[Peetwo]

Miniscule's minion Binskin preaches to the converted at SafeSkies video talkfest?? 

Via Su_Spence central HQ: Ref - https://www.casa.gov.au/video-release-pg...conference

Hats off to P. G.  Taylor

It’s easy for every generation to think it’s the one bearing the brunt of sweeping technological change and charting new courses into undiscovered territory.

Yet, when Sir Patrick Gordon Taylor died in 1966, he and his generation had seen enormous technological strides that took the aerospace industry from that historic first flight by the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk to the Boeing 707.

Military jets had broken the sound barrier — The Lockheed SR-71 ‘Blackbird”, by 1966, had already shown in flight testing that it could top Mach 3 — construction was underway on the Concorde prototypes, and the US was preparing the massive Saturn V rockets that would take humanity to the moon.

It was a far cry from the Sopwith Pup scouts that Taylor flew at the start of his career as the Australian airman and his contemporaries set the stage for the impressive technological breakthroughs that followed.

The skies were basically uncluttered when Taylor travelled to Britain to join the Royal Flying Corps, where he was awarded the Military Cross and promoted to Captain.

They would become busier over the next decade as he studied engineering and navigation, worked for England’s de Havilland Aircraft Company, operated a seaplane in Sydney and flew as a captain for Australian National Airlines.

As aviation progressed in the 1930s, he continued to make his mark as the second pilot and navigator for Sir Charles Kingsford Smith’s 1933 and 1934 flights between Australia and New Zealand in the Southern Cross, and with Charles Ulm for two flights between Australia and England in 1933.

In 1934, Smithy and Taylor completed the first Australia-US flight in the Lady Southern Cross, but it was on a flight a year later between Australia and New Zealand for the King George V jubilee airmail attempt that Taylor became a legend.

The Southern Cross was half-way to New Zealand when the centre engine’s exhaust manifold broke off and severely damaged the starboard propellor.

The engine was shut down, the cargo jettisoned, and the plane turned back to Australia.

But it wasn’t long before oil pressure on the port engine began to fall alarmingly.

As his entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography notes, Taylor reacted heroically.

He went outside and edged his way along the strut to collect oil from the disabled starboard engine in a thermos flask so it could be transferred to the port engine - repeating the process six times with the help of wireless operator John Stannage.

It’s a safe bet that going outside to change the oil during flight was never a recommended maintenance procedure – nor am I sure where we would look to include it into in the current CASA Regulation suite!

But it was an innovative solution and it worked - the aircraft landed safely in Mascot.

P. G. Taylor was awarded the Empire Gallantry Medal, which later became the George Cross, and went on to operate more pioneering flights, including the first flight across the Indian Ocean from Port Hedland to Kenya, a survey flight from Bermuda to Sydney and a mission from Australia to Chile.

He continued to win many awards and wrote eight books as an accomplished author.

During his career, Taylor experienced huge technological leaps as he progressed from the Sopwith Pup and a Gipsy Moth seaplane, to Catalinas and a Sandringham 7 flying boat.

But it was not just the technology that made those early years of aviation exciting — it was what pioneers such as Taylor, Smithy and Ulm did with it, and how they were allowed to spread their wings.

People were allowed to experiment in all sorts of ways and that was how the industry progressed so quickly.

The importance of experimentation hasn’t diminished.

The future is not just about technology, it’s about people, about attitudes and about the need to innovate.

We’re approaching an era that could arguably see as much change as there was in the first 50 years of aviation.

New technologies are emerging in areas such as propulsion, aircraft design, artificial intelligence, communications and manufacturing.

This is requiring all of us to be broader in our thinking and more flexible in our outlook.

And CASA wants to work with industry and the broader aviation community to bring these new technologies forward.

The Challenge of Change

Aviation is the lifeblood of this country, particularly for regional and remote areas, and I believe that new technology will help expand that role.

Nonetheless, the explosion of aviation innovation that we are currently seeing makes it doubly important that participants prepare for change.

That applies to everyone in the sector, from sports and recreational pilots to major airlines, air navigation service providers and – yes - regulators.

