The structure incorporated a Head office located at Moorabbin Airport. . Within that Head office was the CASA Approval by way of the one CASA issued certificate. Within that Head office were two CASA approved Group CEOs, two CASA approved Group HOOS (with a third completing a twelve month induction and awaiting CASA approval), and two CASA approved Group Safety Manangers. it apperas an unusually heavy Management structure, but it was essential that i naintained high levels of redundancy as I had many operators depending on me.
Additional Personnel within the Head office included the Internal Co-Ordinator (IC) responsible for liaison between the bases, Head office and CASA. There were also two fulltime admin staff, and a Technical writer. This is the exact structure that was designed into our Exposition with CASA.
The typical role of the CFI on the base became the role of Senior Base Pilot. Underneath them lay the instructors, or in the large schools a team of instructors under a Supervisor.
We had a system designed here in Australia and tailored specifically to control all aspects of a flying school. It was called Flight School Manager. This controlled every aspect of the flying school. This included all the sylllabi and training records. it contained all customer details, tracked instructor qualifications, proficiency checks, flight and duty times, predictive maintenance, ensured students were appropaitely qualified, etc etc.
Every flight was obviously required to be signed out by an instructor. We were a flying school only, and did not do private hires, charter etc. we foccussed only on flight training. An instructor or student could not be relaesed on a flight unless they met all the 'hurdles'.
The Senior base Pilots were all personnel who had spent many years with me, and were fully aware of all systems and procedures.. All abses and personnel completed a thourough induction in order to be able to comply with our exposition.
The system that we used that gave us full visibility over all bases was also shared with CASA and they had full access. In stead of getting in a car and driving to Ballarat, they could oversee every aspect of the Company.
We conducted a full audit of the system weekly.
We would have weekly group meetings to a CASA approved agenda that included all bases and covered a number of topics including safety, resources etc.
The truth is that it basically ran as any other school, to the CASA approved procedures.
I should point out here, that there were never any allegations by CASA that we did not have full operational control.. There were never any deficiencies highlighted nor any safety concerns. it was only an allegation that we were operating unlawfully. absolutely no allegations against any quality outcomes. CASA never requested or suggested any changes at all to any of our procedures.
CASA was making no requests regarding the CASA approved Exposition. CASA wanted to become involved in the commercial contracts but was not prepared to become a signatory to . those contacts. There was no resistance at all from me to incorporate anything that CASA wanted in the commercial contracts. After 8 months of being unable to resolve this issue, CASA determined it was unlawful. No allegation at all against any quality outcome.
Apologies for any typos. i have a dog jumping all over me and whining wanting to go for a walk. Cheers. Glen
i have included OM 1 being the manual that outlined the structure
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gmexjehesb...81%29.pdf?dl=0