Dear Dr Aleck
Dear Craig Martin,
I have a number of issues that I had submitted through to the Commonwealth Ombudsman, some being actioned, and some pending me approaching CASA to obtain a response. Therefore on the Ombudsmans advice I will be writing to you on a number of matters that require clarification. As I am after a strictly legal response rather than an “operational one”, I will be directing the inquiry to Dr Aleck in his role as the CASA Executive Manager of Legal and Regulatory Affairs. I will direct this email through you, and include Dr Aleck in on all emails as I have with this one.
I have also included Mr Anthony Mathews as the Chair of the CASA Board, and the person ultimately responsible for the governance obligations. I had previously raised these issues with him verbally at our meeting, but thought it best to put it in writing to ensure there was no confusion.
Dear Dr Aleck,
As you will be aware, the practice of sharing an AOC had been commonplace in the industry, and was done with CASAs full knowledge and consent. CASA had never required a contract between the entities previously, and CASA do not hold copies of any such contracts for any other flying training organisations in Australia. You may recall I raised this query on multiple occasions, and CASA chose not to respond.
I had advised CASA that we had contracts in place, and CASA had shown little interest, had not made it a requirement. The use of a contract was an initiative that APTA put in place. I point out that APTA even provided contracts to CASA prior to any members joining APTA, on multiple occasions.
Once the CASA action was initiated in October of 2018, CASA claimed that we did not have contracts in place, when in fact we did. I advised CASA that we had contracts, and they had been provided to CASA, but CASA refuted this, and I provided the evidence. I am of the opinion that had CASA realised they actually held the contracts they may not have initiated the action. I feel that the requirement to have contracts was a unique requirement placed on APTA, and not on other Organisations.
Are you able to clarify the regulations that require a contract, and are you able to explain why other operators continue to “share an AOC, with no requirement for a contract, yet this requirement was placed on APTA.
Thankyou in anticipation of your response
Respectfully, Glen Buckley