[Peetwo]

Save Australia's General Aviation from bureaucratic disaster
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Alexander Reith Australia



Since 1988 General Aviation has been continually bombarded by bureaucratic rule changes, and fee increases, these changes have undermined GA viability causing a great loss of jobs and services throughout our great continent. Two of our most important GA airports, Bankstown in Sydney and Moorabbin in Melbourne have shrunk in flying movements to much less than half, and oil companies have removed hundreds of refueling points all over Australia. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority was hived off as an independent Commonwealth corporate body only to become a most authoritarian instrument of the Commonwealth Government, exceptional in inventing fees for a myriad of invented paperwork tasks. It was given a brief to rewrite the rules some twenty-eight years ago. Hundreds of millions of dollars later and still not finished, the last tranche of completed rules, in the words of the current CASA Board Chairman, "a mess" (6th May public meeting at Tamworth).

This is nothing short of a disaster for GA. It is time to ask the Parliament for relief, because GA has many facets that this country has great need of, for example the training and practical experience for those who fly our airliners. GA has been so battered that airline pilots are now on the 457 foreign visa worker list. Wonder who is flying you around these days?

General Aviation is needed for outback communities, police work, fire spotting, survey work, agricultural purposes, air ambulance, and mercy flights like Angel Flight, to name just a few. If you know nothing about GA I can imagine that many of you reading this will think about your brushes with an increasingly overbearing bureaucracy, be it local, state or federal government. Our country needs freedom, all we ask is not money, just simple rules like road rules, no problem, just get government off our backs and GA will grow jobs, businesses, opportunity, innovation and services.

Personally I'm retired so no axe to grind, but I want to see the industry of my lifetime career revitalised, and a new generation of aviators, designers, constructors and technicians to advance Australian aviation to all our benefit. I am a long time member of the Australian Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, this body and virtually the whole industry is strongly campaigning for reforms. Please support this petition, a win for General Aviation will help put the brakes on bureaucracy in general. We need your support, our few voices are not enough.

In this day & age petitions for support of a common concern or cause with online accessibility are beginning to lose their impact as a form of political pressuring through community lobbying.

However the online version of a petition provides the excellent opportunity to provide much insightful commentary to the supporters of the petition i.e. the signees.
 
The following is a sampling from (IMO) some of the better more insightful comments made thus far:

I'm signing because for far too long the Aviation Industry has suffered under a regime of over regulation by the CASA. The simplest example is our Part 61 licensing regulations which are over 1300 pages compared to the US part 61 which is less than 500. We need people to wake up. Business's are closing, aeroplanes are being left to rot into the weeds and a vital industry is stagnating.

Mark Smith, Australia
2 days ago

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Ever wondered where your flying doctor pilot came from? GA. Ever wondered where your rescue helicopter pilot came from? GA. Ever wonder where you Qantas, Virgin, Tiger pilot came from? GA. Save this industry from government over regulation.

Andrew McIntosh, Williamstown, Australia
2 days ago

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General Aviation is the lifeblood of the Australian bush and the thousands of remote communities that depend on it for their very survival. It bonds so much of our country together and provides irreplaceable services such as Search & Rescue, Air Ambulance, The Flying Doctor and Angel Flight. It is slowly and traumatically being strangled by unchecked bureaucracy gone mad. CASA is an out-of-control regulate-till-everything-stops monster that's determined to realise their ultimate aim - the only safe light aircraft is one that never flies. Truly a travesty when we have the best weather in the world, unlimited space for flying training and some of the most experience instructors, charter pilots, licensed aircraft mechanical engineers and air traffic controllers in the world. Please share this to help spread the word that this industry (which should be absolutely flourishing) is dying at the hands of disastrous over-regulation and unworkable legislation.

Philip Dartnell, Carlingford, NSW

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Although I am skeptical of clicktivism, this is pertinent to me. I am a LAME and have seen the decline of aviation in Australia, sadly much of that driven by the red tape forced CASA has been mandated to foist upon the industry. The industry needs simple, effective oversight, with effective and accessable rules, and strong enforcement. The aviation industry is seen as a cash cow by many as there seems to be a perception that aircraft = available money, without much thought to the massive overheads and minuscule margins required to operate.

Ian McLean, Australia

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CASA have been out of control for far too long and have done irreversible damage to the industry. They have recruited industry rejects who have abused the power they were given to settle old scores. The sooner we adopt FAA rules, the better. Unfortunately it may already be too late to save the industry, unless CASA is totally restructured with new staff. The incumbents are too entrenched in their ways to ever embrace the reforms that are necessary.

David Kilin, Australia

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I have been in the aviation industry for the past 49 years. The last 22 years I have had a small company repairing avionics at archerfield airport. I have never seen the GA sector as bad as it is now. With the Government leasing of the airports to private real estate gold diggers to the CASA miss management of the GA sector for the last thirty years with no end in sight. Reportedly 350 million Dollars has been wasted on the yes minister types running the CASA system. The introduction of the part 145 which CASA admitted in a meeting I was at when they dumped the FAR system for the European system. At that meeting CASA said that the system did not work in europe for GA but they were going to make it work in australia. 30 years this September it still has not been put into place. Companies have literly spent millions of dollars getting the 145 tag for no extra safety gains. It has divided GA and forced a lot of companies to close.

