[Peetwo]

A glimmer of hope.

Four excellent items in that report; best of the lot – unity.  AOPA realigned with TAAAF is one of the best things I've read in a long time.  De Stoop is no ones fool; not by a long shot, neither are the ‘names’ in TAAAF and the past differences will matter little to those sensible few.  Congratulations and a salute to common sense is in order.  Bravo and well done.

Nick Xenophon is an asset to aviation. One of the very few real politicians; his team mates on the Estimates committee are, happily, among the best Australia has.  The committee is one of the best, most efficient, effective groups that aviation has ever had in parliament and there can be little doubt that they will continue the good work we have seen in the past.

De Stoop’s involvement with ‘engagement’ initiatives with Boyd is good news.  The Board needs industry ‘friends’, support if you will; and, with recent experience of actually mounting a flying operation, De Stoop is familiar with the ‘process’ of attempting to create work and do business in the existing system.  An asset, with tangible evidence of the impediments, fully supported by the similar experiences of other operators either engaged in business or who have tried to do business in the field.  

External evaluation of the regulator is a two edged sword; we must, I suppose place it in the ‘good things’ pile.  But I, for one, have reservations.  The casual dismissal of the ASSR, the farcical meeting in Canberra and the let down by both Joyce and Whatsisname’ still rankle.  I doubt those invited will become part of the window dressing, but I worry that they will be treated with a view to abrogation rather than reform.  CASA have this game down to fine art and Whatsisname' has NFI, less brains and even less gumption. We shall see.

We will never have a better opportunity or as many effective tools available to rebuild and reform.  So, get behind it and push your heart out, the side-lines are no place to stand and you cannot score runs sitting in the pavilion.

Good work Marc, excellent, Tim Tam quality.

Toot (happy) toot.

In autem ad supra:

 Via the Oz:

CASA concedes: Our red tape stifles industry



Up in the air

• Mitchell Bingemann
  
• The Australian
  
• 12:00AM August 12, 2016
  

Reporter
Sydney
@Mitch_Hell
[img=0x0]http://pixel.tcog.cp1.news.com.au/track/component/author/4c134add4c3a9e4881f7841b69d9ac85/?esi=true&t_product=the-australian&t_template=s3/austemp-article_common/vertical/author/widget&td_bio=false[/img]
The aviation regulator has conceded it needs to do more to reduce the red tape and onerous costs strangling Australia’s general aviation sector.

The concession came in response to calls from the general aviation sector for a government lifeline after data, showing terminal declines in the number of new pilots and aircraft entering the industry, was presented to the Civil Aviation and Safety Authority this week.

The data — collated by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association using sources from CASA, the Department of Industry, ­Innovation and Science and the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics — shows the number of general aviation pilots in Australia has plummeted 34 per cent (by about 8000 licensees) since 2000.

In the same period, aviation gas consumption has fallen 35 per cent and aircraft registrations are down 13 per cent since 2000 but down 53 per cent since 2007.
Statistics from the Federal Aviation Administration show pilot numbers in the US have increased by 4 per cent since 2007.

AOPA executive director Ben Morgan said the charts were made in response to a challenge by CASA aviation safety director Mark Skidmore to prove that the industry was in decline.

“These charts tell a story of catastrophic decline. CASA has remained adamant through recent negotiations that the industry is nowhere near the seriously perilous state that AOPA has ­presented,” Mr Morgan told The Australian.

“We were challenged quite ­ludicrously by the director of aviation safety at CASA to go away and prove to him that the industry was in decline and so we have done that using their own data.”

Mr Morgan said CASA had never admitted that the general aviation industry was in decline. But that has now changed.

A CASA spokesman said: “CASA accepts activity in general aviation has reduced over a lengthy period of time, although we have yet to do a comprehensive analysis of the data provided by AOPA.

“The reduction in activity is due to many economic, social and technological factors.”

Mr Morgan said the blame for the industry’s decline should be placed on CASA, saying there was a “structural and systemic failure of the regulatory framework” that was being exacerbated by onerous red tape and high costs of compliance.

AOPA has also called on Infrastructure and Transport Minister Darren Chester to take “clear and direct action” to support small aviation businesses.

“We need wholesale change. We need the minister to step in and trigger a clear political intervention to address the highest level issue that all other issues stem from and that is the fact that our regulator is not tied in its performance to the performance of the industry,” Mr Morgan said.

The Australian understands the minister will meet with CASA next week and increase pressure on the regulator to listen to the concerns of smaller operators.

CASA did not accept that the reduction in general aviation activity should solely be ­attributed to its performance as the air safety regulator.

“However, as a part of the Australian aviation system, CASA ­acknowledges it needs to do more to remove any unnecessary regulatory burdens to general aviation and to provide efficient regulatory services,” the spokesman said.

“CASA has begun a program of fundamental change and improvement and many of these initiatives will benefit general aviation. We have started work on overhauling CASA’s service delivery systems and are working to ­develop a service culture within our workforce.

“Action is also being taken to provide new and improved training for CASA staff. We are improving manuals and we are streamlining approval processes.

“CASA looks forward to working with everyone in general aviation to build a stronger future for this important sector of Australian aviation.”

Blah..blah..blah..enough of the bollocks Oliver, either get with the program or get off the bloody pot, industry has had a gutful of your weasel-worded spin, obfuscation and mealy mouthed platitudes - FFS!


MTF...P2