[Peetwo]

July '22 - Su_Spence spin'n'bollocks -    

Via this month's CASA Briefing:

(WARNING: BUCKET MAYBE REQUIRED -  )

Director of Aviation Safety, Pip Spence

Consultation is at the heart of our regulatory philosophy, but it always pays to have a periodic health check.

We were asked earlier this year to assess our consultation framework and how it works for interested and affected members of the aviation community.

CASA already has a multi-layered consultation process that includes the Aviation Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) as its primary advisory body for providing objective, high-level advice.

The ASAP can establish technical working groups (TWGs) to provide a forum for industry members and technical experts to provide their input to the panel.

We use the Consultation Hub as our tool for collecting industry views and use other avenues (emails, newsletters and other channels) to make sure people know when consultation processes go live.

The Consultation Hub has been getting a workout lately as we've sought feedback on areas ranging from general aviation maintenance to aviation medicals, a multi-engine helicopter rating and proposals to change the airspace in Ballina.

The hub is used for consultation on standards development - including policy proposals, discussion papers and notices of proposed rulemaking - and for significant changes to guidance materials.

Our recent Civil Aviation Safety Regulation (CASR) Part 43 consultation, for example, saw us conduct webinars and information sessions as well as publish more than 20 information sheets on our website.

Collaboration and transparency are ideals to which the board and I are committed, along with a focus on clients and commitment to a risk-based approach to aviation safety.

We will continue to publish all the submissions we receive when we consult through our consultation hub, as well as reports and papers from our technical working group meetings.

We aim to balance our safety responsibilities with an understanding of the challenges operators face, including looking where we can to remove unnecessary red tape and administrative burden.

We genuinely want to hear your feedback about any legitimate problems caused by proposed changes.

A good way of keeping abreast of our initiatives is by subscribing to our mailing lists through our subscription centre.

This will allow you to keep up with developments such as the General Aviation Workplan we published in May which sets out our time frames for delivery on a range of reforms over the next 12 – 18 months.

We are continuing to roll out initiatives in areas such as flight crew licensing with a more flexible approach to flight testing and requirements for flight examiners.

From July 1, we will allow experienced industry examiners to apply for approval to conduct flight examiner proficiency checks (EPCs).

This will give flight examiners a choice between undertaking their checks with CASA or another examiner with the appropriate approval.

Further reforms to reduce the demand on flight examiners include increased privileges for grade 1 flight instructors that will allow them to train, grant and assess a range of endorsements.

We've also cut the fees for part of the Flight Examiner Rating Course (FERC), saving between $180 and $460.

We are also committed to developing and consulting on a draft protocol for industry to deliver a FERC.

You can expect to hear more about these and other aspects of the GA Workplan as we move into the second half of 2022 and on into 2023.

And if there are unforeseen problems resulting from changes we introduce, our intention is to be responsive and flexible.

All the best,
Pip

MTF...P2