At CASA, we’re keen to see a wide-ranging, co-operative approach.

When P.G. Taylor took to the skies, aviation was an emerging industry entering a domain that was empty, except for the birds.

Today we have emerging technologies entering a complex domain that already hosts an established industry.

It will not be possible for the new kids on the runway to blast through without accepting the fact that they have to integrate with the industry as it exists today.

Embracing the future does not mean we forget the “here and now” — there will need to be, as there was in Taylor’s time, an approach where legacy operations co-exist with the new.

CASA will continue to support the traditional aviation sectors, as well as promote a rational way forward.

However, existing operators must also understand the need for flexibility and the need to share the skies with new technologies such as uncrewed drones and air taxis.

We need to make sure we have a culture across industry, CASA and government that is open-minded in how we address challenges and is willing to embrace collaboration.

It will sometimes be the case that a particular sector will not get the answer it wants.

But rather than sniping from the sidelines, that sector will need to be flexible and embrace the path that leads to the best overall outcome for the aviation community and, ultimately, this country.

Industry will need to come together to put considered positions to CASA and the government, and I expect various associations to play a huge part in putting forward a collective view to help our work.

I would also urge those groups to put any baggage they may continue to carry behind them: in short, look forward and don’t dwell on the past.

CASA will need to do the same.

The alternative to embracing change does not bear contemplating.

As General Eric Shineski, a decorated Vietnam veteran and former US Army Chief of Staff, once said: ‘If you don’t like change, you’ll like irrelevance even less’.

CASA is backing innovation

The headline acts in the aviation revolution have already been identified as remotely piloted aircraft systems and advanced air mobility.

But there are others.

CASA has a reputation for being at the forefront of drone regulation and we also intend to be in the vanguard when it comes to other areas.

Commercial drone registrations in Australia continue to grow and increased 8.6 percent last financial year to come within a whisker of 30,000.

That was an increase of almost 2400 registered commercial drones in 2021-22 alone.

Not only did the numbers grow but so did the technology.

Drones are becoming more capable and moving steadily towards the day when they operate alongside conventional aircraft, fully integrated into shared airspace.

This is hardly surprising given their usefulness in activities ranging from logistics, mining, agriculture and defence; to entertainment, marine research, policing and mapping.

A study by Deloitte Access Economic estimates drones will contribute $1.5 billion to the economy by 2025, and this is expected to increase to $14.5 billion by 2040.

I’m pleased to say that Australia has a drone manufacturing industry, and that CASA is working to help it get global recognition.

For the first time in our aviation history, we are working with the US Federal Aviation Administration and a local company – in this case Swoop Aero - on joint type and production certification of Swoop Aero’s latest aircraft, The Kite.

The Kite application will be the first production certificate issued by CASA for an RPAS, and the first time we have collaborated with the FAA on a joint RPAS type certification project.

We also expect this kind of collaborative activity to hold us in good stead for future AAM initial airworthiness work.

But there’s plenty of other action in the drone sector.

The Loyal Wingman, Australia’s first domestically designed and built combat drone, shows that we have the expertise to be up there with the best in the world.

This high-powered collaboration between the RAAF and Boeing (and a number of Australian companies) is seen as a pathfinder in terms of the use of autonomous systems and artificial intelligence in smart human-machine interfaces.

Sydney-based Carbonix has developed a cutting-edge drone, in conjunction with Ausgrid, that offers a new level of aerial surveying capability.

It has the ability to fly 8-10 hours, carry a 7-kilogram payload and has satellite connectivity.

Innovative Australian research includes a move by South Australian scientists to reverse engineer the visual systems of hoverflies to detect the acoustic signature of drones from up to four kilometres away.

The research involving the University of South Australia, Flinders University and defence company Midspar Systems uses a biologically inspired signal processing system to give a 50 per cent better detection rate than existing technology.

It is also the first time a map of an insect vision system has been applied to acoustic data.

And no – I can’t visualise how that reverse engineering is actually carried out!

The Wing Project, a subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet, recently expanded its drone deliveries through a partnership with Coles after we gave it permission last year to perform the world’s first rooftop operations.

