Conned rod,
An AC is
never L-A-W black letter law, in almost all cases it is exactly as I said,
an acceptable means of compliance with a statutory requirement.
In any other case, it is just good advice, and should be heeded, if you are half-way smart.
I think I have got the AOPA bit now:
In the 1990s, AOPA campaigned to get rid of all of Australia's unique airworthiness standards, in favor of the US version of ICAO standards, we did not accept that Australian air was different to the rest of the world. We didn't believe in bureaucratic make-work programs funded by the aviation industry.
We did not accept that Australian aircraft owners should be saddled with often quite massive costs to put an aircraft on the Australian register, and this was not GA, but airlines, as well. Especially airlines, where the additional costs were in the tens of millions, not just tens of thousands.
We never found any of the AD/Gens under discussion with any justification: That is, the alleged risk to be mitigated was simply imagination, or otherwise not within a bull's roar of justifying the cost of mitigation, ie: miserably failed any benefit/ cost study.
The Howard Opposition took that to the 1996 elections, and policy implementation began in mid-1998. That was and is CASR Parts 21-35.
I can well imagine that you would not be happy, it cost you "money for nothing", but the greater good of ridding Australia of completely unjustified and and hugely costly unique airworthiness standards was the aim, and that was achieved, over huge opposition from within CASA ---- and a few people, presumably like you.
The changes, for just one example, transformed the available payload on a B767-238/338 on medium length runways. It eliminated "first of type" certification costs for all aircraft. There was lots more.
Sadly, far to many of what we got rid of are back, reintroduced by stealth as "additional airworthiness requirement", Australia is the loser, again both GA and airlines.
In the airline case, to the benefit of international competition, and to the cost of large number of jobs in Australia. Why is Padstow TAFE Aeroskils course finito, or almost so??
https://www.usatoday.com/story/trave...ngar/97235004/
Why do you think Qantas has gone to this trouble??
Tootle pip!!