[Peetwo]

United we stand divided we fall!

To perhaps highlight what can be achieved through industry stakeholder cohesion, the following is a post I made on CVD Pilots thread that makes a point of difference on standing up for pilot rights, in particular on medical certification, between here & the US of A:

Pilot Medical certification - Point of difference US v Oz.

Rehash of Sandy's excellent post off CASA meets the Press (note No 7. in bold): 

If anyone actually has been taken in by this latest CASA soft soap, “The advisory panel will meet formally as required and at other times I expect its members to be in close contact with the CASA taskforce as work progresses.’’....well pity help us.
Surely it can be seen for what it is, just a softening, until the industry is so worn out that further resistance will be feeble and futile.

As far as I an concerned it would be traitorous to get on board with this travesty of "industry consultation".

Gentlemen and ladies all the recommendations, reports, submissions, and talkfests have been done. "Cautiously welcomed by industry"??????? Never seen more rubbish, if this is even slightly true then please you extraordinary and gullible optimists, all two or three of you, if you really exist, please, please do not be taken and led by hand into the mire of obfuscation, ego stroking platitudes, soothing words and the half truths all designed to stretch time and perpetuate the supremacy, status and salaries of CASA.  

We must resist and demand real reform now. Aviation businesses are going down the drain, your fellow aviator Aussies are trying to make ends meet while staring down both barrels. This is no joke, no cooperation, no more talking, no more kow towing, no more smarmy smiles and handshakes. Enough is enough. The Mad Hatter's tea party is over. If you are not quite convinced see what they tried to do to the late Mr Green, what they have done to Dom James and John Quadrio. Tips of iceberg.

Non negotiable reforms before any, stress any, cooperation:-
1. Delete reference to flight "privileges" from the rules. Free people have a right to fly.
2. Amend the Act to include the health of the industry, safety cannot improve without a growing and healthy industry.
3. Allow individual instructors to teach without our super expensive Air Operators Certificate, as in US 70% taught this way.
4. Allow LAMEs to maintain aircraft without Certificate of Approval, like US.
5. Remove the strict liability provisions from the regulations and most of the criminal law to be migrated to civil law.
6. Simplify the rules like FAA or NZ.
7.  No more AVMED for PPLs, car driving standard is proven just as safe.

Remember how quickly the immigration rules were changed when the pilots went on strike? Hawke said bring in pilots from other countries, mainly the US, they were here in days. These pilots were trained as above point point 3.

Certainly makes good common sense to me - Bring it ON!

However the reality is Sandy's point 1 to 7 are just pipe dreams here in Oz while aviation safety regulation/administration remain under the control of the toxic, archaic, sociopathic culture of the Iron Ring.

Point 7 'Point of Difference.    

The following is pinched off the UP

GregP -

CASA Medical Incompetence

---

A couple of weeks ago i did my Class2 renewal; with all the requested ophthalmology and endocrinology reports together with a positive report from my GP with excellent pathology plus a positive report from my DAME (who then reissued my med cert).

Weeks later, some clerk at CASA writes to me for additional info from the ophthalmologist (a specialist in private practice certified by CASA itself) after he's certified my as having faultless vision and good general ophthalmic health. Not satisfied with that, the idiots now want even more form that specialist who has now reported positively again regarding my vision and ophthalmic health.

Not satisfied with that nonsense, the idiots then write to tell me i must undergo a cardiac stress test (notwithstanding that i had one a few months ago with perfect results). When i rang the idiots today to remind them that a CASA doctor wrote to me a bit over year ago to say that i would have to do another stress test only if the DAME scored me as greater that 15. But when i reminded the clerk that the DAME rated me a few weeks ago as exactly 15, the idiot clerk at the other end said that the CASA doctor shouldn't have written to me stipulating the +15 score!

Clearly, my medcert (assuming i ever see another one!) will not be effective for anything like 2 years. And the cost will have beaten me by then anyway!

Is one to assume that the (mere) clerks at CASA have greater authority than CASA's own in-house doctors? What disgraceful nonsense .. thank heavens we're not at war because the staff work of these cretins is utterly dreadful.

Eyrie -

The joke here is that aviation medicals have NOTHING to do with aviation safety.


Our friends in the US look like getting them severely downgraded for private pilots. I looked into that a couple of years ago and since the early 1970s there have been at least 3 large scale studies of the efficacy of aviation medicals. There is a natural control group of private glider and hot air balloon pilots who self certify in the US (and in Australia for glider pilots - not sure about balloons, it has been a long time since I was peripherally involved with hot air balloons. The results were that there was ZERO evidence that medical causes were a serious cause of accidents(well under 1% of them) and the self certifying group had a slightly lower incidence of them.