It is pledging to deliver groceries to people within minutes from a hub stocked with 250 of the supermarket chain’s top-selling items.

CASA recognises that, in addition to safety, the regulation of drones must balance issues such as privacy, noise, accessibility to airspace and technological change.

I note that not all of these are in CASA’s domain, but we are committed to continuing to work closely with, and support this sector as it continues to expand.

AAM

The game is also afoot in the advanced air mobility sector and there are exciting developments in electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, or eVTOLs.

There are many companies around the world, including some of the big aerospace manufacturers, involved in this area as excitement builds about what the media has dubbed ‘air taxis.’

Earlier this year, the World eVTOL Aircraft Directory announced it had catalogued 300 models of eVTOL aircraft, compared to less than a dozen when it launched in 2017.

We can’t afford to watch and wait in this area.

Some companies are already signing agreements with Australian operators, most notably the Embraer offshoot - Eve.

An arrangement with BAE Systems unveiled at the Farnborough Airshow in July saw Eve’s potential eVTOL backlog hit 2,060, claimed as the biggest in the AAM industry.

However, it may not be the first eVTOL company to achieve certification.

It’s presently anticipated that Joby Aviation, which is well progressed in the US certification process, will be ready to start operations in the US in 2025.

We don’t know whether Joby intends to start in Australia that year, but we’re working around that possibility.

Our expectation is that Eve and Europe’s Volocopter will not be too far behind it.

Nor is all of the action overseas.

Australia’s AMSL Aero is in the research and development phase of an eVTOL aircraft and is in discussions with CASA about a type certificate.

This is exactly the sort of innovation we need to encourage.

One area that will be particularly complex will be AAM and drone landing sites, or vertiports – the trendy name for eVTOL landing areas.

Recently, a UK company called Urban-Airport launched a proof-of-concept vertiport called “Air One” in the English city of Coventry.

The doughnut-like building is designed to be deployed across multiple locations as a hub for aircraft such as eVTOL air taxis and drones operating across areas ranging from delivery to disaster management.

We have identified the need to do more work around the standards and regulations that might be required for ‘vertiports’.

The International Civil Aviation Organization is also looking at criteria for the design, construction and use of vertiports.

However, we believe CASA will need to provide guidance on vertiports to operators and planning authorities well ahead of ICAO’s timeframe of applying standards in mid-2027.

CASA has a dedicated vertiport team with extensive aerodrome experience already working on this.

Our team is looking at policy matters such as the extent to which vertiport and heliport standards can be harmonised and potential overlap with RPAS landing sites.

The need for engineers

While eVTOL and RPAS grab the headlines, there are other “under the cowling” developments that will have significant impact on Australian aviation.

A conventional aircraft retrofitted with electric engines may not look as exquisite as a shiny, sleek eVTOL, but it’s something being explored here by Rex and Queensland’s Skytrans Airlines.

Rex is looking at retrofitting some of its Saabs with electric motors supported by a combination of batteries and hydrogen.

Meanwhile, Skytrans is looking at trialling a hydrogen-electric propulsion system installed on a Beechcraft 1900D.

This underlines my previous point that we need to be able to consider various options, and remain flexible, if we are going to get the most out of advances in technology.

Just like we are seeing in the car industry, we can expect a change to electric propulsion across all areas of aviation.

Our Board met this year in Adelaide and we had the chance to see a Pipistrel electric aircraft.

As an ex-fast jet pilot used to the internal organs vibrating from an afterburning engine, it was a unique experience standing next to this little aircraft as it was running – but it is a sign of the future!

The Pipistrel is where Tesla cars were a few years ago and there are not a lot of them around now.

But wait a few years and as the technology advances, so will the accessibility of small electric aircraft.

There is an obvious flow-on effect of this, particularly when it comes to maintenance.

We need engineers of all stripes — which is one of the reasons CASA offers scholarships in this area — but we will soon be needing people with a different skillset.

Technicians with the skills to maintain and repair airframes, propulsion systems, and avionics will be essential in taking our industry into the future.

We also need to be looking at who will train these engineers and what skills they will need to master.

