Clinton and all,
Firstly, my apologies for calling Clark Butson Craig, a digital disfunction, must have been the hour of the day, or any other convenient excuse.
Clinton, as to your, in my opinion, selective quotes from Seaview etc., in my view, that by no means gives the full flavor of the evidence presented at the inquiries, or the overall tone of a complete report.
Even in interpreting the words of a report, I would suggest that that you need to be multilingual, including fluent written and spoken bureaucratese --- or be an aficionado of "Yes! Minister".
Clinton, I guess you and I will never ever agree on the most basic point, why we have safety regulations in the first place, let alone agree that CASA is extraordinarily uneven in its interpretation of, and enforcement of a body of law that has been, and continues to be, criticized by a broad cross section of the involved community, including competent aviation legal circles, from solicitors to eminent counsel, and most levels of the judiciary --- as I am sure you are well aware.
One thing I will never agree with, is the view, put quite forcibly by a former head of Office of Legal Counsel at CASA, well known to you: "Aviation law is for lawyers and judges, for the safe conviction of pilots and engineers".
When one considers the aviation safety outcomes in US, compared with Australia, that alone should tell us something about which approach to achieving the best results works, and which has been, to say the very least, somewhat less successful at bringing down accident rates.
Frankly, I don't think you have a clue about what goes on in far too many CASA audits, and the way so much "so called" enforcement ( or selective non-enforcement) activity is conducted.
What may wind up in the courts or at the AAT ( the latter a very imperfect place to do business) is a small part of the story of a thoroughly demoralized GA sector of Australian aviation.
Very few operators or individuals can even afford the cost of pursuing what rights and remedies may be open to them.
Sadly, if you cannot afford the price of justice, you do not get justice, and as you and I know, justice and the law are not quite the same thing.
Tootle pip!!
Last edited by LeadSled; 28th Sep 2011 at 06:37.