Here We Go Again - Divide and Rule.
Yesterday I received my SAAA notam regarding the SAAA response to the proposal that RAA aircraft may increase allowable design maximum takeoff weights to 760 kg from 600 kg.
Sadly, the SAAA response is to reject the proposal. It seems because it will cost the SAAA aircraft and members, although the argument is dressed up in terms of safety.
The axis of the issue is that RAA pilots may self certify their medical fitness, thus removing the expensive, contentious and onerous task for PPL holders of getting new medical certificates at intervals that SAAA member pilots must put up with. This is a very attractive option for older pilots and many will no doubt change to RAA rules as a result if their aircraft fit the new weight limit. The new "basic class 2' is not an easy answer either but others can explain why, I thnk.
SAAA makes some comments about "standards' of RAA training and experience requirements that are in the negative but probably contain a grain of truth and of course link these to safety outcomes. I don't think anyone can fault the SAAA approach to safety, I certainly cannot. The RAA approach is perhaps a work in progress, but the aircraft are lighter, slower and smaller than SAAA big iron.
Its saddening to see this because the natural bureaucratic solution to this perceived unfairness is not to make self certification available to SAAA members up to say, the same 760 kg weight limit, but to remove the option of self certification from the RAA. So here we have the bait of self interest trailed and the SAAA bit hard.
That is not only sad, its bad for the total aviation community because it will reduce the number of pilots overall. The current proposal may cause a shift of pilots from SAAA to RAA. The removal of self certification will shift pilots for sure - from the RAA onto the golf course if they are faced once again with all the medical BS and expense that made them switch to RAA in the first place.