[Peetwo]

AAAA voice concerns for loss of CASA indemnity -

Yet another potential nail in the industry coffin could be delivered if the aviation safety bureaucrats decide to do away with indemnifying authorised flight testing officers.

Via the Oz:   

Warnings over test indemnity plan

12:00amANNABEL HEPWORTH

Agricultural aircraft operators have warned of a ‘disastrous ­impact’ from abolishing CASA indemnity for pilot flight testers.

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Agricultural aircraft operators have warned of a “disastrous ­impact”, including exacerbating the pilot shortage, from abolishing the indemnity provided by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority for industry people conducting flight tests of pilots.

Without the indemnity cover, approved testing officers “will be even less likely to continue providing the services they do, and no senior application pilots will take up the challenge of providing an ATO service without the backing of a government indemnity”, the Aerial Application Association of Australia warns.

“The removal of the indemnity would have a disastrous impact on aviation safety, specialised training capacity and the already existing pilot shortage,” the group warns. “It is likely that in the face of no indemnity being provided, the number of available ATOs for training and checking in aerial ­applications will collapse.”

The comments are contained in a submission, obtained by The Australian, to a high-powered ­review into CASA’s indemnity and insurance arrangements.

The warnings comes amid fears of a regional pilot shortage and overseas airlines poaching Australian pilots.

While CASA has been indemnifying “delegated” personnel doing aviation-related functions, including tests of flight crew, since 1991, new rules change this. Under the changes, ATOs are expected to transition to get a “flight examiner rating”, where they are no longer considered to be doing CASA functions as delegates, but instead exercising “privileges” of a rating — and need to get their own insurance on the private market. New flight examiners who have never been an ATO have never had CASA ­indemnity.

CASA has extended the time for ATOs to surrender their ­delegation and get the rating to midyear. But, reigniting debate, the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development, ­assisted by CASA and the powerful ­Finance Department, is ­reviewing the indemnity arrange­ments for industry delegates and “authorised” people, which also include designated aviation medical ­examiners.

The agricultural operators say there are only a “handful” of ATOs and examiners doing aerial training. As well, they are concentrated on the east coast.

They see the service “as ‘putting something back into the ­industry’,” the submission says. “It is certainly not a viable commercial venture in its own right "...The already very fragile basis to the provision of low throughput training/testing/checking would be severely challenged by any ­significant negative impact from the lack of provision of an indemnity, or a significant increase in costs due to a need for commercial insurance..."

“The obvious consequence of this would be a crisis in the provision of training/testing/checking for aerial application and other highly specialised sectors.”

A spokeswoman for CASA said that as consultation is under way, the body would not comment on individual concerns being raised at the moment.

The consultation is considering four proposals: keeping the present arrangements; extending indemnities to anyone doing work previously done by delegates; giving indemnities on a case-by-case basis; and giving them where commercial insur­ance is not available.

A representative for the Infrastructure Department said: “All submissions received during the consultation process will be considered before any decisions are taken on future indemnity and ­insurance arrangements.”

The Regional Aviation Association of Australia is also strongly opposed to moves to wind back the indemnity, warning that commercial insurance policy here is “simply not adequate and it is an increased cost to industry”.

TICK..TOCK Barnaby, the aviation shit-list is growing!  

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&.. also from the Oz today:

Demand means pilots take shorter route in flying for major airlines



The time spent in “feeder jobs” before flying for major airlines has fallen dramatically, according to pilots, amid concerns a shortage may lead to foreign airlines poaching Australian talent.

Rhys McClintock is a senior pilot at Navair, a luxury private air charter operation based in Sydney. A former surf instructor, he changed career flight path after a pilot came in for a lesson.

“He said, ‘come and learn’. I worked my way up,” Mr McClintock said.

The 27-year-old has been working in Sydney for two years and in that time he’s witnessed a major change. “The guys that are coming through used to go fly freight,” he said. “They’re only there for a short period of time and are being snapped up by Australian airlines. Two years ago, people were sitting in there five or six years. Now they’re doing six months and are out and up.”

The Australian recently revealed ­that Chinese airlines are looking to poach Australian pilots by offering enormous salaries of $750,000 a year.

Mr McClintock said he’s not at all surprised. “Corporate aviation has a ­select group of guys that fit the mould,” he said. “The dream for most pilots is the whole airline thing. This used to be a feeder job, now people skip this one.”

It’s not a dream for him, however. “I like flying in corporate aviation, you’re not just a pilot — you do heaps of stuff.”

Rick Pegus, a pilot and man­aging director of Navair, said ­Chinese airlines would do well to base pilots in Australia but fly them to China.

“It would not surprise me if they hired some, even if they based them here,” he said. “If you fly for Chinese airlines, you can fly to China for a day.”

Mr Pegus said only the most experienced pilots would be ­offered salaries as high as $750,000, but they would be who China would look to hire. “They’d be the ones you want to poach, they’d want the expertise that’d drive the safety culture,” he said.

The comments come as recent figures about the surge in flights to and from China, partly on the back of an “open skies”-style agreement struck in Dec­ember 2016, have added to concerns about poaching by ­Chinese airlines of experienced Australian pilots.

Recent figures show that the hours flown in flying training has plunged by more than one-third since peaking in 2009.

A landmark review into general aviation by the Bureau of ­Infrastructure, Transport and ­Regional Economics last year ­described the combined costs of pilot training and attracting and retaining staff were “key challenges” for the general aviation industry.

MTF...P2