Before some idiot goes on about how gliding is less stressful medically - it isn't. Try flying solo for up to 8 to 10 hours or more, no autopilot, in turbulence and pulling around 1.4 g for a significant part of the time, with the sun beating into the cockpit.

So we've run that experiment and the results are clear.

As for endangering others on the ground, can anyone here recall when a private pilot or glider pilot injured or killed an innocent third party on the ground in Australia due to any cause?

I know of two accidents, one a fatality (photographer standing on top of a car had his head knocked off - I'm sure you can all draw your own conclusions about flying so that your wingtip is within 2 meters of an obstacle on the ground), involving gliders overseas. Medical certification would not have helped in those.

That pretty much takes care of the "endangering others" bs.

So we are left with protection of other airspace users and a case can certainly be made out that being able to see properly is a good idea although the ATSB seems keen on telling everybody to forget that as it doesn't work. Well it definitely won't work if you don't look.

Now consider the case when you drive a car. The chance of killing or injuring an innocent pedestrian, another road user or someone just minding his own business in his house (cars and trucks seem to impact houses in Australia every week or two it seems) due to a medical problem such as sudden incapacitation for any reason must be much higher. Let alone fools who text or use the cellphone while driving.

Not much medical certification there. In Queensland they don't even do eye tests any more to my optometrist's disgust as he gets people in who he finds to be legally blind, who drove there. A few years ago there was a case where a female diabetic passed out at the wheel on the Sunshine Coast Motorway, crossed the median and went head on into a car coming the other way, killing a small child in the other car. Went free. She was a GP who should have known better and been held to it.

As for this drivel "As a medical student, I can see the benefits of this, if someone turns up in emergency alone, unconscious, you can look up their medical history with may assist with a quicker diagnosis of the problem, and therefore quicker treatment, and potentially save their life."

Unless they have ID in their wallet or purse, how do you know who they are? If they do they should have a little card in the wallet that describes any dangerous or bothersome medical condition. FFS given the propensity to cover your skin in ink that is in vogue they could even get a small discreet tattoo.

Creampuff -

Well said, E.


AVMED's recent decision-making is one of the starkest examples of decision-making that is not based on objective evidence or objective risk. It is based primarily on AVMED's messianic belief that they are carrying the primary burden of aviation safety because, according to the erstwhile PMO, a pilot’s licence goes on forever, but it is the medical certificate which enables the person to use the licence. All of the other so-called specialists and experts can have their opinions, but it is ultimately AVMED who bear the terrible burden of allowing a pilot to fly. And if that burden has been imposed on AVMED, it must surely follow that AVMED knows better that everyone else.

Amazingly, the pilots who have been allowed to fly for decades without NAA medical certificates have not caused carnage as a consequence of their sudden incapacitation. Amazingly, the pilots who do have NAA medical certificates suffer the same rate of sudden incapacity as the general population.

The current regime has little grasp on what causes the substantial risks to aviation safety, or how to mitigate them. If they did have that grasp, they'd realise they're a sideshow. They'd also realise that, as has been pointed out by people like Dr Liddell who do know, that all AVMED is now doing is encouraging pilots to take the risk of telling their DAME and AVMED as little as possible and not seeking medical advice about something that may turn out to be serious if not treated.

Unfortunately, AVMED has been allowed to get out of control and nobody with the power to get them back under control particularly cares.

Okay now reflect on the following courtesy of AOPA (US) :

Aviation groups urge passage of medical reform

17 groups sign letter to key Senate committee


331641
November 17, 2015
By Elizabeth A Tennyson

Seventeen aviation groups have sent a joint letter to leaders of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, urging them to pass third class medical reform and other measures designed to protect general aviation pilots.

In the Nov. 16 letter, AOPA and others urged the committee to adopt the Manchin Amendment to the Pilot’s Bill of Rights 2 (PBR2), which is scheduled to be considered by the committee later in the week. Other amendments to PBR2 will also be considered at that time.

Noting that third class medical reform is a pivotal issue for the future of general aviation, the aviation groups told the committee that the “FAA’s medical certification system has evolved into an onerous and costly one. The FAA recognized that fact more than 10 years ago when it created the Sport Pilot standard of medical certification.”

