Quote from Murdoch Mainstream Media clones..err drones!!
Industry anger over CASA's blame game
THE Civil Aviation Safety Authority's attempt to blame an 11th-hour decision to delay new pilot licensing rules on a lack of understanding in the industry has provoked an angry backlash.
Aviation bureaucrats were forced earlier this week to announce that the new rules, which were due to be introduced on December 4, would not come into effect until September next year.
This is despite the fact the new licensing suite came into law in February and the issue has been under review for more than a decade.
The new rules were lauded as recently as last week as one of the actions CASA was taking to tighten rules governing night flying in the wake of a crash involving an ABC helicopter.
CASA had been negotiating with the industry since February and was saying as recently as last month that the rules would not result in major changes for most pilots.
While few are upset by the delay in the new licensing suite in Parts 61, 64, 141 and 142 of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations, several industry associations have taken umbrage at the reasons given by CASA.
The authority said the primary reason for the delay was to give the industry more time to prepare.
"Despite CASA's education and information campaign on the new licensing regulations, many pilots and people working in flying training are only starting to understand the new rules," it said. "While the new regulations do not make major changes to existing practices, it is clear more time for education and information communication is required."
CASA said it received a "relatively large" number of comments and constructive suggestions after the new regulations were made in February and had subsequently proposed a package of amendments to clarify and improve the regulations.
"Due to issues beyond CASA's control it has not been possible to make these amendments before December 4," it said, adding that the new timetable would give the aviation industry the opportunity "to provide more feedback to CASA on implementation issues".
It is understood that the issues beyond the authority's control refers mainly to the September federal election and the time lost while the previous government was in caretaker mode.
However, industry associations say the changes as originally proposed by CASA were riddled with problems that the authority has been unable to address by the December start date. This included CASA having no legally binding manual of standards, and a stack of amendments that had not been incorporated, said
Aerial Agricultural Association of Australia chief executive Phil Hurst. 
Mr Hurst, who has been sitting on the Part 61 working group since 2000, said he had been "gobsmacked" by the reasons given by CASA, given the errors in the new rules that industry members had been correcting.
"I think it highlights the gap between where the regulatory reform program should have gone and where it's ended up," he said.
"How can a regulatory body blame the industry for not being ready when the legislative planks are not in place, such as the manual of standards?"
Despite the delay, Mr Hurst said there was "a lot of good stuff" in the new rules and AAAA had been providing briefings to its industry on the transition to the new rules for the past year.
"After all that, we really, really look forward to David Forsyth and his colleagues having a review of this and determining whether in fact it is industry that's causing all these terrible delays," he said. "We have a view on that."
Regional Aviation Association of Australia chief executive Paul Tyrrell said the delay was a sensible response to strong feedback,
describing the CASA claim that industry could not understand the changes as "unfortunate".
"It appeared to lay blame completely at the feet of industry and seems to indicate the relationship has broken down between senior CASA management and industry," he said. "My understanding is the industry was just asking to have further time to implement part 61 and 141 and 142 appropriately. It just wasn't ready on both sides and I don't think there was any blame towards CASA, it was just simply to get it right."
The Australian Helicopter Industry Association, which has been heavily involved in the Part 61 process and has been working with the section head of rotor-craft standards at CASA, noted it had previously warned that the manual of standards would not be completed by December 4.
The association said its vice-president, Mark Scrymgeour, had recruited a team of a dozen top trainers to help with the manual of standards (MoS) review but it became clear there were problems that could result in smaller schools closing or abandoning training at a time when aircrew shortages were again looming, AHIA secretary Rob Rich said it probably had the biggest aviation working group handling CASR Part 61.
"By comparison, the aeroplane industry did not have as many changes to evaluate as the helicopter industry, which was required to undergo an enormous change requiring the purchase of equipment capable of instrument flight rules training," he said.
"The cost of upgrading current instructors cannot be calculated, as the latest MoS amendments are yet to be released."
...."and now it's back to the GABBA.".
