The rural mail services have their origins in the RASS (Rural Air Services Scheme) services, negotiated between Sir Bob Norman (of Bush Pilots Airways) and Athol Townley, then Minister for Civil Aviation, in 1954. The RASS services carried mail and rural residents and were always air charter operations until deemed otherwise in 1999 under Mick Toller.
Exactly, and what you would expect from someone like Townley, with his aviation background,
Minister for Air and
Minister for Civil Aviation.
And, the "beginning of the end" for such common sense was the formation of the original CAA, compounded with the split of CAA, when CASA came into being. The reference to "15 years" was in relation to the period of time from when CAR 206 come into being, but other complimentary legislation to ensure that the status quo remained for mail runs and similar activities was never completed.
It took the guardians of air safety about 15 years to realise the missing legislation had "technically" created "illegal RPT".
Another case of the Lane Report's
"inadvertent criminals"
Creamie,
As I remember well, when we had a place on the Cape (and were shareholders in Bushies) the mail run aircraft always carried "passengers", often tourists, and freight. It was our source of fresh milk and bread.
shows how much the top end of the regulator just doesn't understand the industry they lead.
It is NOT CASA's job to "lead" the industry, but since the days of DCA, far too many people within "the department", whatever it was called at the time, thought it was, and far too many people in the "industry", (particularly because of the subsidies doled out by DCA, DCA administering the "two airline agreement" etc.,) were happy enough to put their hands out, and effectively let DCA lead.
In my view, this mindset, still around to this day, is a major factor in the shambles of the administration of the CAAct, the shambles of the "regulatory reform", which is many things, but reform is not one of them, and other debilitating aspects of Australian aviation.
To quote Kim Beazley:
"----- because Australian aviation is so small, bureaucrats can micromanage it, and because they can, they do", this statement made at a meeting at Bankstown in early 1996.
Tootle pip!!
Tootle pip!!