[Peetwo]

Alphabets same hymn sheet & in tune - "Hallelujah...hallelujah!"

 
While Fort Fumble crumbles? - A word from our sponsors the IOS

What an end to a week in the annals of aviation safety admin in the land Dunceunda, where it will all lead is in the lap of the Gods?? Here is a little bit of a wrap up that covers off some of the week's proceedings:

Yes Minister the numbers don't lie...

[quote pid='5000' dateline='1471737528']
[quote pid='4993' dateline='1471580931']

http://www.australianflying.com.au/lates...41e6MDE.99

 

http://www.australianflying.com.au/the-l...SwzaKMh.99

Irresistible force paradox.

Survey shows industry’s deep loathing for CASA. Not a good look if your the Minister... :

Phil Hurst says CASA has ‘a major management problem with transparency and accountability’. Picture: Ray Strange - P2 Edit: Sorry Binger no offence to Mr Strange but IMO the above pic is better...

• Mitchell Bingemann
  
• The Australian
  
• 12:00AM August 26, 2016
  @Mitch_Hell
  [img=0x0]http://pixel.tcog.cp1.news.com.au/track/component/author/4c134add4c3a9e4881f7841b69d9ac85/?esi=true&t_product=the-australian&t_template=s3/austemp-article_common/vertical/author/widget&td_bio=false[/img]
  

Aerial Application Association of Australia chief executive Phil Hurst said the survey was a “fundamental confirmation of how broken CASA still is”.


“That is a damning indictment of CASA’s management and its inability to act decisively on yet another comprehensive review of its shortcomings,” Mr Hurst said.

“If anyone in business received this sort of feedback from clients they would either be out of business or doing everything within their power to claw back their reputation and trust.

“CASA is doing neither. CASA still has a major management problem with transparency, accountability and in developing ways to work positively with industry to create win-win scenarios.”

Mr Hurst said CASA needed to invert its philosophy to help industry be better, rather than forcing unworkable regulations that were crippling it with onerous costs.

“Someone at CASA — either the board or the minister — must step up and address these fundamental shortcomings urgently. AAAA strongly supports the minister and the board acting decisively to address the ongoing dysfunctionality of our aviation regulator,” he said. - Phil Hurst in bold: P2 OP - Again in not too many words Phil Hurst absolutely nails it - CF for PH...

[/quote]

Hot off the Yaffa press -

RAAA CALLS FOR NEW DEAL

The Regional Aviation Association of Australia (RAAA) today called upon the Government to renew its efforts in reforming the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) and to take positive action to harmonise Australia’s aviation safety regulations with the rest of the world.

With the announcement yesterday of the resignation of CASA’s Director of Aviation Safety, Mark Skidmore AM, the RAAA sees it as essential that the CASA Board moves as quickly as possible to appoint an appropriately qualified successor to carry out the necessary reforms within CASA.

The RAAA called for a new deal for Australia’s aviation industry in light of the poor results of an independent stakeholder relationship survey conducted on the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).

The survey indicated a general dissatisfaction by industry respondents in their overall relationship with the country’s aviation safety regulator. CASA was rated well below par in its ongoing dialogue with industry, consistency of decision making and, in particular, the development of aviation safety regulations.

The survey follows the Government’s Aviation Safety Regulation Review (ASRR) carried out in 2014 which identified a need for CASA to improve its service delivery and relationship with stakeholders. It found that CASA needed cultural change and a new strategic direction.

Commenting on the survey result RAAA Chairman, Jim Davis, said "It is obvious that CASA needs to pick up its game. It is now over 18 months since the ASRR report was adopted by the Government but CASA has a long way to go in achieving its objectives".

He added, "The Government now needs to take action to ensure that the ASRR report’s recommendations are effectively implemented and haven’t been turned into just another bureaucratic box ticking exercise".

The RAAA urges the Government to urgently commission a progress report into the implementation of the ASRR recommendations and to have it carried out by one or more of the original authors of the ASRR report.

It also calls upon the Government to direct CASA to harmonise Australia’s aviation safety regulations with overseas jurisdictions by removing the current red tape and unfair restrictions to competition suffered by Australian industry.

Media Contacts:

Jim Davis: 0408 640 533

Mike Higgins: 0434 608 332


Dated: Friday, 26 August 2016

And of course you can't go past Gobbles new thread SKIDMORE GONE! & the Ferryman's latest Sunday Ramble ...

