Aviation Legal Issue - Help!

[Tiger01]

Need a bit of help ! I'm doing a research assignment for my year 12 legal studies class where we need to write an essay on an Australian legal issue, the problems surrounding it an any potential reform. It can be any legal issue so i thought i'd choose something involving aviation. The topic needs to able to be discussed in some depth.

Any potential ideas for a topic? Ideas would be much appreciated!

Thanks Tiger!

[tea & bikkies]

How about the responsibilities of the PIC, with regard to the legal consequences of any cockpit cockups, the captain always wears it even if its not his cockup.
As I once had a FO say to me, quite rightly

My cockup....... your ass.:sad:

Now that should give you some depth for discussion.:ok:

[Tiger01]

Thanks, might be a good area to look at, even though not in Australia the Guarda accident comes to mind there.

[tea & bikkies]

Maybe try a google search aviation on litigation involving flight crew here in aus. I cant think off the top of my head of any, but I'm sure there have been some cases.:confused:

[*Lancer*]

CASA's A&OD program has been generating a bit of discussion lately.

Specifically: the lack of guidance for medications that we're not permitted to be under the influence of. We can't fly after having taken Codeine for example, but noone seems to agree on how long after taking Codeine we can't fly. Also, the difference between how long we're actually affected vs how long it will test positive for. Pseudoephadrine may or may not generate a false positive for speed. Noone seems to agree, and everyone has a different opinion.

It's all very new, and I don't know of any false postive test cases yet.

[yowieII]

Maybe have a look at decreasing conditions of employment yet increasing resposibility for licence holders:ugh: Why do we do it:suspect:

[Ovation]

How about examining CASA's selective approach to regulatory enforcement, where they protect the industry cowboys even when given hard and self incriminating evidence, but willingly use their powers of prosecution against the little guy.

This link is an interesting legal issue between CASA and an aircraft owner in Mareeba FNQ, featured online in the "Aviation Advertiser" editorial, where CASA brought proceedings against an aircraft owner alleging unauthorised maintenance.

http://www.aviationadvertiser.com.au/2009/04/dad’s-army-rides-again/

Part of the editorial comment said:



Throughout this entire process there appear to have been a large number of failures in observance of due process, legal accountability, compliance with published procedures, Australian legal evidentiary requirements, CASA administrative guidelines and executive orders, any one of which should have signalled that the matter should be stopped in its tracks, at least until the deficiencies were exposed to competent scrutiny.

But then we all knew CASA could be like that, didn't we.............:rolleyes:

[Aerodynamisist]

Tiger why not give casa a call on 131 757 and ask to speak to the legal department or legal people, I'm sure they would give you some help and guidance.

If you can point out the data in your assignment comes straight from the source it may win you an extra point or two.

[The Voice]

hey Tiger,

Have you got any ideas you might like to explore?

Perhaps if you have a thought, we could discuss it and perhaps point you toward stuff that'll help you argue for or against the problem?

Do you have a word limit? Is there any restrictions you need to adhere to? /When's it due?

What about something along the lines of,

"Under what statutory provision does a security officer at an australian security controlled airport perform their duty at a screening point?" What can they do and what can't they do?

[Tiger01]

Thanks for all the replies so far :ok:

Voice,
I've got six weeks to complete needs to be 2000 words. Basically i just need be able to find some legislation that might have some problems and could be improved. The main restriction is that it needs be be an area of australian law however I can compare it to other foreign cases.

At the moment im toying with the new drug and alchol testing mainly due to the amount of false postives and the subsequent suspension from work which can cause disruption, possible defamation and loss of income. Thought there may be a legal issue here as the initial testing still brings with it a lot of false positives which equals people being suspeneded from their duties when they have done nothing wrong apart from perhaps having a few too many poppy seeds.

Also as tea & bikkies mentioned, the responsibilites of PIC and the legal consequences of mistakes made by a member of crew.

Tiger,

[Atlas Shrugged]

Geezuz.....when I was in year 12 it was never that complicated!

A wealth of information here and a very good search function as well:

AustLII: AustLII Databases (http://www.austlii.edu.au/databases.html)

You could also try the ATSB website

[The Voice]

the new drug and alcohol testing mainly due to the amount of false positives

certainly that's a challenge no argument there, but .. as you've said ...

legislation that might have some problems and could be improved

being devils advocate here, do you think that the issue of false positives in the initial testing can be corrected by a legislation change?

[tail wheel]

Basically i just need be able to find some legislation that might have some problems and could be improved.

Well, you certainly have much to chose from! I doubt there is much Australian aviation legislation that doesn't "...have some problems!"

At the risk of being facetious, "How should we celebrate twenty one years of Australian regulatory reform and the job still not finished."

