Nothing in that statement suggested that the observation was directed solely at BARS audits. There's many other due-diligence audits performed other than BARS 601, and they are usually paid for by the client.
That is the point of the exercise. Have one audit done on an Operator at their cost and that Operator, if successful with the audit, can fly for these companies, which until now, had to pay for each audit for each Operator.
So the cost of the audit will be shifted from the Charterer to the Operator. Admittedly there will be less audits for the Operator but the one the Operator does will be at the Operator's cost.
Question is, with only one organisation apparently doing these BARS audits in Oz, what is going to happen to the existing Aviation Auditors who do not have BARS accreditation?
In the old days, the auditor not only reviewed your documents but actually conducted observations in flight.
Doesn't seem to happen these days. Why?
With all the paper audits etc. that are undertaken by Operators, pilots can still descend from cruising level to the surface without recognising that the aircraft has stalled.
I would rather see the dollars spent on more pilot training than on a paperwork audit.