I marvel at the way in which people get sucked in by these kinds of announcements.
Some air modulated on the way through John Anderson’s vocal chords does not make it so.
I am reminded of Bill Pike’s infamous ‘regulatory peace for our time’ post of 21 November 2002, at the conclusion of which he (Bill) declared:
Every pilot, professional or private or student, every AOC or Certificate of Approval Holder, is now beholden to AOPA.
The word “beholden” was in red. I kid you not. [I was kidding on the red bit, but the rest is gospel See:
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...threadid=73239
At the time, I incurred Bill’s wrath by pointing out (grovellingly of course) that in order to bring about what seemed to him to be the regulatory equivalent of nirvana, the law had to be changed, and that the law is not changed by press release or ministerial statement.
The first golden rays of light were due to dawn on Bill’s new suspension regime on 1 July 2003. It’s now 22 July 2003 and
not one syllable of the suspension legislation has changed.
CASA’s being “restructured”, is it? Really? I am aware of a bill gathering dust, which bill,
if it becomes law, will have the effect of removing the CASA board. So what?
The
very reason CASA was set up as a separate statutory authority was to extricate it from day to day control and interference by the minister and inconsistent mandates. In the wake of the Seaview/Monarch/Dick Smith disasters, a quaint view arose that safety regulation should be insulated so far as possible from political interference and sectional interests.
John Anderson’s not stupid enough to claim or assume direct responsibility for air safety regulation. My bet is that he will appoint what Torres calls a “minister’s boy” to replace Mr Toller. Someone who’s smart enough to know what the minister does and does not want to know, and when he does and does not want to know it. Byron’s got too much integrity to play that game. My money’s on the Max Moore-Wilton end of the spectrum.
If you think that's good news for aviation safety regulation, I disagree.