I am just disappointed in all matters to the aviation from pilot certificates, licensing, engineering, Cessna Sids and the list goes on. Well done CASA they have done a great job in Being un Australian and have now stuffed the aviation industry, The Kiwi's don't seem to have a problem so Sack CASA and ket the Kiwi's over here and get Aviation going again.

Danielle Clej, Bellbowrie, Australia

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I have emigrated from South Africa recently and couldn't believe till I got here and witnessed it first hand that the way things are run here is at least equally badly as the CAA in South Africa. The process of converting my SA part 61 licence was fine but voluminous however the degree of confusion on Part 61 in general, over regulation without a meaningful safety upside and nimby sycophantic behaviours in terms of airspace and minor airfields is essentially killing GA. If compare Johannesburg to Sydney in terms of GA airfields it is chalk and cheese. The lack of viable GA airfields (ie. Not just Bankstown and Camden) and thus decreasing volume of GA movements probably represents a decrease in safety through a reduction in currency derived from a reducing average of hours flown year. In such a great flying climate and beautiful country it is quite an astounding feat to have suppressed GA and your feeder pipe to the airlines (as evidenced by the scarce skills visa category comments earlier in the petition). Australia is an awesome country and we should be growing a surplus of airline pilots to fulfill both local needs and supply surplus internationally.

James Roberts, Alberton, South Africa

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I'm signing because government needs to understand the benefits to the economy to have GA aligning with the performance based regulatory system of the United States that will see many jobs created in aviation.

The move away from alignment with the US that started in 1990, has seen too many jobs lost in GA.

Ken Cannane, Australia

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CASA has destroyed Australian General Aviation, destroyed pilot careers and deprived rural Australia of access to reasonably priced air services.

Robert Fulton, Australia

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As a private pilot I fully support Mr Reith petition, the amount of red tape created by CASA over the years is driving operators out of business, my flying school at Essendon no longer exists because of the overwhelming bureaucracy and incompetence of CASA, we are a big country, we cannot afford to loose General Aviation.

Rodrigo Onederra, Australia

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If the authorities would just wake up, we could have an aviation industry building aeroplanes for local needs. Several start-ups are still struggling because the bureaucrats have no idea of how to foster inventiveness and industry. PM Turnbull says that is his goal, so why not start with GA?
Waye Talbot, Australia

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Australia was among the pioneering nations of aviation. It would be a shame to see the primacy of bureaucracy and politics kill off an industry that contributed much to the growth of this country. Lessons of the past have not been learned, and if the government is determined to repeat them for lack of courage and conviction, then they should expect that general aviation will not go gentle into the good night. We will rage!

Steve Hitchen, Australia

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CASAs rules and rule making has everyone confused and they have let down the entire industry in not keeping up with the rest of the world. Our workshops and release notes are not recognised in many places , to such an extent that where I once had things overhauled here, I now have to use FAA or EASA approved organisations oversees to comply with my customers requirements. Something must be done and now. Our industry is basically destroyed. Try and find people to maintain these days

david morgan, sylvania waters, Australia

[url=https://www.change.org/p/the-parliament-of-australia-save-australia-s-general-aviation-from-bureaucratic-disaster/c/460920971]

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I'm a GA pilot since 1973 and a light aircraft owner. The rules of aviation seem to be evolving principally to ensure no blame for anything is ever sheeted home to a public servant or politician. Rules are being created with no concern for commonsense and with little or no input from the people who fly aeroplanes. If CASA was running the road safety system they would have a blanket 20kph max speed and we'd all wear crash helmets to drive. The ADS-B fiasco is a perfect example of lack of commonsense. Let's implement a new system in Australia before anyone else in the world, so we can pay the highest cost for the equipment, then brag that it's all in the name of safety. We have a great safety record in this country, no need to gold-plate it at the pilot and aircraft owners expense. Australians exercise commonsense and judgement when they fly. Let the risky countries adopt first, then follow along when the prices fall. It seems that CASA have little insight into the real world, they are just public servants in charge of aviation.

William Leighton, Australia

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Because I'm a young person in the industry with 3 children and I would like to see the industry exist for them in the future - at the rate it is going, it won't

shannon wells, Australia

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Australian aviation is suffering. We are the laughing stock of the world, all the way from our biggest airlines through to GA. We have always been such a hard working, practical country, so how have we found ourselves operating in such a crippled position with legislation that allows no decision making freedom? We're watching our back with every single move we make to avoid punishment and litigation. Very average people in positions of power justifying their positions at the expense of the country. The CASA cancer must be cut away so that aviation and GA in particular can one again thrive. We are aviation in this country, we have to take the power back

Scott Johnson, Australia

Dear MP Wannabes,

Please listen & learn from the above participants & advocates of the GA industry
Yours PAIN & Aviation industry tendentious bloggers...