[Peetwo]

20/20 Hindsight.

> Or; an even money bet. One could even term it as a 30% less than a 50/50 even chance of getting something done.
 
“The mills of the gods grind slow” is an old saw. The point it struggles to make is that slow but certain divine retribution (from Wiki) is on the way. Well the 2020 Senate inquiry is certainly ‘slow’ – 24 months of grinding the grist in their mills. The ‘divine’ part is yet to be seen and ‘retribution’ is most certainly a vision splendid, far beyond the horizon.
 
Even so: the submissions have begun to trickle in – you can find them – HERE.

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1 Mr John HOORE (PDF 185 KB) 

CASA’s Role in General Aviation:

CASA is responsible for aviation safety in Australia - part of which involves administering the General
Aviation industry. It does this by developing regulations, enforcing these regulations and providing
administrative services.

Under the existing legislative structure, CASA
• Develops the Civil Aviation Regulations
• Administers the Regulations
• Investigates those believed to be in breach of the Regulations
• Determines the guilt or otherwise of those involved
• Imposes sanctions on those persons or organisation CASA deems to be guilty

In a democratic society, it is quite unreasonable for one organisation to have such extensive powers – CASA is, effectively the “legislator, the judge, the jury and the executioner.”

This situation does not exist in other industries. For example, the organisations that develop the set the standards for driving a car or truck issue licences, but they do not have the responsibility of policing the rules, determining guilt or issuing penalties...

..RECOMMENDATION 1 The roles and responsibilities presently assigned to CASA should be reassigned to separate organisations to ensure fairness for all participants.

RECOMMENDATION 2 The responsibilities presently assigned to CASA should be reallocated to other organisations so that the decisions on what services must be purchased by participants in the GA industry are not made by the same organisation which profits from the implementation of those decisions.

RECOMMENDATION 3 CASA should be directed not to expend resources developing systems and procedures which are rightly the responsibility of the individual training providers.

RECOMMENDATION 4 CASA should not expend resources developing draft Operations Manuals and should not take on the responsibility of and impose a charge for approving an Organisation’s Operations Manual...

..Conclusion:

I believe that CASA staff are highly skilled, and the individual members have a great deal to offer the General Aviation industry. The problem is that the organisation has been structured in such a way that it must be very difficult for it to clearly understand its role in the General Aviation industry and resolve the often-competing imperatives of promoting safety, generating income and assuming responsibility for certain functions which are clearly the responsibility of the organisations providing General Aviation services.

There is something seriously wrong when, in Australia, we have a climate that is so conducive for training pilots, but yet we are forced to look overseas to recruit pilots and instructors to meet a shortfall in our ability to train men and women to meet the demands of the aviation industry.

2 Mr Sandy Reith (PDF 103 KB) 

Dear Senators,

The last thing we need is yet another inquiry. You have the Forsyth Report from the (time consuming and
expensive) Aviation Safety Regulation Review, the ASRR. You also have the BITRE report on GA. You
have the CASA figures of current medical approvals and if you count out overseas students you will see a
big decline.

In the ASRR you will find hundreds of submissions which go exactly to the problems and decline of GA in
Australia. In the PDF attached you will see part of the problem, over regulation causing huge cost increases which is why we are now so uncompetitive, why we have to import our airline pilots. You might understand that GA activity has declined when our population has almost doubled.

Why we have lost thousands of jobs, businesses and services in GA right across Australia. In the USA an
instructor can go out and teach flying. They are not graded. Not so here, you will have to be graded, vetted and spend many thousands ($50,000? more?) and wait uncertainly over months or years for a flying school permit. Totally unnecessary.

The attached table was produced by Adrianne Fleming, Head of Operations at Tristar Aviation, Moorabbin
Airport regarding the latest rules versus the previous regime.

Tip of iceberg.

What is sorely needed is reform action. Not another inquiry. You could start by requiring CASA to
immediately allow independent instructors as per the USA. Thirty one years ago CASA (it’s predecessor by
another name change) was set by the Minister to rewrite the rules. It still hasn’t finished because the
independent corporate body model of governance cannot work. It is incapable. There must be a transparent
line of Parliamentary oversight and accountability. We are entitled to expect governments to govern, not
hand over virtually unlimited power to unelected bureaucrats.

If you suspect I’m exaggerating, look at the Glen Buckley case, an excellent example of the CASA modus
operandi, how to crush a GA business.

There is a great opportunity to revitalise this ailing industry, there’s just enough left of the GA industry to build upon, please don't do a Nero.

Regards,

Alexander C. (Sandy) Reith

 

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Aunt Pru will do her best to keep track of the whole thing on this thread; from soup to nuts. We have not seen a schedule or notice of pubic sessions; so patience is required.
 
There is little patience within the BRB /IOS – the question most asked is why don’t we save all the bother and simply enforce the 150 recommendations made between the Forsyth report and the Senate inquiry into Pel-Air. A close second is why not repeal 61/141 and 142 and simply adopt the FAA system. Both valid questions to be asked and fully answered.
 
There are two submissions logged at present – both worth the few moments it takes to read them.
 
A lot MTF I reckon.
 
Toot – toot.

Don't forget to monitor the Additional Documents page - 

MTF...P2

ps Supplementary submission from Sandy in the form of an open email to his local member Dan Tehan...  

Dear Dan,

Regarding the  Aviation Security Identification Card (ASIC). 

Cost to pilots.     $283  (approx)  EVERY Two Years. 

I’ve held a CASA (prev. DCA) flying licence since 1966. Commercial Licence since ‘68. I’ve held Chief Flying Instructor approval and licence testing approvals. I’ve been approved Chief Pilot for Regular Public Transport flying services and still my Government treats me like a potential criminal terrorist and charges me $283 every two years to prove who I am and to look at whether I have a criminal activity record during the past two years. 

Three questions please:- 

1/.
      I request a ten year extension, at no cost, to my existing ASIC by virtue of the following facts. 

     a. Being retired from professional flying the cost is excessive, 

     b. My history as above and being known to you personally,

     c. I am 78 years of age and pose no risk to security at any airport (during my professional flying career I flew into every major airport in Australia without a security incident)

2/.
      Will the Government consider general relief from the ASIC imposition by way of extending the period of validity to ten years? 

Adding years of validity by formula could be an alternative with benefits of longer periods of validity to provide incentive to upgrade from, say, Private Licence to Commercial Pilot Licence. 

3/.
      Can you please provide evidence of the efficacy of the ASIC program? 
It was introduced after 9/11 and therefore history should show if its been effective or necessary. 
The Government owes this explanation to the General Aviation (GA) community and industry because the ASIC is very expensive and a disincentive to flying activity. It is considered valueless by virtually the whole of the GA community. 

The GA industry has been debilitated by extreme over regulation through CASA and the Department of Infrastructure, the latter controlling ASICs. 

A positive step towards halting the GA decline, loss of jobs and services, would be very welcome. 

Please note, no similar security identification requirement is made of GA personnel in the USA, home of 9/11. 

Kind regards,

Sandy