, lighting and security, to support aircraft operations.
“In 2013 we reviewed all our general aviation charges to ensure we could continue to sustainably maintain our infrastructure and support aviation activity,” he said.

“As a result, general aviation landing and undesignated aircraft parking fees increased in late 2013 for the first time in 10 years to reach a level based on market value and comparable with other airports of similar size to Cairns. This review also brought undesignated aircraft parking into line with designated parking, which had already been set at market value for some time.”

Mr Brown said Cairns Airport consulted regular general aviation customers at length over the fee increases, which were introduced incrementally over the following three years to allow commercial operators time to adjust.

“There is no advantage in setting unrealistic rents as that does not attract business. Some operators did enjoy extremely low rents for many years, but as viable businesses they must be prepared to meet commercial reality. Leases are renewed on a case-by-case basis,” he said.

The criticisms come after the Aircraft Owners and Pilots ­Association last week released its Project Eureka report, a critique of aviation bureaucracies it claims are irreparably damaging general aviation businesses.

The wide-ranging review has a section dedicated to exploring the trend of increasing rents and criticising short-term leases that are been rolled out across Australia’s secondary airports, saying “no business in any industry can operate successfully without security of tenure for their operations”.

“Since the privatisation of the secondary airports there has been a decline in the security of tenure for aviation business. Ground lease periods have been reducing for aviation businesses while non-aviation business leases have increased,” the report said.

The report alleges that while Bankstown Airport had been offering 10-year leases to general aviation operators, much longer lease periods were being handed out to hardware stores, petrol stations, schools, bus companies and other non-aviation businesses.

“The intent of the Airports Privatisation Act was not to offer more secure tenure to non-aviation businesses,” the report says.

The report also alleges that since the airports have been privatised, airport landlords have been enforcing their rights to resume properties or improvements at the end of the lease period. This means that lessees have to demolish any improvements they have built on the land or hand over the improvements to the owner.

The Eureka report also claims exorbitant leasing fees and the encroachment of commercial property developments is resulting in a decline in aircraft movements from these airports.

“Bankstown Airport, the centre of the Australian GA industry in the 1980s, was the busiest airport in the southern hemisphere with over 550,000 aircraft movements per annum. It is now below 180,000,” the report says.

“Business parks can be established anywhere in cities where the appropriate zoning exists. The aviation industry needs runways to function and there are very few of these in the Australian capital cities. Without reasonable commercial access to the runways, we don’t have a GA industry.”

At Cairns Airport, however, the number of aircraft movements is on the rise according to Mr Brown.

“We are on track in FY2016 to see a significant jump in general aviation. In FY2010 there were 40,260 movements and in FY2015 there were 44,880. In FY2010 there were 40,666 general aviation movements and in FY2015 there were 46,852. This year our estimate is for 56,836 general aviation movements,” he said.

The Eureka report calls on the government to sell off its billion-dollar-a-year Airservices air traffic controller organisation to help fund a revival of the struggling general aviation sector.

It claims a full privatisation of Airservices could bring in as much as $4 billion, which could be split, with half going to the commonwealth to help claw back its budget deficit and the other half to establish a trust fund that could reinvest in the aviation industry to buy back secondary airports, spur job creation and increase the sector’s involvement in R&D.

“The current owners are not acting in the spirit of the Airport Sales Act, which was supposed to foster aviation activities. Instead, they are being run as a business park with rents benchmarked or based upon similar business parks in the surrounding areas,” the report said. “These statistics are reflected across Australia, clearly demonstrating the demise of an aviation industry caused by governments failing to enforce the Airports Privatisation Act.”

Infrastructure and Transport Minister Darren Chester has asked the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development, with relevant government agencies, to examine the issues raised in Project Eureka and to prepare a response for the Minister’s consideration.

“The government continues to require compliance by federal airport operators with the provisions of the Airports Act and the terms of their airport leases. The government also notes that airport operators have made non-aeronautical land use and commercial developments on airport sites consistent with airports continuing to undertake their core aviation business,” a departmental spokesperson said

MTF...P2