The letter went on to note that proposed third class medical reforms could save pilots more than $20 million each year and save the FAA approximately $2.5 million each year.

“We have never been closer to achieving meaningful third class medical reform, and this letter is indicative of the widespread support this measure enjoys in the general aviation community,” said AOPA President Mark Baker. “Pilots want and need relief from the outdated and unreasonably burdensome third class medical process, and this legislation would allow hundreds of thousands of pilots to fly safely while saving them, and the FAA, both time and money.”

In addition to promoting third class medical reforms, the Manchin Amendment includes reforms to the FAA’s Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) program, which ensures pilots receive critical safety information as part of their preflight preparation, and provides protections to volunteer pilots who fly in the public interest.

The letter supporting the amendment was signed by AOPA and the Academy of Model Aeronautics, Allied Pilots Association, Commemorative Air Force, Experimental Aircraft Association, Flying Dentists Association, Flying Physicians Association, General Aviation Manufacturers Association, Helicopter Association International, International Council of Air Shows, National Agricultural Aviation Association, National Association of State Aviation Officials, National Air Transportation Association, National Business Aviation Association, NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots, Recreational Aviation Foundation, and Southwest Airlines Pilots’ Association.

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has set Nov. 18 as the date to move S. 571, better known as PBR2. The legislation, which was sponsored by Sens. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), and John Boozman (R-Ark.), boasts 69 bipartisan cosponsors in the Senate.

It would allow hundreds of thousands of pilots who have held a valid third class medical, either regular or special issuance, over the past 10 years to fly without needing to get another FAA medical exam. It would apply to pilots flying VFR or IFR in aircraft weighing up to 6,000 pounds and carrying up to five passengers at altitudes below 18,000 feet and speeds up to 250 knots.

For pilots whose medical certificate lapsed more than 10 years ago and those who have never held a medical certificate, a one-time medical certification will be required. Once a pilot has been medically certified once, either through the regular or special-issuance processes, he or she will also be able to fly indefinitely without needing to go through the FAA medical certification process again. Pilots with certain medical factors, including some cardiac, psychological, or neurological conditions, will have to get a special issuance medical one time only. For more information, visit AOPA’s frequently asked questions regarding third class medical reform.



Elizabeth A Tennyson | Senior Director of Communications, AOPA
AOPA Senior Director of Communications Elizabeth Tennyson is an instrument-rated private pilot who first joined AOPA in 1998.

I know different political animal and the mere concept of a 'Pilot Bill of Rights' getting anywhere near the PH halls of Cant'berra, is a fantasy that would make Beaker look like a - most respected, credible - human being, instead of a glove-Muppet.

However it does show what can be achieved if aviation stakeholder groups - with varying & differing agendas - put away their differences for the greater good & longevity of the industry.

In an update here is where the PBOR2 proposed legislation amendment has progressed since the above article was published, courtesy AvWeb.. :

Medical Reform Bill En Route To Senate Floor


By Elaine Kauh | December 9, 2015

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Third-class medical reform legislation is on its way to the Senate floor after gaining approval from the Commerce, Science and Transportation committee Wednesday. The committee had delayed its vote in November on the Pilot’s Bill of Rights 2 for lack of a quorum, and now its advocates hope for a Senate vote later this month. The bill would exempt pilots with third-class medicals from recurring visits to an aviation medical examiner if they self-certify their fitness to fly, take an online aeromedical course biennially, and visit a doctor at least once every four years. The doctor’s visits will be required to include a checklist of items typically included in a physical or medical exam. Pilots who don’t yet have a medical or have had their medical lapse for more than 10 years also would need a one-time visit to an AME to obtain certification. The measure would allow pilots to fly VFR and IFR in aircraft under 6,000 pounds, with up to five passengers. The 10-year window and doctor visits were compromises from a previous proposal for full third-class medical exemptions.

“Bringing the legislation this far has required persistence and compromise in order to get the very best possible deal for pilots while winning the support needed to keep medical reform on the table,” AOPA President Mark Baker said Wednesday. “The Pilot’s Bill of Rights 2 frees pilots to work with their personal physicians to manage their own health, wellness, and fitness to fly.” The legislation now has 70 Senate co-sponsors, while a House version has 151 co-sponsors. “While all legislation goes through twists and turns, the key point is that pilots will be able to avoid the complexity and expense that is inherent in the current third-class medical certification process,” said Jack Pelton, EAA chairman and CEO.

    
MTF..P2