13/03/19. Again to my CASA Team Leader
13/03/19
Dear Mr Will Nuttall, I am writing to you in your role as the Team Leader of CMT 3, and the CMT that initiated the current action against APTA.
You are aware of my views, that had you decided to approach me, this entire matter could have been resolved with a couple of hours of well intentioned discussion. In your role as the Team Leader, you decided on a different course of action, that I feel was not fair or warranted.
Nevertheless, I do appreciate that CASA has procedures and protocols to follow, and I can only assume and hope that you have followed them strictly.
As you are aware, my Business like many other aviation businesses across Australia, relies heavily on CASA in order to conduct its Business.I do wish to write to you again, and call on you to lift the freeze that you have placed on APTA. It is having a significant commercial impact on a number of bases.
I had hoped to have this resolved by now, and as previously advised, the Ballarat Aero Club has its meeting tonight. I was hoping to be able to advise the committee of an update, and unfortunately I am not in a position to provide one, in fact it appears that we haven’t moved forward for nearly 5 months, and I still feel no closer to a resolution, and I do not understand what it is that you want from me, or what legislative requirement I have breached, to justify that freeze.
I sincerely respect your position and understand that timelines on occasion, may be drawn out, in order not to compromise the safety of air navigation. However, this responsibility should not entirely remove the responsibility on you in your role at CASA to act expeditiously.
In short, there is no excuse for CASA allowing safety to become a mask for inefficiency, and in fact to date there have been no concerns expressed regarding safety.CASA should be aware that these delays can affect the livelihood of Organisations and Employees of those organisations.
The freeze you have applied causes undue financial stress, and that stress itself may impact on an Organisations ability to ensure safe operations, thus the administrative delay itself, may negatively impact on Aviation Safety, particularly in cases where an Organisation is attempting to move forward to provide a Safer and more Compliant organisation, as we are.
The “freeze” that you initiated on my business and the associated delays in processing are proving to be unacceptably costly to my Business, and my Members. CASA does still have a Common Law Duty of Care, as in the tort of negligence, and particularly so in cases where these administrative delays could in actual fact lead to a compromise to the Safety of Air Navigation.
CASA also has a Statutory duty to avoid unnecessary delayIn almost every aspect of my operations now I am being negatively impacted by the “freeze” that you have applied. In my opinion your action does not improve safety, in fact potentially compromises it.
Our systems and procedures are all CASA approved, and I feel that there is absolutely no basis to justify your actions, on safety grounds or regulatory compliance concerns.
The purpose of this letter is to request that you put in writing the reasons that you initiated the freeze and an explanation. I have tried to explain it to my members, but to be frank, I have absolutely no idea, and need your assistance.
As this Freeze has extended for many months now, I do believe that you in your role as the CMT 3 Manager, should be able to provide that explanation, and that my request is fair and reasonable. Can you please provide a time line when you anticipate you would be able to provide that explanation, as that will bring clarity to the situation.
Respectfully, Glen.