$400,000 "First of Type" Cost
I was recently contacted by a person who was planning to bring a Citation 7 from Europe to Australia. He reminded me of how I had brought in the "first of type" change of rules after the Yates report in 1990. This meant that aircraft certified for other leading countries would not have to have any expensive modifications to operate in Australia.
There has now been a 180-degree turnaround on this. The Citation 7 they planned to bring in, which is fully approved for operation in Europe and the USA, required something like $400,000 worth of modifications to operate in Australia. This included both UNS units had to be upgraded plus ADS-B had to be fitted and – wait for it – yes, a full flight data recorder had to be added. After the $400,000 was factored in it was decided not to bring the plane into Australia. Yet again, another aircraft and the employment lost for our industry.
Things seem to be getting worse, not better. I wonder how many more years we will see of our industry being destroyed.