CASA Rant

[kreebeedee]

Warning - this message contains ranting, moaning, and probably nothing you've not heard before, over and over again

Evening,

Am new to PRRuNE, but am starting on the assumption that this might be the place to have a rant about CASA.

Am sure I'm not saying anything new, but why, oh why, are they so slow? I passed my PPL on 28th Jan and STILL haven't received my licence. After a fortnight or so, I rang them to see how it was progressing (with the excitement of an eager chick, ready to stretch her newly minted wings) only to be greeted by a surly, unhelpful, humourless employee, of the calibre usually only found in prison detention centres. She informed me that I hadn't filled in the purple form correctly, and that the whole licence had been sent back, but wouldn't confirm why.

"To my home address?" I inquire, with the patient knowledge of a person who's dealt with government departments before.
"To your home address" confirms she.

So I wait, and wait, and wait.....and nothing. And of course, I haven't been flying, because I don't have a licence. So, I get twitchy, as ANY pilot does, looking up at those CAVOK days. So, I do what any newbie pilot would do - go out to the aerodrome and fly with an instructor (as I'm just too scared to break any rules, lest I lose my not-yet-snug-in-licence-holder piece of paper). And it turns out that my home address is actually Hangar ***, Camden Aerodrome (and sometimes I wish it were!) and that the returned licence is sitting at my flying school, but WITHOUT the purple form,
with a covering letter requesting payment.

{sigh} Back on the phone.
"Please can I pay, over the phone? Why didn't you phone me for payment?"

"Policy, blaah, blaah, don't give a monkey's nuts, blaah, blaah, blaah. Send it all back to us by return mail, blaah, blaah, this message is automated, blaah, blaah"

So, of course, I post it back, Next-Day-Delivery.

And....here I am, today on the 4th of MARCH, like a birdy in a cage, STILL unable to fly. Licence-less.

And somewhat ranty.

That's all!

Feel heaps better now - these forums are great!!

[KittyKatKaper]

Ahhhhh..
Sweet bureaucracy....
how fine....
how noble....
how brainless ! i'm just following the rules maaaaaaaaate !.. You shudda known that procedure PH2743598 (part 4, subsection 5) was applicable in this case and that form JA88459 (b) has to witnessed by a satanic nun (refer to part 81732-F) and mailed 4 days before you thought of applying for, what wuz it ? oh yeah., your PPL

Welcome to Oz aviation reality..., CASA syle, where commonsense.... isn't.

It won't get any better.

[tio540]

Just wait until it's something important, like a medical, or ASIC, and your income depends on it. Then watch the sweat build on your brow.

Submit a ASIC application 1 month before expiry, then wait 2 months for it. The mortgage looks a bit like this :ouch::{:uhoh:. Submit it earlier and get told you already have one, so no.

[Tee Emm]

Kitty Kat etc. Welcome to Pprune. Lovely to see someone with a delightful sense of humour. Hope to read more of your posts.:ok:

[privateer01]

Well Speaking as someone undergoing a ATPL conversion in Australia....

They are a whole hell of alot more helpful then the FAA.

I've been on the Phone to them pretty much on a weekly basis.

Can damn near recognize them before they tell me thier name....and they me....Might be the accent tho...:}

[Feather #3]

It can be a mixed blessing, BUT very much depends who answers the phone.

I recently had a 6-monthly medical restriction put on my certificate. Why, I wondered. Called and was told that under Annexx xx, Clause b(i)x they could do this. Yes, why? Read the above Annex. Yes, why?...... I'll have to refer this [to the supervisor].

Problem she says? No, just wanna know WHY? Oh, is that all; you're over 60. Ask your mates, they'll tell you. OK, ta!

So, it depends who you get. I've had great success with going to the top where required, although time may not be of the essence.

G'day ;)

[rotaryman]

kreebeedee: Remember!

CASA = We are Not Happy, till Your Not Happy..:}:}

[QSK?]

kreebeedee:

Have you tried contacting the CASA Industry Complaints Commissioner, Michael Hart?

Go to: About CASA - CASA Industry Complaints Commissioner (http://www.casa.gov.au/corporat/complaints.htm) for more info.

But before you do, make sure you have all your facts correct, otherwise your integrity may suffer in the process.

[The Green Goblin]

Meh stop being impatient :D

I waited 6 months for my PPL to arrive, at least they were free then.

Lets not talk about my first ASIC card :\

[sms777]

Put in an initial ASIC application on 10. 12. 2008. previous expired two years ago.
Rang two days ago, got told it is in the SYSTEM, be patient.
By the way what happened to my old card i was supposed to return?
It is in the Animal Welfare System..... My dog ate it! :}

She hung up.

[tio540]

Have you tried contacting the CASA Industry Complaints Commissioner, Michael Hart?



Marvellous idea, then they should really leave you alone.

[JulieFlyGal]

Sorry, but this problem seems to be due to the address that was given to CASA. Who gave them this postal address? If you didn't verify the address when you called them, then that's your problem, not CASA's. CASA can't be expected to know where you live if you don't tell them!!

[DanArcher]

Sorry, but this problem seems to be due to the address that was given to CASA. Who gave them this postal address? If you didn't verify the address when you called them, then that's your problem, not CASA's. CASA can't be expected to know where you live if you don't tell them!!

applying for a job with casa by anychance :rolleyes:

I sent of my CPL application all complete with my new address as well as a signed letter informing them of of my change of address & also used the casa website change of address form & guess what..............:mad::ugh::mad:

so the long & short of it, If I can't get it from my old place I'll have to pay those useless :mad::mad::mad::mad: another $80 for their stuff up!!

someone remind me why i got into avaition :confused:

[fullboost]

No wonder that RAA (rec' aviation Australia) is gaining new members daily. After going from GA to RAA to get away from the BS, my rants have diminished to nil. Of coarse its a matter of what one wants from a ppl but I'm quite happy flying 2 seat aircraft and keeping out of cta.....at the moment. FB.

