I suspect that this would have been a CASA matter regardless of whether the plane and pilot were licenced / registered etc. The RAA operates under the same body of rules as any other aircraft and subject to CASA oversight, but provided aircraft and operator are appropriately certificated / registered, there are exemptions to certain of those rules eg PPL requirement and maintenance by LAME are two obvious ones, coupled with restrictions eg controlled airspace. CASA may have chosen to palm off a simple crash investigation and generally has done in the past, but given the allegations about old mate's prior behaviour and the public and media interest.......
