[Peetwo]

Time gentlemen – Please.

It is time for the alphabet groups to speak as one; the subject Metadata for CASA.  All together in one loud, long shout of NO.  

Ken Cannane, Marc de Stoop, Phil Hurst, along with AIPA, VIPA and every associated union, affiliation or parliamentary ‘friends’ of aviation should be party to a statement to the PM rejecting the notion that CASA is a security or law enforcement agency.  It is not.  The use criminal code and strict liability rules are a CASA confection designed to ensure that every whim of the inspectorate can be enforced.

If the government will not or cannot curb the rabid attack dogs, the industry, speaking as one must. Start with the pack leader, who either clearly approves or has no control over the department he is allegedly running.

Just say NO, loud, long and often; it’s a simple enough thing to do.

Joining dots, making dashes & exclamations

Yesterday was reading the weekly wraps off the Yaffa when suddenly the Foggy Hollow MCP started flashing & aural warnings started pealing, then just as suddenly it all stopped - hmm wonder why?

Anyway Hitch followed up his Oz Flying meta-data article - see HERE - with this insightful comment:

..It seems to me the whole kerfuffle about CASA accessing mobile phone data could have been avoided if some people (CASA and me included) had just done some checking. Whilst some sectors of the aviation community were reaching for their pitchforks and flaming torches, CASA had actually been excluded from access to that information back in April. Somewhere along the line, the system worked and no-one noticed. When you're in the process of building good relationships and trust, it's not a good idea to be accessing people's personal data, even if the content isn't disclosed...

 
Guess that is one of the traps when there is still a major trust deficit between industry & the regulator..

Also very much AMROBA related there was this interesting bit of scuttlebutt, from new AvBiz Editor Denise:

..Another issue that always provokes comment (and often controversy) is Australia's aviation regulatory environment and how safe it keeps our skies.


The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has been under considerable pressure this year to lift its game so that it meets the requirements of the Aviation Safety Regulation Review. There is much work going on but there is also a lot of chatter about how the changes being implemented will be far from the end of it for CASA.

I can’t say much about it yet but there is an explosive report in the pipeline (ding..ding..ding??) that experts have been slogging away on for a couple of years. It highlights just how much more CASA and  the Federal Government need to do to bring our aerospace industry up to scratch on many fronts.

The lack of trained expertise to maintain planes not just in Australia but globally cannot be ignored. The shortfall in qualified aircraft maintenance staff is growing at an alarming rate with the Asia-Pacific region, where aerospace growth is the highest, particularly hard hit.

And we cannot ignore either the deficits in the safety regulation review this report will identify for CASA to be able to meet all  international safety and maintenance training standards.

Australia’s training and licence standards are being changed, but there are still gaps and ambiguity when compared with international standards.

More and more of our Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) business is being outsourced overseas where standards can be inconsistent –even spurious. Our safety regulators should be heading overseas frequently to check Australia’s stringent standards are being met, but it seems this is not always the case.

On another front, we have a fragmented aerospace industry and are missing valuable export opportunities because of it.

So watch this space for the report in the New Year. These, and other issues have been simmering, but indications point to them coming to a head in 2016 - and that can only be a good thing. The report advocates a proactive response, not a reactive one and that is the key to a healthy aerospace environment

   
Which got my personal metadata database pinging all the way back to a Senate Inquiry submission that included a copy of an ASRR submission??- Here we go :

6 Dr Doug Fraser, A/Profs Ian Hampson and Anne Junor and Prof Michael Quinlan (PDF 68 KB)  Attachment 1 (PDF 524 KB)

 Excerpt from the ASRR submission:

　

Introduction

We are glad to have this opportunity to provide a submission to the Aviation Safety Regulation Review. We represent a team of academic researchers who have been investigating the aviation maintenance industry for the past three years on an ARC Linkage grant entitled The Future of Aircraft Maintenance in Australia: Aviation Safety, Workforce Capability and Industry Development (LP1101100335). Our industry partners (a central feature of the Linkage grant program) are made up of a broad mixture of employee, industry and training sector representatives:

• Australian Aerospace (Defence Contractor)

• Australian Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineers Association (ALAEA)

• Australian Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Business Association (AMROBA)

• Australian Manufacturing Workers or union (AMWU)

• Flight Attendants Association of Australia (FAAA)

• Manufacturing Skills Australia (Skills Council)

• TAFE NSW

• Transport and Logistics Centre (TALC)

• Transport Workers’ Union (TWU)

The purpose and outcomes of the project are described in the project documentation as follows:

This research will analyse sources of skill shortage in Australia’s aircraft maintenance industry, and identify the safety risks of sending maintenance work offshore. It will compare these risks with the costs and benefits of building aircraft maintenance skills and careers and enhancing their contribution to national technological development.

 
Interesting.. For reference the UNSW School of Management final report can be accessed - HERE.
 
So coincidence, err..maybe??

However is this also just a coincidence? From the RAAA thread:  

Higgins appointed new CEO of RAAA
11 Dec 2015

Mike Higgins has been appointed chief executive of the Regional Aviation Association of Australia (RAAA)replacing long-serving Paul Tyrrell.

RAAA chairman, Jim Davis said today that Higgins brings to the organisation “a tremendous wealth of expertise” with his experience as a licensed aircraft maintenance engineer, a former commercial pilot, maintenance organisation manager and airline general manager, one of the architects of regional aviation security regulations, drug and alcohol management plans and, recently, a senior manager with CASA.

“His breadth of experience will serve RAAA members well in many areas, but it will be particularly valuable as we work with the government and the regulator to solve the huge problems caused by recently introduced legislation and participate in the development of new regulations”, said Davis.

 Paul Tyrrell resigned from the association to pursue a new, as yet undisclosed venture.

“Over the last seven and-a-half-years Paul demonstrated a highly professional and objective approach in his dealings with politicians, various government agencies and the media and was highly regarded, being publicly congratulated by the Deputy Prime Minister at the last RAAA convention,” said Davis

There was also this comment from Hitch in close to his last 'LMH' for the year:

The Regional Aviation Association of Australia (RAAA) has appointed Mike Higgins as their new CEO, replacing Paul Tyrrell, who resigned some weeks ago. Mike is a LAME, former CPL, MRO manager and has managed an airline. Most curiously, he was a senior manager with CASA, and the man behind the drug and alcohol testing scheme. That means he brings to the RAAA a lot of industry smarts, including how to deal with Canberra and Aviation House in particular. As the RAAA CEO, he'll also be their point man with The Australian Aviation Associations Forum (TAAAF), giving TAAAF some formidable artillery when firing in concert with Greg Russell.

Summer of intrigue...TICK..TOCK miniscule
MTF...P2