Green hydrogen is another area that is gaining momentum and one in which sundrenched Australia has an advantage.

What was dismissed as a viable aviation fuel not so long ago because of its low volumetric energy density, is now under consideration in terms of electric fuel cells, and even as a fuel in its own right.

For long-haul flights, however, international airlines are telling us sustainable aviation fuels are the only alternative in the medium term.

However, unlike the current system involving a limited number of refineries shipping fossil fuels at increasing expense around the world, sustainable aviation fuels lend themselves to a decentralised production system, with smaller plants spread globally.

Again, Australia has a chance to develop industries and expertise.

And again, being innovative and broader in our thinking will pay off.

Connectivity and computers

It was once the speed and manoeuvrability of a fighter that defined its superiority - and that still plays a part.

But equally important is the technology it has on board and how it fits into a network.

In short, we no longer look at a military aircraft as an individual platform but as part of a system.

This has also been happening in the civilian world with the spread of the Internet of Things, improvements in digital communication and increases in computer power.

Rolls-Royce, for example, has for some time been monitoring and recording how its aircraft engines are performing around the world.

The company’s Engine Health Management system allows the transfer of data from an engine on an aircraft to an operational centre on the ground.

The latest version is capable of measuring thousands of parameters, and the engine can respond to requests to focus on a particular part, or parameter, sending back hundreds of hours of information in response to the request.

Advantages of the system include predictive maintenance that allows components to be replaced before they fail, as well as a wealth of data to inform product development and risk management.

The downside of this is that we know there are state actors and organised criminals who would dearly like to co-opt this technology for their own nefarious ends.

So cybersecurity is going to be an important part of the new aviation landscape, just as it now plays a role in our day-to-day lives.

And yes, with it comes more questions than answers at the moment.

How we produce parts for aircraft is also changing.

Airframe manufacturers, and even engine makers are already using “additive manufacturing” and 3D printers to produce some components.

Additive manufacturing allows extremely complex components to be made with minimal waste, as they are needed, and where they are needed.

We expect this process to keep expanding across the industry, and this will pose interesting questions for regulators.

CASA and change

So where does CASA sit in this cornucopia of change?

How are we backing the innovators?

We were one of the first regulators to recognise the importance of drones, and we are determined to remain in the vanguard when it comes to future developments.

Work is underway across the Australian Government to ensure there’s a coordinated approach to emerging aviation technology.

We’re collaborating closely with fellow agencies — for example, we’re talking to Airservices Australia about airspace management — to ensure our thinking is aligned.

And we are talking to fellow regulatory agencies around the world to ensure standards are aligned and that we minimise regulatory work to avoid unnecessary burdens and, importantly, increased cost to industry.

The US Federal Aviation Administration and the UK Civil Aviation Authority recently announced an agreement to discuss AAM regulatory matters, especially centred on the proposed deployment of Joby operations into the UK.

CASA is looking to do the same, and our talks with regulators include those in the UK, US and New Zealand as we work to ensure AAM achieves the high safety standards expected by the public.

Locally, we signed a memorandum of understanding with our portfolio Department, Airservices Australia and the State Government of Victoria to support advanced air mobility.

This will see us work closely with all parties to the MoU to develop an aligned regulatory environment that supports growth and innovation in the advanced air mobility sector.

Internally, we are working across the organisation on these issues and looking at how we handle the initial, small-scale deployment of AAM.

A challenge for CASA, and our colleagues at Airservices, is to design, implement and operate airspace that can give everyone fair access to the skies.

Again, this is a global issue and we are working with our international counterparts.

There needs to be agreement on how the traditional and emerging sectors of the industry will work together: crewed and uncrewed, as well as conventional aircraft, and those utilising new power sources such as electricity and hydrogen.

Airspace is another area where industry associations can come together and put forward a considered and collective position to help this complex work.

The RPAS and Advanced Air Mobility Regulatory Roadmap

At the heart of our future is our recently released RPAS and Advanced Air Mobility Strategic Regulatory Roadmap.

This outlines our approach for safely integrating RPAS and AAM technologies into Australia’s airspace alongside traditional aviation, and looks at a future regulatory system.

