The Last Minute Hitch: 2 August 2024
2 August 2024
– Steve Hitchen
When Bonza fell into the abyss a few weeks back, a friend asked me if I thought REX would follow suit. All I could do was cross my fingers in response. Now they are teetering on the edge also, it would appear that maybe my wishful thinking was not enough. The good news out of this is that REX had structured itself so that not all the subsidiaries are involved in the voluntary administration, leaving their training academy and charter/aeromedical operations to carry on as if there was nothing to see here. Although the SAAB 340 regional ops are tangled up in the financial red mud, they are continuing with the subsidised routes, meaning that regional centres ignored by QF and VA will not go unserviced. Maintaining the regional operations is also critical for general aviation, because they provide stepping-stones for ATPLs aspiring to the cockpits of Boeings and Airbuses. SAAB 340s and Metroliners are good nurseries, and for those pilots content not to be wrangling lifestyle-disturbing shifts at the majors, regional airlines are a good outlet for their skills and flying passion. When I first started in aviation journalism, a colleague said to me that airlines are all about defying gravity, both physically and financially. Every now and then one of them comes thudding to the financial ground surrounded by a cloud of burning dollars, and this time it's REX. Let's hope they can trade out of this and keep at least the turbo-props turning over.
"..the elephant in the room has Western Sydney Airport painted on the side.."
Effective consultation is super-critical to safe aviation outcomes, but it has to be painful and get-wrenching to do so on a proposal that you don't really want at all. That's the situation facing GA advocates over both Ballina-Byron and Bankstown. Both these airports are facing operational upheavals as airspace architecture is changed to suit the major airlines to the detriment of the GA. Although CASA is putting a smiley-face sticker on the consultation over Bankstown, the elephant in the room has Western Sydney Airport painted on the side. The consultation talks about "safer routes to training areas", which will cause some sneers because the current CTR butts up to Class G airspace without the need to be connected by a long line of lavender dots. The proposed routes weren't needed before Badgerys Creek was started. My point is that any changes to the airspace architecture around Sydney will result in an outcome that is less safe than it is now. The airspace design is going to be complex and into that we are going to funnel inexperienced pilots who are still battling with the science of flying an aeroplane straight and level. But still, we are asking advocates to take up the pen, analyse the proposals and return an honest and fair critique, which they will do even though their ink carries insufficient weight to make much difference.
The plain English guides, on the other hand, do make a lot of difference, when it comes to understanding the regulations. This was one of the few recommendations from the ASRR that has a) actually been implemented as intended, b) had an impact. GA has had a plain English guide for many years, although it was not really recognised as being just that: the Visual Flight Rules Guide (VFRG). The VFRG puts the rules, regulations and legislation surrounding visual flight into a crisp, clear format that unclouds pilots' understanding. The PEGs do something similar, and should be used to advantage in a similar vein as the VFRG. Part 61 is one of the most complex and bewildering of all CASRs. It needed a taskforce to untangle it only 12 months after its birth and has been a target of CASA GA Workplan a decade later. That should tell you a lot about the way the regs were "reformed". Should we be surprised that a PEG has been produced? However, the most logical thing would be to have written the original legislation in plain English, but the requirements of the Office of Parliamentary Counsel and the demands for legal acceptability get precedence. CASA will need to keep the PEGs coming; it's the only way anything they do makes any sense.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch
2 August 2024
– Steve Hitchen
When Bonza fell into the abyss a few weeks back, a friend asked me if I thought REX would follow suit. All I could do was cross my fingers in response. Now they are teetering on the edge also, it would appear that maybe my wishful thinking was not enough. The good news out of this is that REX had structured itself so that not all the subsidiaries are involved in the voluntary administration, leaving their training academy and charter/aeromedical operations to carry on as if there was nothing to see here. Although the SAAB 340 regional ops are tangled up in the financial red mud, they are continuing with the subsidised routes, meaning that regional centres ignored by QF and VA will not go unserviced. Maintaining the regional operations is also critical for general aviation, because they provide stepping-stones for ATPLs aspiring to the cockpits of Boeings and Airbuses. SAAB 340s and Metroliners are good nurseries, and for those pilots content not to be wrangling lifestyle-disturbing shifts at the majors, regional airlines are a good outlet for their skills and flying passion. When I first started in aviation journalism, a colleague said to me that airlines are all about defying gravity, both physically and financially. Every now and then one of them comes thudding to the financial ground surrounded by a cloud of burning dollars, and this time it's REX. Let's hope they can trade out of this and keep at least the turbo-props turning over.
"..the elephant in the room has Western Sydney Airport painted on the side.."
Effective consultation is super-critical to safe aviation outcomes, but it has to be painful and get-wrenching to do so on a proposal that you don't really want at all. That's the situation facing GA advocates over both Ballina-Byron and Bankstown. Both these airports are facing operational upheavals as airspace architecture is changed to suit the major airlines to the detriment of the GA. Although CASA is putting a smiley-face sticker on the consultation over Bankstown, the elephant in the room has Western Sydney Airport painted on the side. The consultation talks about "safer routes to training areas", which will cause some sneers because the current CTR butts up to Class G airspace without the need to be connected by a long line of lavender dots. The proposed routes weren't needed before Badgerys Creek was started. My point is that any changes to the airspace architecture around Sydney will result in an outcome that is less safe than it is now. The airspace design is going to be complex and into that we are going to funnel inexperienced pilots who are still battling with the science of flying an aeroplane straight and level. But still, we are asking advocates to take up the pen, analyse the proposals and return an honest and fair critique, which they will do even though their ink carries insufficient weight to make much difference.
The plain English guides, on the other hand, do make a lot of difference, when it comes to understanding the regulations. This was one of the few recommendations from the ASRR that has a) actually been implemented as intended, b) had an impact. GA has had a plain English guide for many years, although it was not really recognised as being just that: the Visual Flight Rules Guide (VFRG). The VFRG puts the rules, regulations and legislation surrounding visual flight into a crisp, clear format that unclouds pilots' understanding. The PEGs do something similar, and should be used to advantage in a similar vein as the VFRG. Part 61 is one of the most complex and bewildering of all CASRs. It needed a taskforce to untangle it only 12 months after its birth and has been a target of CASA GA Workplan a decade later. That should tell you a lot about the way the regs were "reformed". Should we be surprised that a PEG has been produced? However, the most logical thing would be to have written the original legislation in plain English, but the requirements of the Office of Parliamentary Counsel and the demands for legal acceptability get precedence. CASA will need to keep the PEGs coming; it's the only way anything they do makes any sense.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch