There have been lots of lies – that’s what they are: deliberate mistruths – told by commission and omission by various CASA people about what is and is not being done about the OCVA ‘replacement’, where it will 'fit' into the regulatory hierarchy and when. I will, for the time being, give Ms Spence the benefit of the doubt and assume that she’s been misled by her own staff.
Current and aspiring pilots with CVD should be in no doubt: The zealots have been left by CASA, once again, to recommence their crusade to rid the commercial skies of pilots with CVD by labelling and restricting them. The zealots are insouciantly indifferent to the levels of stress caused to you about the chronic uncertainty as to what the future holds and your consequential practical inability to make long-term plans. That assists their crusade.
They are also insouciantly indifferent to what the law says about how compliance with the colour perception standard must be demonstrated. As with most zealots on a crusade for a noble cause, they treat inconvenient laws as a mere bagatelle. The law exists only for them to wield against others in pursuit of the noble cause. The zealots are comfortable with that approach because they know how few victims are prepared to go through the time-consuming, costly and stressful process of external merits or judicial review.
(One of the CASA Avmed doctors said, at this year’s Avmed/DAME Conference, that the AAT doesn’t know what it’s talking about. That’s a manifestation of their arrogant contempt for anyone who differs with their opinions. It’s also a manifestation of CASA’s abject failure to put proper governance arrangements around these public officials and train them to understand their duties and accountabilities as public officials.)
The process of development of the OCVA ‘replacement’ involves an echo chamber of mostly like-minded zealots, citing the same dodgy evidence they always do to support their prejudices. CASA refused to reveal, under FOI, the names of all the special people who were invited to make noise in the AvMed echo chamber. But I’ll bet folding money that some of them make money out of administering the tests that CASA requires CVD pilots to undergo if they want to get a medical certificate. That’s AvMed’s concept of transparency and objectivity.
Unless Ms Spence and the CASA Board start doing their jobs properly and get these zealots back in check, it will have to be done the hard, expensive way again. Standby for more news on that front.
Last edited by Clinton McKenzie; 5th Nov 2023 at 09:43.