We wanted to provide a plan that outlined the long-term vision for the Australian RPAS and advanced air mobility regulatory regime, and the integration of these technologies into the civil aviation system.

Also notable was the industry collaboration that went into putting it together.

And I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who was involved.

Our approach was a change from previous consultations, where CASA has tended to develop policy - and then consult with industry on implementation through Technical Working Groups.

In this case, we wanted to consult with industry stakeholders early in the policy-making stage.

That consultation involved an intense effort involving 73 professionals across the industry.

The process recognised that much of what is happening today is so new, and is evolving so quickly, that no single organisation can solve the complex issues that need to be addressed.

No-one is pretending the changes will be easy, and we will also have to adapt in regulatory areas that go beyond airspace design, such as licensing, operational certificates and flight rules.

But again, it comes back to everybody in the industry working together as we move into the future.

Another interesting facet of the plan is something called a ‘regulatory sandbox’.

Just as PG Taylor and his contemporaries had the freedom to experiment, the regulatory sandbox is about inviting industry to work with CASA to test and come up with novel products, services and concepts.

However, a difference from those early derring-do days is that they will be able to do this is in an environment that is flexible and safe.

Hopefully, this means it will not involve going out on the wing to change the oil!

But, at its core, is that we want Australians to do what they have always done: innovate.

We are a smart people drawn from all over the world and we have always punched above our weight when it comes to thinking up new ideas.

Which is one of the reasons we set up the Future Strategies Task Force.

The Future Strategies Taskforce aimed to identify the major activities that CASA should be undertaking to get ready for emerging technologies that are farther into the future.

It looked at seven broad topic areas: airspace, RPAS, advanced air mobility, evolved conventional operations, landing sites issues, enabling capabilities and high-altitude operations.

CASA is now working on more detailed business planning for some of the near-future technologies and considering next steps for technologies farther into the future.

And we aim to have a high level public document detailing these priorities out by the end of this year.

Keeping it simple

We are conscious that the regulatory environment can be quite complex – in fact that is an understatement!

I don’t know how many of you are familiar with The Book of Heroic Failures by Stephen Pile.

One of the entries is a Portuguese-English dictionary compiled by Pedro Carlino, a man who, unfortunately, had little or no command of either language.

Among the phrases Mr Carlino suggested tourists might find useful were such classics as “Exculpate me by your brother’s’, ‘dress your hairs’ and “she make the prude” as well as a useful section on “idiotisms and proverbs”.

Interpretation is a tricky exercise as anybody attempting to translate complex legal or bureaucratic jargon knows.

Which is why CASA is producing Plain English Guides, or PEGs – and yes, the Plain English Guide does get an acronym.

We see these guides as important safety tools that make it easier to understand the rules and regulations.

The PEGs cover issues such as the general operating and flight rules, the operation of small drones weighing no more than 2 kilograms, and fatigue management.

Also written in plain English is our popular Visual Flight Rules Guide, and more PEGs are on their way.

While this is a move to make our regulations more accessible, I think it will also be important in helping us all to navigate a changing aviation environment.

Clarity is a knife that can cut through confusion, misinterpretation and apprehension.

If only Mr Calino understood.

Safety is still our middle name

Increased accessibility is a good segue to bring us back to the present, and look at what CASA is doing today.

Safety is always the priority for CASA, and we are conducting research and analysis into the rate of serious incidents as we continue with our pilot education programs.

These include our podcasts, Flight Safety Australia articles, and our nationwide aviation safety seminars highlighting issues such as handling bad weather and avoiding flying beyond your personal limits.

We have just launched our latest campaign, ‘Your Safety is in Your Hands’, and it is tracking well.

Backed by other government agencies and aviation industry groups, the campaign consists of 4 main safety focus areas based on a review of Australian Transport Safety Bureau occurrence data.

We kicked off the campaign with a focus on non-controlled aerodromes, while future safety topics will examine forecasting and navigating weather, flight planning and using controlled aerodromes.

We have also recently announced that we are launching a new scholarship for safety managers.

Safety managers play an important role in maintaining the level of safety that members of the travelling public, regulators and the industry have come to expect.

