Hoping for a fair go
Maybe the Ombudsman will overcome timidity and understand what has happened here. Otherwise the only real hope is a Minister with a sense of what’s right.
CASA has not come forward with any rational, believable, safety related or plausible reason for the reversal of approval of Glen’s otherwise successful business model for a group of flying schools.
In my opinion CASA acted to preserve its regime of excessive fee garnering and as part of its extreme and counterproductive control mentality.
In Australia today flying schools, and General Aviation (GA) charter operators (the few remaining), are subjected to extraordinary and unnecessary paperwork and recurring fees for invented permissions. To start a flying school or charter operations is the stuff of nightmares and huge expenses. You couldn’t invent such disproportionate measures in a short time, CASA has had 34 years and its trajectory shows no sign of temperance.
For the outsider it will be difficult to comprehend the injustice and there will be people who won’t want to believe that an arm of government can behave so badly. Unfortunately it’s true, and it’s an old pattern but Glen’s case is an outstanding example of CASA’s callous disregard for the fair go and for the fortunes of Australia’s General Aviation.