I see the usual axe grinders and fools have invaded this thread and there needs to be a return to the substance of the topic and the reason for its notoriety.
This is not about Jabiru engines per se, RAA in fighting and politics, Jabiru customer service or the personality of the company’s owner, it is about the high handed actions of CASA that threaten the existence of a large chunk of private aviation in this country!
I care not one whit about Jabiru engines but I do care very much about how, to the glee of some posters here, CASA is being allowed to trample over due process because they are setting a precedent that affects ALL of us. I care very much about that.
To put that another way in terms you might understand, today CASA attacks Jabiru with as the RAA letter points out, no due process, no rigorous and scientific data, just the half assed assertion that the engine is "unsafe" which is meaningless.
Furthermore, they justify this action by claiming a right to protect "people on the ground" from Jabirus falling out of the sky which is just insane. How many people have been killed in Australia on the ground by errant light aircraft since 1979 (Essendon crash)? Zero.
The CASA action is so wrong on so many levels that it must be strenuously opposed.
To put this into perspective how are you going to react when CASA decides to go on a crusade against the much loved Dynon Skyview instrument system using the same tactics as against Jabiru?
Don't any of you understand the nature of what is being done here? If they can do it to Jabiru they can do it to you.
Don't any of you understand that by this action, CASA is thumbing its nose at the conclusions of the Truss Aviation Review, its authors, contributors and the Australian Senate? Can there be any more obvious demonstration of the complete breakdown of trust in CASA than the action against Jabiru???
As for this being a temporary situation and a minor issue, I have explained that it isn't. Now that CASA has declared that Jabiru engines are a danger to the community, they cannot again become unrestricted without a mountain of evidence that they are safe, and that mountain has to be high enough to satisfy not engineers but CASAs lawyers, anyone care to guess how high? Mount Everest perhaps? I fail to see how these restrictions can ever be removed short of full certification testing which is prohibitively expensive.
By the way, although CASA cannot apply the "fit and proper person" test to Jabirus manager, I'll bet London to a brick that a condition of any relaxation of any restrictions will depend on the owner no longer having any active management role in the company.
If CASA was bound by the same strictures as the FAA to at least not harm the industry it regulates; this is what could have been done:
(1) CASA consults with Jabiru presenting a watertight safety case for action based on hard data.
(2) Jabiru issues a service bulletin and CASA and Jabiru make a joint statement requiring its completion as a necessary precaution.
(3) As the results of the SB inspections come in CASA and Jabiru make a joint analysis and report back to the aviation community on progress and further actions required.
(4) CASA and Jabiru report case closed.