[coke drinker]

Julie...it has to be a stuff up on their end. I know who KreeBeeDee (not that they know it), and I know who the people involved at the school end were and there is NO WAY in hell that they would make that mistake. That is quite plain and simple a CASA f*%^ up. And it isn't uncommon. I know three other people who they did it too (Bankstown based with different schools)....

Dan, pressure the buggers. I had a situation where I had two things to go on my licence simultaneously. One for whatever reason took longer than the other to process. Consequently, they sent me a reprint with only one of the two items on it. I got on the blower and told them it was their f&$%up as I specifically asked for both to be on it when it got reprinted. The person didn't argue and two days later I had the corrected one free of charge. Manners with an aggressive (but not sarcastic) undertone seems to work wonders with CLARC.

[DWC182]

Heres a copy of Casa's charter to allow you to compare our common experiances as pilots with CASA and what the former CASA CEO dreamt was occurring, you wont spot any commonality here:\

Foreword by the Former CEO Bruce Byron

I am pleased to present CASA’s revised Service Charter, which re-affirms our commitment to high standards of service in all aspects of our business and invites feedback from those who use our services.
We are well aware that our actions and decisions can affect people’s lives and businesses, and we accept our responsibility to give service on a professional basis, and with courtesy and consideration. An important feature of the revised Charter is an improved complaints handling process.
Of course, CASA is a regulator as well as a service provider and our business is safety. For CASA, good service is important but it cannot mean ‘the client is always right’. We cannot always give people the answers they would like to hear or enable them to do the things they would like to do. And our priorities will not always be the same as those of the people we are dealing with. But our approach will be ‘why not’ rather than ‘why’.
Our aim is to be a good regulator. What that means was well set out in the Minister’s 2003 Charter Letter to CASA: ‘A good regulator will communicate and consult extensively with stakeholders. Its decisions will be consistent and predictable, based on transparent processes. A good regulator will demonstrate fairness, good judgement, and be flexible and responsive to the changing environment in which the aviation industry operates. It will be effective, efficient and timely in its operations and it will be accountable for its actions. In the provision of regulatory services CASA must provide a high level of client service and treat clients with consideration and courtesy. Finally, it will be independent, enforcing civil aviation regulations, as it deems appropriate, while bearing in mind these expected standards of behaviour.’
This Service Charter is one way in which we can be directly accountable to all our stakeholders. It sets a benchmark against which expectations and experiences of CASA’s service can be measured.
We will use the feedback we receive and our own regular monitoring of performance to help ensure our service standards meet the requirements of a good regulator.
Bruce Byron Former Chief Executive Officer

[tio540]

I rang CLARC over a two day period continuously, and the phone rang out each time. Finally a chap answered (cleaner or something) and said they were moving office for them, and that no one was there anymore.

No one thought to transfer the phone to a mobile. Huh?

[LambOfGod]

they were moving office for them, and that no one was there anymore.

Does CASA actualy make money?

And if the government makes up pointless un-efficient jobs in Casa, why don't they just have more people working where it's needed, license processing etc..

[YPJT]

I know of guys who waited weeks and weeks for their PPL only to receive all their documents back in the mail saying that they required an ASIC application as well. This despite the fact that the applicant already had a valid ASIC and a duly certified copy was enclosed with everything else by the flying school.

CASA take note - you are not the only ASIC issuing body in Australia. History has shown though that your are certainly the worse.

To set your systems up in such a way that the process will onlly be completed if you also receive an ASIC application is bureaucratic, ignorant and a demonstration of the fact that you really do not know what is going on.:ugh:

[badhaircut]

Every time someone answers your call at CASA, they immediately start lying to you with the age old;

"Hello there, flight crew licensing, how can I help you?"

Bulls:mad:, your not here to help anyone luv, your just here to transfer me and then abuse me by saying its my fault CASA sent my license to the wrong address! :ugh:

[kreebeedee]

Hello everybody,

Wow, I see I'm not alone....thank you for your suggestions and for sharing your frustrations....

"Sorry, but this problem seems to be due to the address that was given to CASA. Who gave them this postal address? If you didn't verify the address when you called them, then that's your problem, not CASA's. CASA can't be expected to know where you live if you don't tell them!!"

I gave them my postal address, when I filled in that section of the form, after I passed my PPL. I may have been with excitement, but have rote learned my address, after having lived there for 13 years.....and when I called them, and asked them, "did you send it to my home address?" I'm sure they didn't think I really live at hangar 56, Camden airport?

"I know who KreeBeeDee (not that they know it), and I know who the people involved at the school end were and there is NO WAY in hell that they would make that mistake. That is quite plain and simple a CASA f*%^ up"

Quite right Coke Drinker (and I think I may know you you are, too:))

Looking forward to going through the Class 1 Medical procedure....

Maybe CASA should bear this in mind:

To get things done, a committee should consist of no more than three people, two of whom are absent

Cheers,

Kreeebeeedee.

[Jabawocky]

Have to agree with the above..... get all the details even as a diary entry.

My current experience with CASA in the registration area has me frustrated due to some silly 14 day period thing which for the life of me I can not see why its not a bit flexible if you get all the tasks done......"its the law".....but why???

Having said that, and its dumb, all the folk I have spoken with in Cantberra and Brisbane have been wonderful and helpful.

But trust me, when you sell a plane, its a lot easier to let the rego go with the plane!:ouch:

J:ok:

[Pilotette]

ARGH :ouch: Don't even get me started on CASA :ugh:

But one thing I will say is..if you are assertive enough, you will get them doing back flips for you :ok: