The Last Minute Hitch: 21 June 2024
21 June 2024
– Steve Hitchen
If you're looking to convert your flying qualifications to an RAAus recreational pilot certificate, you may have found yourself standing in a non-moving queue. Some time back, RAAus suspended conversions whilst they sorted out an ambiguity in their operations manual with CASA. This came to light in the investigation into the fatal crash of a Jabiru aircraft near Lucyvale in Victoria, when a pilot tried to fly from Mount Beauty to Shellharbour in weather other pilots feared to tread in. There is some contention about whether or not RAAus should have permitted his conversion from paragliding qualifications. Right now, the whole thing is under the watchful eye of the Victorian coroner, who has suspended findings in light of late information that RAAus, for whatever reason, withheld until the last minute. The whole episode is one that everyone will want to put behind them, but I fear civil action is brewing that could hold consequences for everyone in the recreational field. My chief beef is that the ATSB has had scant involvement. This is a fatal crash in which the training and approval system of RAAus has been called into question, yet RAAus has been left to take the lead on the investigation. I'll put this bluntly: the ATSB should have stepped in and taken control on this one, which doubtless would have revealed the ambiguity earlier and made sure all information was in front of the coroner. Now, this one is going to turn ugly, and the GA community and the general public really do expect better.
"...dealing with CASA on certification may be its biggest obstacle..."
The best aviation news for 2023 happened very late in the year: the announcement that George Morgan and family had bought out Mahindra Aerospace and GippsAero was back in Australian hands. It meant a return to a belief in a fantastic aeroplane and its ability to deliver for pilots, passengers and operators. I spoke to David Morgan this week to catch up on what had happened since the announcement, and found someone enthusiastic about GippsAero's future, and a company planning a strategy to meet the challenges of the current manufacturing environment and meet a demand that never went away. Although it has been only four years since Mahindra hit the emergency stop button in a blue funk (the last reported new delivery was in Q3 2020), the aviation industry has changed a lot, which strangely enough may work to GippsAero's advantage. The push for sustainable fuel (SAF) means that GippsAero can start immediately looking to diesel power for the Airvan 8 and has the jet-fueled Airvan 10 already certified. At the moment, these engines aren't suffering from shortages to the extent their avgas-drinking cousins are. But to put a diesel in front of an Airvan 8 means re-certifying the aircraft, which is not only a drain on cash reserves, but also requires the involvement of CASA. GippsAero already has to navigate its way around skills shortages, parts availability and rising costs, yet dealing with CASA on certification may be its biggest obstacle. We don't need that; we need CASA to enable rather than disable and get behind a program that has the potential to big an even bigger winner for Australia than it was in the pre-Mahindra years.
Yesterday's announcement that CASA has accepted the Australian Operational Colour Vision Assessment (AOCVA) for testing pilots is a testament the the belief and persistence of Arthur Pape and the Colour Vision Deficient Pilots Association (CVDPA). It has been more than 10 years of hard work, door-knocking, e-mailing, cajoling and deployment of every weapon in their arsenal to get their cause to this point. However, most advocates out there that have ever lifted a banner to fight the good fight against the regulator are probably right now thinking "10 years ... that's about right." Compared with some of the more epic struggles (self-declared medicals: 20 years at least), one decade of lobbying is considered a quick result! To our continuous misfortune, that's how the aviation regulator works. It's a bureaucracy that moves slower than a Kiwi glacier and often spends its time and energy mangling regulations that never needed attention in the first place (Part 61, 141 and 142). Things have improved inside CASA, but the inertia within demonstrates that CASA is still an old-school regulator that needs regular kicking from without to make it see reason. Kudos to the CVDPA that never stopped sinking in the slipper no matter how frustrating the whole process became.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch
21 June 2024
– Steve Hitchen
If you're looking to convert your flying qualifications to an RAAus recreational pilot certificate, you may have found yourself standing in a non-moving queue. Some time back, RAAus suspended conversions whilst they sorted out an ambiguity in their operations manual with CASA. This came to light in the investigation into the fatal crash of a Jabiru aircraft near Lucyvale in Victoria, when a pilot tried to fly from Mount Beauty to Shellharbour in weather other pilots feared to tread in. There is some contention about whether or not RAAus should have permitted his conversion from paragliding qualifications. Right now, the whole thing is under the watchful eye of the Victorian coroner, who has suspended findings in light of late information that RAAus, for whatever reason, withheld until the last minute. The whole episode is one that everyone will want to put behind them, but I fear civil action is brewing that could hold consequences for everyone in the recreational field. My chief beef is that the ATSB has had scant involvement. This is a fatal crash in which the training and approval system of RAAus has been called into question, yet RAAus has been left to take the lead on the investigation. I'll put this bluntly: the ATSB should have stepped in and taken control on this one, which doubtless would have revealed the ambiguity earlier and made sure all information was in front of the coroner. Now, this one is going to turn ugly, and the GA community and the general public really do expect better.
"...dealing with CASA on certification may be its biggest obstacle..."
The best aviation news for 2023 happened very late in the year: the announcement that George Morgan and family had bought out Mahindra Aerospace and GippsAero was back in Australian hands. It meant a return to a belief in a fantastic aeroplane and its ability to deliver for pilots, passengers and operators. I spoke to David Morgan this week to catch up on what had happened since the announcement, and found someone enthusiastic about GippsAero's future, and a company planning a strategy to meet the challenges of the current manufacturing environment and meet a demand that never went away. Although it has been only four years since Mahindra hit the emergency stop button in a blue funk (the last reported new delivery was in Q3 2020), the aviation industry has changed a lot, which strangely enough may work to GippsAero's advantage. The push for sustainable fuel (SAF) means that GippsAero can start immediately looking to diesel power for the Airvan 8 and has the jet-fueled Airvan 10 already certified. At the moment, these engines aren't suffering from shortages to the extent their avgas-drinking cousins are. But to put a diesel in front of an Airvan 8 means re-certifying the aircraft, which is not only a drain on cash reserves, but also requires the involvement of CASA. GippsAero already has to navigate its way around skills shortages, parts availability and rising costs, yet dealing with CASA on certification may be its biggest obstacle. We don't need that; we need CASA to enable rather than disable and get behind a program that has the potential to big an even bigger winner for Australia than it was in the pre-Mahindra years.
Yesterday's announcement that CASA has accepted the Australian Operational Colour Vision Assessment (AOCVA) for testing pilots is a testament the the belief and persistence of Arthur Pape and the Colour Vision Deficient Pilots Association (CVDPA). It has been more than 10 years of hard work, door-knocking, e-mailing, cajoling and deployment of every weapon in their arsenal to get their cause to this point. However, most advocates out there that have ever lifted a banner to fight the good fight against the regulator are probably right now thinking "10 years ... that's about right." Compared with some of the more epic struggles (self-declared medicals: 20 years at least), one decade of lobbying is considered a quick result! To our continuous misfortune, that's how the aviation regulator works. It's a bureaucracy that moves slower than a Kiwi glacier and often spends its time and energy mangling regulations that never needed attention in the first place (Part 61, 141 and 142). Things have improved inside CASA, but the inertia within demonstrates that CASA is still an old-school regulator that needs regular kicking from without to make it see reason. Kudos to the CVDPA that never stopped sinking in the slipper no matter how frustrating the whole process became.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch