Stasi, you tell me it is not a fair assessment, then in your post you describe it as a fair assessment. Yes, these organisations by taking a softly softly approach are indeed in bed with CASA.
A.B. my apologies, assessment is not the word, the whole association between RAAA /AOPA and CAsA gives the appearance of either staying out of the "argument" or taking sides. But as explained this is of necessity especially in the case of RAAA who rely on "dispensations" (AOCs) to operate in the first place. If AOPA were run in the manner expected of such a representative organisation, its executive and vocal members would soon be removed/dis-empowered by our very own "stasi". These scum have us all by the "short and curlies". The solution for AOPA is to have a non (no longer) flying executive that cannot be touched by CAsA. or to amalgamate with AOPA USA which is not impotent when it comes to taking on the FAA.
These organisations also seem ignorant of the forthcoming election.
CAsA is an established bureaucracy, it is more powerful than any Aviation Minister to date. What difference will an election make. The incumbent DPM has given the middle finger to the Senate Committee why expect anything different.
from the RAAA website: CASA Regulatory Costs
Something clearly has to be done about excessively high regulatory costs. The costs are artificially high because much of what CASA does has no safety benefit, and should therefore be abandoned, but field officers seem unable to let go of functions they once performed, even when it is evident that those functions are valueless, and while high priority tasks are either not performed at all or are delayed typically by six months or more, allegedly because of a “lack of resources”. Yet CASA seems disinterested in becoming more efficient. After all, when it can simply charge industry whatever it costs to run its regulatory services, why should it? It is becoming increasingly clear that only an external review will resolve the unjustifiable costs that CASA imposes on the industry.
initially I took RAAA to be RAAUS which is in a worse position. Too many on this forum have been at the receiving end of CAsA displeasure. A simple stroke of the pen and no more AOC quickly brings you into line. Then there are those like Creampuff that will tell you there is always the legal system. Why bother when CAsA are a law unto themselves. In fact they'll write up a new one to suit (them) whilst you wait.
As to your
Pilots are a minority but so are Gays, just look at where a bit of militancy has got them.
Agreed but if we look at how long acceptance (of gays) in Aus has taken compared with Northern Europe we are in for a long
ride. Considering that Australia used to be a leader in Freedom to Fly and the practical approach out of necessity we have come a long way in the opposite direction.
if we all came out (in aviation terms) on this site it would be a first step to get acceptance. We have the means on sites like
Pro Aviation | Sharp End Aviation News and Features and am sure Ben Sandilands would take up more of our causes.
S.H.