However for a straight from the heart, cash & no BS summary of the current clusterf#*k that is aviation administration & regulatory oversight in this country, I tip my hat to new honorary IOS member Charlie, who in reply to Binger's above article said.. :

Charles

20 hours ago

I've been involved in aviation as a professional pilot for 36 years and have flown all over the world. CASA have NEVER had the respect of the industry. Operationally it's mostly staffed with career failures who couldn't make it in the industry and so joined the regulator where they a/. Couldn't be fired easily (again, often) and b/. We're guaranteed a good wage and excellent pension. Many are ex RAAF but not the top ones who mostly went from the RAAF to good airline jobs at QF, Cathay etc. The industry then has to cope with ex RAAF or Army aviators/engineers with ZERO comprehension of private enterprise and industry. The rank stupidity and dishonesty the vast majority of industry professionals have experienced/ witnessed at the hands of CASA is breath taking. Any long serving aviation professional could talk for HOURS regaling the audience with CASA horror stories - but they won't because CASA operational staff have long memories and a nasty vindictive streak.

It's an actual legal requirement that if some ex RAAF/Army/Navy pilot who just scraped through in the service and can't get a good job in industry (airline) applies to CASA they MUST be employed. That was told to me by one of the few good ex RAAF pilots who was employed by the regulator before it was called CASA and is now long retired.

All of us who have spent our careers in aviation worked with some of these individuals before they joined CASA and know exactly why they failed and why they harbour such resentment towards the industry that shunned them.

CASA needs to be overhauled root and branch...or shut down and reconstituted from the ground up.

It's not known far and wide as the Cretins Against Sensible Aviation for no reason.

TIME Gentleman & Ladies, TIME!   
[/quote]

Latest from the Aunty Pru blog -

AuntyPru Monday Quarterback: TIME Gents & Ladies, TIME!

• Posted by Sarcs
  
• on August 29, 2016
  
• Senate Estimates - Unplugged
  

[/url]

Off the AuntyPru boards today there is a general sentiment from the IOS that enough is enough and it is time the Minister and the Government extracted their heads from the sand, showed some leadership and sorted the shambolic, diabolical state of affairs of oversight & regulation of aviation safety in this country.

First from Sandy via new AuntyPru thead – SKIDMORE GONE!:

The Board of CASA has not outwardly shown any leadership that would give hope for reform. The unfolding disaster continues. What is not apparent is why did Skidmore go? Was the Board instrumental? In which case they have belatedly taken a bold step in the right direction. The given reason by Skidmore of his departure, “personal,” is entirely unsatisfactory as is the Board’s unstinting praise of his work. I think we as citizens, taxpayers and aviation industry participants are entitled to know why he has left, whether asked and by whom or gone of his own volition. We are also entitled to know how much pay he has enjoyed and how much will he take as he walks.



The train is wrecked and the train driver extricates himself from the wreckage and grabs a pile of cash from the caboose. As he wanders off the Minister for Transport and the Board of Management (assembled at a distance) say “cheerio, good job thanks.” The Minister and entourage leave the scene with a wink and nod towards the injured, the paramedics and gathered public. The fact that the tracks were ballasted with soggy bundles of outdated regulations will be reported as the cause, for which no one was responsible, ‘down the track’ say in six or seven years time....etc

Along the same theme as the Alphabets & individual IOS member commentary, I noted the following article courtesy of Aviation Tribunal where REX applaud the CASA Board for accepting (read demanding) the resignation of DAS Skidmore...

Rex welcomes developments in CASA


By Aviation Tribune
Posted on August 29, 2016
Tis Meyer / PlanePics.org

Regional Express (Rex) has described the decision by the Board of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) to accept the resignation of its CEO as a further step towards reforming the aviation regulatory body.

Rex Chief Operating Officer Mr Neville Howell said that the CASA Board had commissioned a survey late last year that identified the need for further substantial improvement within the authority. Mr Howell commended the CASA Board for this initiative and stated that it was a clear sign that the board was determined to drive change and to deliver better outcomes.

“CASA’s own survey of the stakeholders’ perception of CASA (whose results were released this week), showed that CASA received a devastating rating of between 3 and 4 (out of 10 as the most favourable) for a whole range of Key Performance Indicators.”

“One of the areas identified in the survey in need of improvement is the frequent long delays in the issuing of permits and approvals which has placed industry at risk of having to ground their operations. These delays have the potential to be fatal to small operators in particular.”

