Creamie...you have to ask yourself...because of or despite of ...
It’s the perennial question for regulators: How to measure the extent, if any, of any causal link between changes to ‘the system’ on the one hand and changes in outcomes on the other.
CASA alluded to the question in its submission to the ASSR Panel:
6.21 As all regulators, and those who closely study the processes of regulation, know only too well, it can be difficult to accurately and reliably measure the effectiveness of enforcement action. …
That’s bureaucratese for “practically impossible”.
What we
do know for sure is that nearly everybody uses the ‘fear factor’ to justify whatever position they have about the regulation of aviation in Australia. There’s a reason for that.
Although the level of risk of an event is an objective fact, the
perception of the level of risk is influenced by a number of factors, including dread of the potential outcomes. This is called “cognitive bias”.
Punters
dread the potential for dying in an air crash, even though there are lots and lots of other ways to die that, as an objective fact, are far more likely and far more unpleasant than in an air crash. Punters imagine how horrible the inevitable ‘death plunge’ from 30,000’ would be in contrast to the pleasant death one has in a car wrapped around a tree next to the highway. Thus punters will press for and support
anything that is perceived to reduce the risk of air accidents.
If we don’t get rid of those CVD pilots, there’s an increased risk to air safety.
If we don’t stop private pilots taking photos in aircraft and selling them for money, there’d be an increased risk to air safety.
If we don’t get rid of those VFR pilots off the IFR routes, there’s an increased risk to air safety.
If we don’t get rid of E airspace, there’s an increased risk to air safety.
If CASA stopped approving the appointment of Chief Pilots, there’d be an increased risk to air safety.
You’re all gonna die in a death plunge from 30,000’ unless …. You leave CASA to make a million rules and micro-manage every aspect of aviation, and give Airservices control over every cubic centimetre of airspace.