Just back from up north where I happened to have a chat with a few local charter and RPT operators at the local aero club.
It seems that a company with an indigenous name has set themselves up to do charter, to and from a nearby island community. It appears that they DO NOT have their own AOC, and are using another Qld operator to do the flights for them. So be it, except that they operate from a major international airport, with their office being the grass under a tree outside the fence. They seem to be doing RPT (from the complainants view), with the same clients flying at the same time each day, and neither CASA or the aiport people are doing anything to stop them. One operator told me he was told the whole issue is "SENSATIVE", so they will do nothing to stop it. Dosn't seem right that there are two sets of rules, one for them and one for the legitimate operators.
Questions-
1. How can someone set up and operate like this?
2. How can an operator, operate from under a tree (where are the scales and do they work on grass?) when there is no office or shop front?
3. Why is it that people who pay huge rents for apron and hangar space at an airport get stuffed over by the airport because of "Sensative" issues?
4. Why is it that CASA lets it happen when they have a presence at the same airport?
Seems that all compaints fall on deaf ears, even the ones about young low time pilot putting passengers and other operators at risk by bad judgement and flying skills. I was told he has had his A**E saved a couple of times by the legit operators making calls to help him out. One said his CP hadn't been near the place for many months and had no idea what was going on.
Might have been P**S talk, but I reckon it's worth a good look at by some one/s. The good guys are really peeved that they are doing the right thing and getting no support from those who should be fixing the wrongs. I don't think it is the competition that is causing the dissent, more the head in the sand attitude of the relevant authorities.
Two sets of rules
