[Peetwo]

Sandy comment in reply to LMH on SOE! - 

Via Oz Flying: 

Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Catherine King last week issued CASA with a new Statement of Expectations (SoE).

The SoE will ensure CASA understands what the minister expects of them for the next two years. They are legislative documents that the regulator must abide by.

"From licensing pilots and registering aircraft, to overseeing aviation safety and awareness, CASA help ensure we share the skies safely – whether for travel, freight or recreation," Minister King said.

"Ensuring aviation safety remains the highest priority is strongly reflected in the new statement, which also outlines expectations surrounding transparency, engaging stakeholders and communities, and supporting the delivery of 18 important initiatives."

The 18 initiatives laid out in the SoE are:

• release public exposure drafts of regulations before submitting them to the minister for signing
  
• present a forward regulatory program each year
  
• consider the impact of regulation on the aviation community and regions
  
• work with Airservices and Defence to develop OneSKY
  
• support the new flight information system for uncrewed aerial vehicles
  
• provide oversight for major aerodrome projects
  
• provide sufficient resources to Western Sydney Airport, noting the opening target of late 2026
  
• work with the department and Airservices on modernising airspace management
  
• work with Geoscience Australia and Airservices on implementing SBAS
  
• work with the Australian Space Agency to advance space policy and industries
  
• work with government agencies on long-term funding models, whilst minimising regulatory cost
  
• work with the department on mutual recognition of Australian designs, innovation and certification internationally, and the automatic recognition of licences and approvals
  
• identify ways to promote flight instruction in regions and as an export industry
  
• support the department in preparing the Federal Government's Aviation White Paper
  
• allocate sufficient resources to the Industry Complaints Commissioner and consider all findings and recommendations
  
• conduct regular surveillance activities as defined in the Civil Aviation Act.
  

"These aviation safety-bolstering initiatives include measures to modernise airspace management, implement satellite-based augmentation systems in the aviation environment, share safety information, and advance Australia’s space policies and industries," Minister King said.

The SoE also requires CASA to exercise good corporate governance and to collaborate and consult with the aviation community, the department and other agencies such as the ATSB.

The full 2023 Statement of Expectations can be downloaded from the Federal Register of Legislation.

Plus from last week's LMH:

"...Minister for Transport, Infrastructure, Regional Development and Local Government Catherine King last week issued CASA with her list of expectations for the next two years. The Statement of Expectations is a legislative document that CASA is obliged to comply with; anything in there is not negotiable; most of the negotiating would have been done before the first draft. If you thumb through it, you'll develop the impression–as I did–that this minister expects similar things of CASA that the previous minister did ... right down to the Key Initiatives, which I would argue can't be initiatives at all if they were initiated previously. You can only initiate something once. There are some minor differences in language and the occasional new expectation that weren't in the 2022 SoE, but largely it's the same. Except for one stand-out: the requirement for CASA to co-operate with the white paper process. That was to be expected; the white paper is concreted into ALP policy and all agencies–Airservices and the ATSB included–will be required to contribute as experts in the aviation field. Whether or not the white paper reflects any of that expertise when it is published can't be answered yet. The same goes for the experts within the aviation community. The last white paper ignored the expert input to the extent that the white paper and the preceding green paper were totally unrelated to each other. It's one thing to expect co-operation, but when it comes your way you really are obliged to take note of it...."

Sandy's reply to LMH:

"..Mention is made that CASA is obliged to adhere to the Minister’s Statement of Expectations because it is an instrument of legislation. Unfortunately there are no sanctions for non compliance. We’ve seen, over and over for years, how Aviation House can drag out the implementation of obviously worthwhile reform measures, medical certification a case in point. 

Having being goaded into following the USA’s highly successful BasicMed certification for private pilots CASA came up with its overly restrictive Basic Class 2 ‘reform.’ This reform was touted to answer our legitimate calls to lower costs and unnecessary visits to health professionals and allow more pilots to keep flying. Our Basic C2 is supposed to be based on the heavy commercial vehicle drivers licence standard, but does not allow a ‘conditional’ approval. This means that, as one private pilot explained, he could drive a tanker full of avgas with his ‘conditional’ driver medical through any city of Australia, but this wouldn’t allow flying his private aircraft. 
 
Apart from other nonsensical Basic C2 restraints, such as not allowing operations under the efficient and safe Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) category, thus inducing pilots to drop their currency for IFR, we have the inexplicable facts that civil aviation law has permitted the gliding fraternity for more than 70 years to fly with no aviation medicals, no problem.  The same goes for the many thousands of pilots in two seat low weight category for the last 40 years, and now instead of fixing the Basic C2, CASA is making slow show of contemplating the introduction a new self declared medical standard when the truth is that safe to drive a motor vehicle is safe to fly. 
 
All of the above much to the chagrin of those who have to jump through CASA’s medical hoops at great expense, and, like myself, whose specialists advise that some of CASA’s requirements are not necessary. What a pity for Australia’s struggling General Aviation industry that the Minister doesn’t use another part of the Act that allows Ministerial Directions, a far more explicit term than the vagueness of mere ‘expectations.’..."

Well said that Man! - 

MTF...P2