“The industry has full confidence in the newly installed Board, which for the first time comprises professionals with in-depth knowledge of the industry, as well as in the new Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Hon. Darren Chester, who has demonstrated his willingness to listen to industry and make bold decisions.”

Reforming a bureaucracy such as CASA is a mammoth task. Rex calls on the Board to select a new CEO who has both an intimate knowledge of CASA so that he or she can hit the ground running as well as entrepreneurial industry experience to understand the repercussions of the decisions made by the regulator. Rex also hopes the selection process can be completed within three months as the industry cannot afford to be in limbo for much longer. There was virtually nothing substantial achieved in the last two years in the implementation of the much-needed Aviation Safety Regulation Review (ASRR) recommendations (as directed in the Minister’s Statement of Expectations to CASA) and the industry critically needs an effective CEO urgently to fast track this much-delayed implementation.

Regional Express (Rex) is Australia’s largest independent regional airline operating a fleet of more than 50 Saab 340 aircraft on some 1,500 weekly flights to 58 destinations throughout all states in Australia. In addition to the regional airline Regional Express, the Rex Group comprises wholly owned subsidiaries Pel-Air Aviation (air freight and charter operator), Air Link (Dubbo-based regional airline) and the Australian Airline Pilot Academy.

  
This bit..

"..Reforming a bureaucracy such as CASA is a mammoth task. Rex calls on the Board to select a new CEO who has both an intimate knowledge of CASA so that he or she can hit the ground running as well as entrepreneurial industry experience to understand the repercussions of the decisions made by the regulator. Rex also hopes the selection process can be completed within three months as the industry cannot afford to be in limbo for much longer.."

Please refer to my 'Captain's Pick': [url=http://auntypru.com/forum/-SKIDMORE-GONE?pid=5051#pid5051]Now for the DAS conundrum

Captain's Pick: My CP for the part in bold would have to be Mike Smith..


...Anyway here is a reminder of the calibre and experience of Mike Smith:

Mike Smith Area of Specialization:

Mike Smith brings to any project a wealth of senior management experience and technical expertise in both government and private industry. Through an executive level career spanning more than 17 years, he has managed and contributed to many innovative and highly successful technical, policy implementation and organizational restructuring projects. These have included complex and contentious issues requiring astute and sensitive leadership....

Well apparently Mike Smith is ready, willing and able... "to hit the ground running"-   

So Jeff Boyd & the Board, what the hell are you waiting for...


MTF...P2

Update: AHIA joins the IOS choir.

Via Avbiz today:

Helicopter Industry Association calls for halt on new regulation
31 August 2016


The Australian Helicopter Industry Association (AHIA) has called for a moratorium on regulatory change and for the Civil Aviation Safety Authority to recruit a local replacement for resigning Director of Aviation Safety Mark Skidmore.

“With the current confusion in industry and inconsistency of interpretation of regulations within CASA the AHIA encourages the Board to instruct CASA to impose a moratorium on the current Regulatory Reform process until the restructuring of Senior Management with appropriately qualified personnel is completed,” said AHIA President Peter Crook and Vice President Ray Cronin in a joint statement.

“Additionally the entire CASA organisation is in need of clarification of direction. A recent survey commissioned by the CASA Board indicated less than favourable results with the industry having little faith in the ability of the Regulator to move ahead with safe, economical and meaningful Regulatory Reform.

“The AHIA urges Government to encourage CASA to harmonise our Regulations with other major Regulatory bodies, with regard to our Australian specific operational requirements.

“To achieve this the AHIA strongly suggests effort be spent sourcing a Director of Aviation Safety domestically, an individual ideally with a Civil Aviation background who understands the financial and operational impact on industry of proposed regulation changes.”

The AHIA has worked closely with CASA on modifying proposed changes to create less of a burden on the helicopter industry. Peter Crook believes the authority has an opportunity to implement positive change

“With possibly the most industry astute CASA Board for some decades and a new industry interested Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Hon Darren Chester, the time is right for significant change,” he said.

“With approaching 2,200 helicopters on the civil register, Australia has the second largest number of helicopters of any country in the western world, second only to the USA. There are in excess of 3,500 helicopter pilots, more than 2,500 helicopter engineers and with support services including finance, insurance, fuel, spare parts and component and engine overhaul providers the Australian helicopter industry is a significant percentage of Australian aviation

Read more at http://www.aviationbusiness.com.au/lates...KouzdKO.99

MTF...P2