[glenb]

Or the 89 pilots dispute. An interesting topic with lots of industrial relations issues. not getting into the rights or wrongs but a crucial period in australian aviation history that a new generation know little about. you could contact the Australian Federation of Airline Pilots and ask if you can borrow a book that outlines many of the issues. i believe the name of the book may be sky pirates. interesting read although i may have the title wrong.

[Howard Hughes]

legislation that might have some problems and could be improved

How about the DOTAR's airport security legislation?:ooh:

[The Voice]

So Tiger, how's your research coming along?

Seriously, I think you need to keep your topic short and sweet. 2000 words sounds an awful lot but really it isn't, just like 6 weeks sounds like a long time ..

Have you checked out any Aviation Law Associations - I know there is an Australian and NZ version - they award the Geoff Massel prize every year to a law student that provides an essay on some aviation law topic .. perhaps have a dig around in that for ideas?

[Tiger01]

Voice,

being devils advocate here, do you think that the issue of false positives in the initial testing can be corrected by a legislation change?

Can see your point there, i was sort of thinking along the lines that the testing in itself is fine, however untill improvements to the testing process can be made to make it more accurate that it shoud not be allowed.

Thanks i shall have a look at that site ! :ok:

Tailwheel,
Well, you certainly have much to chose from! I doubt there is much Australian aviation legislation that doesn't "...have some problems!"

Any specific examples ? :)

[werbil]

There are some interesting cases of how CASA sometimes exercises their powers in relation to suspension of chief pilot approvals and air operators certificates. In more than case CASA has had multiple decisions on the one operator overturned by the AAT and courts (if what has been reported is correct). You should be able to find a number of these cases by searching PPRUNE.

[gas-chamber]

Have a look on the CASA website at their Enforcement Manual. A plain language document with useful hyperlinks to the Act and Regulations

[Gen. Anaesthetic]

Someone recently posted a link that pointed to an audit recently undertaken by ICAO looking at CASA's effectiveness, and apparently the conclusions aren't good (haven't looked at it myself). I would have thought this would be the perfect tool to (a) set some context, and (b) provide you with some useful material about the shortcomings of Australia's legal framework for aviation. In a sense, many of the answers might already be in this document.

[The Voice]

VERY good point Gen A .. and you are absolutely spot on with what is contained in the schedule - in particular Sched 3.1.

[Tiger01]

Just having a browse of the ICAO report now. It's exactly what im looking for thanks! ! :ok:

[desmotronic]

Parliament of Australia: Senate: Committees: Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport: Inquiry into the Administration of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) and related matters (http://www.aph.gov.au/SENATE/committee/rrat_ctte/casa/index.htm)

[Gen. Anaesthetic]

And once you've submitted it and had some feedback, why don't you post the product of all your efforts up here? Of course it's entirely up to you, and pruners can be a pretty harsh crowd, but if it could inspire some intelligent discussion then it would have to be worth it...

I for one would certainly appreciate seeing the discussion take place and your efforts would have my support, whether I disagree with the conclusions or not. I am more interested in the discussion than who's right or wrong.

[The Voice]

Wouldn't be thinking a 2000 word essay would be a good thing to post on here, BUT perhaps salient points could be discussed ..

Do you have to do the footnote yaddy yadda thing Tiger? Don't forget plagiarism is a hanging offence in legal writing stuff!

[Mainframe]

Tiger

Aviation law and potential reform, that's a big ask!

As suggested, a search of AAT hearings linked with CASA should provide interesting reading.

At times, CASA appear to be able to operate outside of the Australian Constitution and sometimes seem to show a little contempt for due process.

Many CASA staff in the past indulged in the practice of interpreting policy as legislation, which is definitely not.

CASA, in many documented cases, have not been entirely truthful in some matters.

CASA used to want to name and shame targeted operators, even before the legal process was completed.

BB, much to his credit, has assisted a lot of the wrongdoers to find alternative careers outside of CASA.

CASA, to the best of my knowledge, has never proceeded with charges of misconduct in its own ranks.

CASA, to the best of my knowledge, has never named and shamed one of their own wrongdoers, as they were so desirous of doing to targeted operators.

CASA has brought their most dysfunctional offices into line, but did not name any of the misfits.

I think you may have picked a difficult theme with aviation and law, I'm sure there are easier pickings out there.

MF

[OmniRadial]

G'day Tiger

It looks like I'm in the same boat as you. I'm currently half way through my Year 12 Legal Studies assignment and the task seems identical to yours.
I was also looking for an aviation related issue and I've chosen to write about the issue of laser pointers and aircraft.

Perhaps you could consider this topic... There's quite a bit of info on the net, as it's a recent issue and the aforementioned austlii database has the details regarding the case against Lanfranco Baldetti who was sent to prison.

OR

[CazbahKid]

Maybe you could look at the effects of fatigue and the legal obligations by the airlines to manage it.

Some case studies could be Korean Air Flight 801 in '97 or more recently Colgan Air Flight 3407.