Unfortunately Leafblower, my take on what happened to you is this. Permit me to be the devils advocate.
You went cap in hand to a regulator and grovelled. You then received a temporary allowance of something that should have been your right in the first place!
Be aware that each exemption issued is one more noose around your neck. It can be used to strangle you at will and the best part from a bureaucrats point of view is that they literally have to do nothing to terminate your aviation since the exemption "expires" all on its own.
But wait, there is more…… Not being content with merely hanging a new sword over your head, each new exemption creates more work, and thus job security, for the bureaucrats.
You see in the public service, nothing gets done by a decision maker without a brief of advice from a bureaucrat recommending action.
So in the case of your new exemption. To renew it, the following sequence of writings must occur:
1. A statement about the regulation and why the exemption was given in the first place.
2. The experience of CASA of the effect of the exemption over the last Two years - anecdotal or otherwise evidence of what the exemption actually achieved. (Maybe a bit of international comparison as well if that can be parleyed into an overseas study trip.)
3. The regulations as they stand now, especially the impact of any changes during the currency of the exemption.
4. Mature and scholarly discussion of whether the making of a new exemption is in line with current CASA policy as well as real or foreshadowed changes in regulation or regulatory climate. Please note, the viability of your business, your career, industry economics, fairness, equity and natural justice play no part in this discussion because CASA is not bound to consider such matters and has proven time and again that it does not.
5. ..And finally a recommendation to Skidmore: "That you sign the attached exemption". If I can't string that out into Three months work then I'd be a failure.
To put it another way, the very fact that you had to do what you did is an indictment of the whole rotten, corrupt system. I suppose I could have put that more offensively if I tried, bootlicking, etc.
Glad it helps you….but in Two years the anxiety returns again!
On a related note, it appears to me from my own limited research that advances in technology, particularly avionics, are happening far faster that the current regulatory and exemption system can cope with. The strain between what is now available and the associated capabilities and technical environment the regulations were designed for is becoming to great to bridge, even for CASA and its unlimited budget.
For example Dynon Skyview now has data logging, wifi and video hanging off it as well as ADS-B in and out and intelligent radios. None of it is certified, but the price/perfomance gap is eventually going to be unbridgeable.
Last edited by Sunfish; 10th Aug 2015 at 20:06.