CASA regulatory review updates
AHIA NEWS FLASH – CASA delays roll-out of CASR regulations due to industry’s concerns.
Full report to AHIA members by President on Monday 28 Sep ’15 about the impact of a delayed Part 61 on the training industry. Will this further stall investment and student numbers?
On Fri 25 Sep ’15, Steve Creedy, award winning aviation writer, stated in the Aviation Section of The Australian national newspaper:
Civil Aviation Safety Authority boss Mark Skidmore has flagged that rule changes the federal government wanted finalised this year are likely to be delayed because of industry feedback.
Mr. Skidmore also signaled his determination that staff at the regulator adopt the more consultative approach being advocated by upper management.
Industry groups have welcomed comments by Mr Skidmore that CASA will take on board industry concerns but some have expressed concern the message is not filtering down to some parts of the organisation.
In an email to staff, Mr Skidmore said he was aware some staff may be unclear about the regulator’s current priorities on developing and implementing remaining parts of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations.
These included suites of rules covering general aviation maintenance, passenger transport operations, aerial work and sport and recreation operations.
Mr Skidmore noted the government’s response to the Aviation Safety Review had called for the drafting of all new regulations to be completed this year but it had also said they should be subject to changes in “regulatory approach and appropriate consultation’’.
It also said CASA needed to ensure an effective communication and education process was put into place before these provisions started.
“As I have made clear previously, in so far as they relate to CASA, I am committed to ensuring we implement the government’s response to the Aviation Safety Regulation Review in an effective and timely manner,’’ he said in the email.
“Many of those recommendations have already been successfully implemented and a range of others are under way. Delivering on the government’s expectations is vital. Consistent with that obligation, however, it is equally important to get the implementation of changes right. If it takes a little more time to implement successful and effective change, then I support such an approach. “This principle applies to the finalisation of both the development and implementation of the new regulations.’’
Mr Skidmore said extensive consultation with the aviation industry had produced comments indicating operators found the volume of changes overwhelming and were struggling to find time to comment on them.
“While it is early days, and no decisions on how the regulatory change program will move forward will be made until the consultation is finished and the results analysed, it is clear CASA’s current approach is causing the aviation community significant difficulty,’’ he said.
“We need to finish this listening and discussion exercise before determining the next steps. If this creates some delay in the regulatory development and implementation process, I believe that would be time well spent to get the right outcomes for Australian aviation.’’
Mr Skidmore revealed earlier this month that he is allocating more resources to addressing issues raised by industry about flight crew licensing rules in Parts 61, 141 and 142.
He noted in his email that it was difficult to bring the aviation community with CASA on regulatory changes while it was still working on issues from previous changes.
“Regulatory development will be completed as quickly as is possible and implementation will be undertaken in an orderly and managed way, with a view to maximising safety benefits while minimising unnecessary burden on the aviation community,’’ he said.
AHIA