Yes the AAAA submission could be listed as the official IOS charter, the trouble is on the FF scale (
Regulatory Policy- CEO-PN001-2004:
CASA's Industry Sector Priorities and Classification of Civil Aviation Activities
,
organisations like the AAAA are like a blip on the radar of insignificance...still it is an exemplary submission
Although it starts off sticking the boots into Byron I also thought the
Benke (crusty but trusty old school FOI & ASAG
) submission was worth the five minutes to read
:
What Should a Regulator be Trying to Achieve?
This question has been partly answered under the heading ‘What is a Regulator?’,
above. But that answer was couched in legalistic terms. What of the practical
outcome?
In reality a regulator should be similar to the rule makers of a sporting game like
rugby union, making and applying the same rules for everyone so that fair
competition can take place. Some people call this ‘the level playing field’. By
keeping a level playing field in civil aviation all operators are made aware of their responsibilities and know that if they do not perform they will be removed from the ‘game’. CASA has never been particularly good at that. In the last few yearthe problem has become greater. What happens when the playing field is not
level?
When an operator is permitted to operate using procedures outside the law this
encourages other operators to follow. Operators operate outside the law because
there is financial gain to be made. Abiding by the law costs money, not doing so
makes a saving in the short term. Thus the illegal operator by saving money can
charge a lower fee for its services which cannot be matched by the legal operator.
In time the legal operator ceases to operate leaving the field to the illegal operator and the level of safety enjoyed by the Australian public is degraded. This is essentially what caused the Lockhart River accident. CASA failed to correct known deficiencies in the operators concerned. Aviation safety problems in remote parts of Australia have been known by CASA to exist for a considerable length of time but little has been done to resolve those problems.
Conclusion
CASA is not an effective regulator of Australian civil aviation. It has become even less so over the last 3 to 5 years. The reasons are many and varied. I have
covered some of those above but have left out many others. It is my belief that
CASA will not be an effective aviation regulator until its operations and ethos
have been comprehensively reviewed, and *effective corrective action taken. Even then it will be difficult to rebuild the organisation because of a lack of properly qualified and experienced people.
*Hard to give up on old habits and language hey Rod!