02-07-2025, 03:27 PM
The Last Minute Hitch: 7 February 2025
7 February 2025
– Steve Hitchen
CASA is going all-out to make sure Australia is ready for the advanced air mobility (AAM) revolution, which they predict will start in a couple of years time. What was once thought to be futuristic and perhaps a little bit fanciful, is now just around the corner. Associations like the Australian Helicopter Industry Association (AHIA) and the Regional Aviation Association of Australia (RAAA) are embracing the new technologies and the changes they bring, and Airservices is beavering away in the background assessing what AAM means to demand for lower-level airspace. But what are GA operators doing to prepare their businesses for this? Not a lot, I think. Some companies took the initiative years ago and signed up on spec for machines that existed only in the mind of illustrators, but other than that there's not a lot of evidence that the revolution is just over the horizon. I feel the reason behind the malaise is that we currently don't have any aircraft that the industry can use as a template for updating procedures, qualifying pilots and instructors, training engineers and all the other sundry things needed for an AOC to adopt a new type. It's hard to get ready for something that is too amorphic to rely on. What this means is that although CASA can get ready this far out, the GA community will have to wait to see exactly what form certified aircraft are going to take before they can open their arms. This means that the rate AAM is adopted by GA operators will be slow at first, but probably accelerate as the benefits begin to roll.
"...if the right answer doesn't fit CASA's risk matrix the wrong answer is more likely to be adopted..."
Anyone who has studied argument evaluation understands that it's possible to use impeccable logic and reasoning to arrive at the wrong answer. In their responses to feedback on the Class 5 medical, CASA displayed very solid logic and reasoning when justifying their decisions to impose limitations ... and in some instances arrived at the wrong answer. This is not necessarily unusual from the regulator; if the right answer doesn't fit CASA's risk matrix the wrong answer is more likely to be adopted. For example, formation flying is banned under Class 5 because CASA believes a person can't assess the integrity of their depth perception. However, neither can someone operating under Class 2 and DAMEs don't test that in examinations. Yet, formation flying is permitted under Class 2 and CASA has decades of evidence that it's safe. They even acknowledge that the experiences of RAAus pilots show that its safe. Another is the arbitrary MTOW limit of 2000 kg. That line was drawn in the sand there because it aligned with the UK PMD and CASA wanted some form of limit, even in the absence of any evidence that the risk of medical incapacitation is related to the MTOW of the aircraft. The argument that 2000 kg captures 75% of all GA aircraft is no comfort to the other 25%. All of this, hopefully, will be reviewed in the Post-implementation Review (PIR) that CASA will start soon. If the GA community was right, then CASA now has 12 months of data that should shift some of these limitations onto the right side of the risk matrix. That, however, will require the regulator to set aside some of their own traditional reasoning.
At a time when social media influencers and content-makers are pushing themselves as experts, it's good to see that Avalon is backing the real thing in its commentary team for 2025. The twin helms of Tony Moclair and Angela Stevenson have personality and presence, but also boast serious plane-cred of their own. Moclair has been broadcasting from Avalon for years, fueled by his own passing for flight; Stevenson has written extensively for Australian Flying and won Aviation Feature Story of the Year in 2020. And backing them are well-known aviation exponents Andrew McLaughlin (a three-time Aviation Journalist of the Year), Michael Vietch (author of several aviation books) and Plane Crazy Downunder's Grant McHerron. What this means is the info coming down the PA will be as accurate as you can imagine, but delivered with insight and, if I know this lot, lashings of humour. What we need now is for all the influencers and content-makers out there to take notice of how the professionals do it.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch
7 February 2025
– Steve Hitchen
CASA is going all-out to make sure Australia is ready for the advanced air mobility (AAM) revolution, which they predict will start in a couple of years time. What was once thought to be futuristic and perhaps a little bit fanciful, is now just around the corner. Associations like the Australian Helicopter Industry Association (AHIA) and the Regional Aviation Association of Australia (RAAA) are embracing the new technologies and the changes they bring, and Airservices is beavering away in the background assessing what AAM means to demand for lower-level airspace. But what are GA operators doing to prepare their businesses for this? Not a lot, I think. Some companies took the initiative years ago and signed up on spec for machines that existed only in the mind of illustrators, but other than that there's not a lot of evidence that the revolution is just over the horizon. I feel the reason behind the malaise is that we currently don't have any aircraft that the industry can use as a template for updating procedures, qualifying pilots and instructors, training engineers and all the other sundry things needed for an AOC to adopt a new type. It's hard to get ready for something that is too amorphic to rely on. What this means is that although CASA can get ready this far out, the GA community will have to wait to see exactly what form certified aircraft are going to take before they can open their arms. This means that the rate AAM is adopted by GA operators will be slow at first, but probably accelerate as the benefits begin to roll.
"...if the right answer doesn't fit CASA's risk matrix the wrong answer is more likely to be adopted..."
Anyone who has studied argument evaluation understands that it's possible to use impeccable logic and reasoning to arrive at the wrong answer. In their responses to feedback on the Class 5 medical, CASA displayed very solid logic and reasoning when justifying their decisions to impose limitations ... and in some instances arrived at the wrong answer. This is not necessarily unusual from the regulator; if the right answer doesn't fit CASA's risk matrix the wrong answer is more likely to be adopted. For example, formation flying is banned under Class 5 because CASA believes a person can't assess the integrity of their depth perception. However, neither can someone operating under Class 2 and DAMEs don't test that in examinations. Yet, formation flying is permitted under Class 2 and CASA has decades of evidence that it's safe. They even acknowledge that the experiences of RAAus pilots show that its safe. Another is the arbitrary MTOW limit of 2000 kg. That line was drawn in the sand there because it aligned with the UK PMD and CASA wanted some form of limit, even in the absence of any evidence that the risk of medical incapacitation is related to the MTOW of the aircraft. The argument that 2000 kg captures 75% of all GA aircraft is no comfort to the other 25%. All of this, hopefully, will be reviewed in the Post-implementation Review (PIR) that CASA will start soon. If the GA community was right, then CASA now has 12 months of data that should shift some of these limitations onto the right side of the risk matrix. That, however, will require the regulator to set aside some of their own traditional reasoning.
At a time when social media influencers and content-makers are pushing themselves as experts, it's good to see that Avalon is backing the real thing in its commentary team for 2025. The twin helms of Tony Moclair and Angela Stevenson have personality and presence, but also boast serious plane-cred of their own. Moclair has been broadcasting from Avalon for years, fueled by his own passing for flight; Stevenson has written extensively for Australian Flying and won Aviation Feature Story of the Year in 2020. And backing them are well-known aviation exponents Andrew McLaughlin (a three-time Aviation Journalist of the Year), Michael Vietch (author of several aviation books) and Plane Crazy Downunder's Grant McHerron. What this means is the info coming down the PA will be as accurate as you can imagine, but delivered with insight and, if I know this lot, lashings of humour. What we need now is for all the influencers and content-makers out there to take notice of how the professionals do it.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch