The Last Minute Hitch: 9 February 2024
9 February 2024
– Steve Hitchen
From today onward, private and recreational pilots can fly without a valid medical certificate. The long-awaited self-declared medical system is now active and ready for people to apply. It sounds easy, but it is clear that CASA still recognises some risk, particularly when it comes to whether or not a pilot is able to accurately self-assess. Part of the risk management is an educational module that must be completed and passed as part of the application process. The module itself is nothing that most licensed pilots haven't encountered before, and being open-book you can refer to the medical assessment guidelines. But the eligibility to self-assess is more than just answering 80% of 15 questions; there are other requirements also. CASA has listed a lot of conditions and medications that they believe impairs a person's ability to self-assess. This stands to eliminate a lot of people who previously were celebrating not having to see a DAME again. So the Class 5 medical is not a free-for-all, but many pilots will qualify, and for them this is a huge step forward.
"..The ALP government is on a crusade to convert aviation to alternative energy sources.."
The Australian Airports Association (AAA) submission to the federal budget has raised some thorny questions. In the submission, AAA calls for infrastructure support for mid-sized regional and metro airports. Whereas the Coalition government created funding programs for both remote and regional airports, nothing was forthcoming for the metro GA airports like Archerfield and Bankstown. Thorny question #1: as the six metro GA airports have been privatised and the operators have developed substantial tracts of land for commercial non-aviation use, should they be entitled to government funding? The general answer from the GA community would probably be a resounding "no". Destroying aviation infrastructure (RWY 18/36 at Bankstown and the west end of the northern apron at Moorabbin) usually earns you no friends in the aviation community. That being said, private enterprise is usually not excluded from government grant programs, so why should airport operators not be the beneficiaries of government hand-outs? Thorny question #2: what type of projects need to be supported? The ALP government is on a crusade to convert aviation to alternative energy sources, as exemplified by the green paper released earlier this year. That's going to be an expensive exercise, which may monopolise the aviation budget leaving no cash for non-sustainable projects like widening runways and putting in lighting systems. Admittedly, the AAA refers to infrastructure for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and electric charging stations, but for general aviation, demand to justify this is still many years away. In the meantime, runways still need to be strengthened and lighting systems installed. Whether the ALP can stomach spending on non-sustainable projects may be the largest hurdle the AAA needs to clear.
If there was any indicator that eVTOLs are now part of the future of aviation and not just a space-aged fantasy, it is Aviation Logistics placing a huge order with AMSL Aero. With the Vertiia still in development, Aviation Logistics has shown confidence in Australian manufacturing and the future of the eVTOL industry; an industry that is still embryonic. eVTOLs are not just an evolution, they are a revolution in general aviation that Australia is still trying to accept. Airservices and CASA have done a lot of ground work in these areas, and some visionary companies bought into the eVTOL industry at the conception stage, but many traditionalists in GA are taking an I'll-believe-it-when-I-see-it stance. Even though no eVTOL in Australia has reached the commercial stage, indicators such as Aviation Logistics' investment should convince the sceptics that it's time to open their eyes and see. Perhaps many of them have memories of the Very Light Jet (VLJ) craze of the mid 2000s that dissolved into nothing, expecting that eVTOLs will suffer a similar fate. However, whereas VLJs were being forced to fit into an impossible specification, eVTOLs like Vertiia have no such constraints, leaving designers free to build the best machines for the future of aviation.
Congratulations are due to four Victorian women who placed second in the International Dawn-to-Dusk competition last year. Jess Phillips, Theresa MacDonald and Amanda Deed, who–along with observer Gail Collins–used a Beechcraft A36 Bonanza to touch every state and mainland territory in Australia between dawn and dusk on 13 December 2022. They began on Flinders Island (TAS) and finished in Forrest (WA), having landed in Victoria, the ACT, NSW, QLD, SA and the NT along the way. The crew traveled to the Royal Air Force club in the UK to collect their prize. A great effort all around that took a lot of planning to pull off.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch
Sandy in reply:
MTF...P2
9 February 2024
– Steve Hitchen
From today onward, private and recreational pilots can fly without a valid medical certificate. The long-awaited self-declared medical system is now active and ready for people to apply. It sounds easy, but it is clear that CASA still recognises some risk, particularly when it comes to whether or not a pilot is able to accurately self-assess. Part of the risk management is an educational module that must be completed and passed as part of the application process. The module itself is nothing that most licensed pilots haven't encountered before, and being open-book you can refer to the medical assessment guidelines. But the eligibility to self-assess is more than just answering 80% of 15 questions; there are other requirements also. CASA has listed a lot of conditions and medications that they believe impairs a person's ability to self-assess. This stands to eliminate a lot of people who previously were celebrating not having to see a DAME again. So the Class 5 medical is not a free-for-all, but many pilots will qualify, and for them this is a huge step forward.
"..The ALP government is on a crusade to convert aviation to alternative energy sources.."
The Australian Airports Association (AAA) submission to the federal budget has raised some thorny questions. In the submission, AAA calls for infrastructure support for mid-sized regional and metro airports. Whereas the Coalition government created funding programs for both remote and regional airports, nothing was forthcoming for the metro GA airports like Archerfield and Bankstown. Thorny question #1: as the six metro GA airports have been privatised and the operators have developed substantial tracts of land for commercial non-aviation use, should they be entitled to government funding? The general answer from the GA community would probably be a resounding "no". Destroying aviation infrastructure (RWY 18/36 at Bankstown and the west end of the northern apron at Moorabbin) usually earns you no friends in the aviation community. That being said, private enterprise is usually not excluded from government grant programs, so why should airport operators not be the beneficiaries of government hand-outs? Thorny question #2: what type of projects need to be supported? The ALP government is on a crusade to convert aviation to alternative energy sources, as exemplified by the green paper released earlier this year. That's going to be an expensive exercise, which may monopolise the aviation budget leaving no cash for non-sustainable projects like widening runways and putting in lighting systems. Admittedly, the AAA refers to infrastructure for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and electric charging stations, but for general aviation, demand to justify this is still many years away. In the meantime, runways still need to be strengthened and lighting systems installed. Whether the ALP can stomach spending on non-sustainable projects may be the largest hurdle the AAA needs to clear.
If there was any indicator that eVTOLs are now part of the future of aviation and not just a space-aged fantasy, it is Aviation Logistics placing a huge order with AMSL Aero. With the Vertiia still in development, Aviation Logistics has shown confidence in Australian manufacturing and the future of the eVTOL industry; an industry that is still embryonic. eVTOLs are not just an evolution, they are a revolution in general aviation that Australia is still trying to accept. Airservices and CASA have done a lot of ground work in these areas, and some visionary companies bought into the eVTOL industry at the conception stage, but many traditionalists in GA are taking an I'll-believe-it-when-I-see-it stance. Even though no eVTOL in Australia has reached the commercial stage, indicators such as Aviation Logistics' investment should convince the sceptics that it's time to open their eyes and see. Perhaps many of them have memories of the Very Light Jet (VLJ) craze of the mid 2000s that dissolved into nothing, expecting that eVTOLs will suffer a similar fate. However, whereas VLJs were being forced to fit into an impossible specification, eVTOLs like Vertiia have no such constraints, leaving designers free to build the best machines for the future of aviation.
Congratulations are due to four Victorian women who placed second in the International Dawn-to-Dusk competition last year. Jess Phillips, Theresa MacDonald and Amanda Deed, who–along with observer Gail Collins–used a Beechcraft A36 Bonanza to touch every state and mainland territory in Australia between dawn and dusk on 13 December 2022. They began on Flinders Island (TAS) and finished in Forrest (WA), having landed in Victoria, the ACT, NSW, QLD, SA and the NT along the way. The crew traveled to the Royal Air Force club in the UK to collect their prize. A great effort all around that took a lot of planning to pull off.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch
Sandy in reply:
Quote:S. Hitchen quote;-
“So the Class 5 medical is not a free-for-all, but many pilots will qualify, and for them this is a huge step forward. “
But not a step forward for GA, by disincentivising Instrument Flight Rules the Class 5 will reduce pilots training for IFR and flying IFR which is the safest and most efficient form of cross country operations. Are we heading for more Visual Flight Rules to Instrument Meteorological Conditions accidents? And, not surprisingly, many applicants for C5 will be knocked out due to existing medical conditions, apparently by virtue of their medications.
The new C5 also allows most four and six seat aircraft but you are only allowed to have two persons onboard, yes only two so your aircraft cannot be properly utilised and thus the C5 devalues its usefulness. This so called “world first” medical standard with its two person limit is justified by $688,000 pa CASA CEO Ms. Spence due to the successful history of the low weight category (Recreational Aviation Australia, RAAUS, 10,000 members) that has no aviation medicals. Most would say their 40 year history came well before Ms. Spence’s declaration of “world first.” The Gliding Federation (GFA) gets no mention, its zero aviation medical exam regime, more than 70 years, is not mentioned.
Talk about illogical, you need only to declare fit to drive a motor vehicle, irrespective of medications, for flying RAAUS or GFA but you can’t qualify for this ridiculous and irresponsible new self declared medical if you have certain existing conditions, conditions that do not preclude driving a private car.
Personally I’d rather have more people flying than having more on the roads because road danger to me is far more risky than the others that fly in my vicinity.
MTF...P2