[Peetwo]

DW1 Inquiry: Chester correspondence & AUSALPA Add Info.

Via the Senate Inquiry webpages it would seem that miniscule Chester has been fighting a very belated, inconsequential rear guard action in response to the committee's inquisition on drones:

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Despite the repeated Motherhood statements and weasel word confections, note how a month later 6D's whole written demeanour and political bravado has subtly changed... :

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Also of interest was the following 'Additional Info' tabled on behalf of AUSALPA:

• 4  Additional information provided by the Australian Airline Pilots' Association at a public hearing in Sydney on 26 June 2017.
  
  

Key Messages

• the positive economic potential for RPAS is huge and we must embrace the technology
  
• sharing airspace creates risk through a probability of collision and a range of adverse consequences
  
• airspace segregation should be the risk mitigator of choice
  
• if RPAS share airspace with manned aircraft, there can be no reduction in safety for manned operations
  
• we do not see excessive risk coming from compliant non-excluded commercial operations
  
• we do see excessive probability of collision coming from the uneducated, the unwise, the cowboys and the criminals
  
• we do see adverse outcomes due to the chosen mass of excluded RPAs
  
• we do not believe that the collision dynamics of bird strikes and drone strikes are the same – drone strikes are worse
  
• we do not believe that the ground collision dynamics with people are related to the airborne collision dynamics with aircraft
  
• the advice from Monash is not sufficiently rigorous to act as a policy basis
  
• CASA has not displayed adequate caution in deciding what are excluded RPA operations
  
• More research is required into aircraft drone collision dynamics to provide a proper basis for defining excluded RPA operations
  
• Technology such as geo-fencing should be implemented to the maximum practical extent to aid compliance and minimise collision risk
  
• We need a strong enforcement regime
  
• We are committed to doing our part in shaping any new concept for RPA management strategies such as “U Space”
  

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&..

Consultation with Pilots

 AusALPA is concerned that both the Minister and now the CEO of CASA are advised by panels of vested commercial interests in aviation to the exclusion of pilot bodies.

 The entrepreneurs and operators of Australia’s aviation businesses do not speak for pilots and do not deal face-to-face with the real risks every day – governments of all persuasions must seek balanced advice

 The pilot associations have no more or less "industrial" interest in aviation policy development than do the operators

 Advisory panels should have no industrial agenda for any participant

MTF...P2