After a night finish I went back into work last week to get my sunnies. I left them there because it was about 5:30am when I left and still dark. We were having an audit by CASA at the time which I had forgotten about and really didn t give a f##k about as I was off duty and only there as a civie'.
As I walked through the pilots room to my locker the CASA rep blocked my progress and asked me if I flew %%%%% (aircraft type). I said yes and that I was not on duty and only here to pick up my sunnies and leave.
He insisted on asking me tech IFR questions. Again I told him I was only there to get my sunnies and actually said "F##k off mate, I am off duty". He continued with the questions which I answered correctly and then he said I was
"FREE TO GO".
8888 I think you are following your own agenda because you know my IRL identity, and revel in your new annonimity with this logion, however, in context, if you now see what has happened on my time off, not associated with my employment, within the law, I became subject to the random annalisys in my off duty time and after explaination of where and why I was there I was still expected to pass any examination posed to me as if I was PIC of an IFR flight.
Foresight of this event was what caused what I admit was an outburst on this thread. Justified or not at the time, experience shows what to expect from a regulatory body that sees no boundry to its duristiction.
My point here is that I could have had two full strength beers and driven to work within the law to do what I had to do, and then find myself after explaining why I was there, out of uniform and off duty, facing criminal charges and a loss of licence (and job) due to the fact that I am subject to regulation and testing to a degree not required , to the best of my knoledge, of any other profession or trade.
For anyones sensitivities I offended with my first post on this thread. I do hope now that with this factual example that I have explained myself and my feelings at the \ time.
I am concerned that if I have told this guy I am off duty, attending this place for personal reasons and he feels he still has cause to test my knowledge for professional reasons, I would have to also ask where is the boundry.
I was off duty, and ‘Old Mate’ still saw fit to question me, so if I am at home is it still reasonable to expect a knock at the door to blow in the bag?
In principal I have nothing against DnA testing and I have nothing to hide. My concern here is that it may be applied with the same questionable jugement that this, and other experience has made me accustomed to.
BENDO SAYS
As others have said above, we have been living with this idea for over 20 years on the roads and it is absolutely standard practice
What makes me angry is these guys want to test us not because we are about to fly for a living, but because we want to fly for a living.