Anyone reading Glen’s letter couldn’t fail to appreciate the depth of feeling and the sense of longing for a resolution from CASA. Having witnessed many careless and punitive actions of CASA throughout GA across the last fifty years I would fully concur with the other experienced voices here. From my very limited knowledge of the subject, I understand that Glen has embarked on a business model that enables flying schools to combine some functions in order to meet new and extraordinarily expensive CASA administrative requirements. My guess is that CASA never considered such a rational move and hence Glen’s model, in the eyes of CASA, is unconventional. Nothing upsets the bureaucratic juggernaut more than being outwitted, it confronts the beast and calls into question its hegemony. It lives on primacy and authority and will have no qualms whatever to remove anything it perceives to threaten it’s position. It can’t do too much to the airlines, they are too big and will have huge clout politically, so GA is the fall guy, a plaything, whipping boy and reason for the ever changing rules and restrictions.
Only political moves can change the behaviour of CASA.
I well remember Brian Reddish coming to me, about thirty years ago, looking for support because, at the end game, they crushed his Hervey Bay fixed and rotary wing flying schools and charter ops by sitting on his applications for new CFI and or CP appointments. Then he couldn’t operate, ran out of money and just folded. By not formerly cancelling or suspending his operating permissions he had no direct means to counter their unjustified actions against him.