I notice in the Aviation section of today’s Australian newspaper an advertisement for a “Safety Specialist” for the Office of Airspace Regulation – the salary including superannuation is up to $150,000 a year.
It’s interesting that they ask for the successful candidate to “have knowledge of the Australian airspace system”. Not a mention of any knowledge of airspace in other leading aviation countries. Yes, no doubt that’s a great way of keeping the status quo and never putting in some extra E controlled airspace at places like Ballina so that safety could actually be improved.
But what’s more to the point is the staggering increase in CASA staff numbers in the period 2007 to 2014 …
This, of course, is a 40% increase!
And whilst these staff numbers have increased I have noticed that all of GA – that’s private, business and training – has dropped in flying hours.
My suggestion is that everyone closes down their GA business and goes and works for CASA. That will result in a great improvement in safety and there can’t be many people in GA earning $150,000 a year.