[Peetwo]

From Oz Flying this arvo more on the AAAF statement to Truss...

 



Acting Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Warren Truss speaks at Waypoint 2014. (Airservices via Twitter)

TAAAF Statement puts Minister on Notice
27 Feb 2015

A statement released today has made it clear to Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss that The Australian Aviation Associations Forum (TAAAF) is not pleased with the pace of reform at CASA.

TAAAF has strongly encouraged the Minister for Infrastructure, the new Board of CASA and the new Director of Aviation Safety (DAS) of CASA Mark Skidmore to "urgently embrace reform and pursue a fundamental improvement in aviation in Australia."

The TAAAF statement noted that "future of aviation in Australia is starting to look promising – provided that politicians, the Department of Infrastructure and aviation agency heads act now."

Forum participants called on the Minister to finalise his letter of intent to direct CASA and the CASA Board on a new path of co-operation with the aviation community to "build a more vibrant and innovative industry that is not shackled by out-moded regulation or handicapped by red tape."

TAAAF members made reiterated their enthusiasm for reform and expressed hope that the Federal Government would take a systematic approach to improving the regulator's culture in line with the industry-endorsed recommendations that came out of the ASRR (Forsyth) Report.

The call comes only days after Skidmore announced his intent to introduce just culture to CASA.

 
Then in the Oz Flying weekly wrap - The Last Minute Hitch: 27 February 2015 - Hitch gives us his thoughts on the Skates 'Just Culture' plea and again mentions the AAAF communique & Manning's ATSB Commissioner appointment:

This week Mark Skidmore took a deep breath and plunged right into the heart of GA's problems with CASA: the culture. He announced that, in line with the Forsyth Report recommendations, CASA would adopt a just-culture approach. In short this means if you stuff-up something in the air and there is nothing intentional or negligent about it, the chances are CASA won't slap you with an infringement notice. Rather, they will want you to help them understand what went wrong so they can learn more about aviation safety. This is the big one; the prime recommendation from the Forsyth Report that underpinned all the other recommendations. However, Mark told me only a few days ago that he needed the aviation community to be more open with CASA and start to reconnect with them over safety. There will be people in the industry that will blanch at the idea of doing that, but how can we tell David Forsyth and his team that a disconnect with CASA is a major problem, then perpetuate it by trying to continue the disconnect? To this point, many of us would have rather gargled gravel than be honest and open with the regulator, but we have no choice if we want change.


Despite Skidmore's statement, The Australian Aviation Associations Forum (TAAAF) wants a rocket put under CASA. They released a statement urging Minister Truss to get on with the reforms at CASA. We've been waiting years for a sniff of genuine reform, but are we starting to get impatient?

Another key initiative from the Forsyth Report was activated this week: Chris Manning was appointed to be aviation commissioner at the Australian Transport Safety Board. Chris is a former Qantas Chief Pilot and safety advisor to Tiger Airlines. Of late he has been Honorary Chairman of The Australian Aviation Associations Forum (TAAAF). As of 9 March, he will add signifcant experience and aviation smarts to the ATSB. This is well overdue given that most of the ATSB's work is aircraft accidents and incidents.

 
MTF...P2