Media release 4 Nov '15
On the 4 November 2015 the AHIA released a Media Release as follows:
Regulatory reform leading to troubled pathway
The Australian Helicopter Industry Association (AHIA) is concerned with the administrative burden, financial penalties and lack of progress with applications for Parts 141, 142 & 145 Certificates.
It appears CASA has difficulty providing the point of difference between a Part 141 and Part 142 application; leaving the industry confused and unclear as to which certificate applies to their operation.
The AHIA and wider helicopter industry has made representation to CASA to broaden the coverage of the Part 141 to include Type Rating, MCC training and rework of the abinitio syllabuses to accommodate credits for consolidated training. The AHIA believes this would provide industry and the regulator with a much simpler process and leaves the Part 142 certificate for airline and other specialist training streams.
Industry members are investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in preparation for Part 142 & Part 145 certificates only to end up locked into a battle with CASA’s regional offices that do not have the ability to approve the applications.
According to AHIA Vice President, Ray Cronin, “It is like trying to find a road across a desert in a dust storm; like the shifting sands, the constantly shifting guidelines make the way forward impossible. As a result the AHIA is recommending its members and others in the helicopter community bunker down and withdraw their Parts 141, 142 & 145 applications until such time as CASA is able to provide completed templates for the industry to use in the application process”.
Ray also said that our industry members need to focus on their operations to ensure continued safe, efficient and financially viable futures in lieu of being dragged into impossible bureaucratic battles brought on by so much unwanted Government legislation.
The AHIA has noted that the Director of Aviation Safety Mark Skidmore has continued his commitment to listen to the industry by travelling around the countryside meeting with a broader section of the aviation community. Whilst the AHIA encourages consultation there is a point where consultation fatigue will take over, and would respectfully suggest that the answers to the industry’s problems may not be in the small number of individuals who turn up to offer their individual perspective but more likely along the lines that associations like the AHIA and other peak industry bodies have previously provided to the DAS.
“We would be encouraged by a change in direction to see the DAS and CASA’s managers focusing on solutions and deal with what has already been raised rather than trying to flush out another range of issues.” Ray said.