The aim is to assist those involved in this key position to increase their knowledge and skills through professional development.

We will provide three scholarships, of up to $5000 each, to people with a minimum of two years’ experience in the industry.

Recipients will need to demonstrate a commitment to aviation safety, initiative and a high standard of aptitude and safety culture.

You can find out more information on the CASA website.

Changing within

It’s been a busy year for CASA as we emerged from COVID lockdown, launched our General Aviation Workplan, bedded down our flight operations suite, and transitioned almost all previously certified aerodromes to a new regime.

The GA Workplan is a priority for CASA – both for the Board and management — that aims to contain costs and reduce regulatory burden, while maintaining Australia’s high safety standards.

It draws together regulatory initiatives stretching into next year, and aims to help people in General Aviation understand when, why and how regulatory changes will come into effect.

We’ve committed to reporting on our progress and explaining if, and when, milestones aren’t met.

While we are making every endeavour to deliver to the committed timeframe, it’s a fact of life that sometimes plans get delayed – when that happens, we want to be upfront with people.

And where we experience problems, we will seek to address them and keep industry informed.

We also want to make sure industry is part of the regulatory process and, as I mentioned with the RPAS and AAM strategic roadmap, we have continued to consult on key changes.

This is important, and something we do at various stages of policy development — in the early stages of development, and again when we take that policy and your feedback and start writing the regulations.

When we put something out for consultation it is not set in stone, but it is a result of hard work by the Aviation Safety Advisory Panel, the technical working groups and, often, input from broader industry.

The aim is to make sure we have it right and to avoid unintended consequences.

We also want to understand the impact of our proposals on operators – big and small.

I said at the start of the year that I wanted CASA to be a regulator that is respected and trusted by those we regulate.

The four pillars of that push are transparency, collaboration, a focus on the aviation community and a commitment to making a difference to safety.

We are not just looking at the efficacy of what we do, but also the cost and the impact on the industry and individual operators.

However, this doesn’t mean we will be able to be everyone’s friend.

We are still the regulator, and we are committed to ensuring the safety of the millions of Australians who are returning to the skies, and who put their trust in us.

We are also dedicated to ensuring that the Australian aviation system maintains its global reputation as one of the world’s safest.

But I want operators and aviation organisations to understand why we have made decisions.

It may sometimes be the case that people do not like what we do, but we intend to make sure that they understand why we do it.

A key to this is improving communications with the aviation community and being consistent in what we say, and how we do it.

We want to provide you with a clear understanding of where we are going and, importantly, why we are going there.

If we decide not to proceed with an initiative, or put something on ‘hold’, we want to be clear on why we changed our approach and what we plan to do next.

We also want to understand how our actions may affect you and what you will need to do to meet our requirements.

At the same time, we are moving to break down the silos within CASA so that everybody in the organisation works together and the experience of dealing with us is more consistent.

Conclusion

It has been a year since I took on this role, and during that time the Board and management have made a point of talking with industry, the broader aviation community and CASA staff during our Board meetings, which in 2022 have been held in Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and, shortly, in Perth.

I have also enjoyed joining CASA executives on visits to regional locations such as Wagga, Armidale and Tamworth.

This helps us understand the issues, both internally and externally, as we look at change outside the organisation - as well as within.

But I have confidence that CASA is up to the task.

We want to be on the front foot when it comes to changes in aviation, as we also continue to change ourselves.

We know that we have to think broadly, embrace innovation and be flexible.

In short, we want to be part of the solution.

We want to work with industry and the broader aviation community, and we want various sectors of industry to work together as we face the challenges and opportunities ahead.

Greater regulatory clarity will also come as we get to see, in more detail, what emerging aviation technologies look like, and we get a better sense of the various ways in which it will be used.

Collaborating to bring technological and regulatory certainty, along with community engagement, will be key to having technologies operating safely in the shortest feasible timeframe.

We, the collective aviation community, have a large ask in front of us.

I look forward to working with all of you as we enter some interesting times.

Thank you

For LMH's summary on Binskin and his 4 pillar bollocks - see HERE...

MTF...P2