Folks, lets get real. Most of you fall into the same trap that the Qantas LAMES used to fall into: endless exhortations to " be professional", "businesslike". "fit and proper persons" in CASA lingo.
Unfortunately what you forget is that there is no requirement on CASA, AIrservices or the ATSB to only employ "fit and proper persons" and that is where you are screwed every time.
You are constrained to act as a "fit and proper person" the regulator and his staff not so.That is the crux of your problems.
To put that another way, in the current stoush between CASA and Jabiru, Jabiru is required to employ Marquis of Queensberry rules, CASA not so.
Same with Quadrio, Polar, Lockhart, Pel AIr, etc. etc....you are enjoined to be professional, gentlemanly, fair and act like a "fit and proper person" to the extent that even your use of the litigation privilege (ie in a fight you are entitled to defend yourself) is held against you.
So let me tell you what will happen to Jabiru. CASA's mind is made up. Jabiru engines are now deemed unsafe by the regulator, I explained previously that because CASA has made that statement, it is impossible for it to retract it without accepting liability for future engine failures, no matter how much positive safety evidence Jabiru presents. It's a one way ratchet. CASAs lawyers know this and will set an impossibly high standard for Jabiru to jump over - nothing less than Jabiru demonstrating that its engines meet the American certification standard will satisfy the lawyers, and there is no way in hell for Jabiru to do that, it doesn't have the money.
Extensions to consultations are mere play acting. Christmas is coming. Jabiru is going to find that thanks to Christmas holidays it has Two quarters of zero new engine sales at the very least, and that is even if the regulator retracts everything it has already said. A problem that will sink the company. Not only that, it cements a precedent that CASA can do what it likes to whom it likes, when it likes, for whatever reason, and it is going to rub Skidmores nose in it to train him.
Come to think of it; my first appreciation of Skidmore was that of a Lloyds "nodding Donkey" and nothing I have heard changes that view. He is undoubtedly a man of honesty and integrity. He is not experienced in dealing with grey areas, deliberate untruths and special pleading. The result is predictable; Skidmore will be dragged by the nose through the CASA strategy and the death of Jabiru is to educate Skidmore and to warn what’s left to shut up.
The demise of Jabiru is CASAs Christmas present to the Aviation industry, last year wasn't it Barrier aviation that was shut down on Christmas Eve?
Last edited by Sunfish; 30th Nov 2014 at 20:26.