Merged: Aviation White Paper
 

The Aviation White Paper has been released.

I'll bet QLink and Skywest aren't happy. All aircraft over 30 tonne have been targeted as requiring screening and eventually above 20 tonne which will capture the big turbo props such as Q400 and F50. Anything under 20 tonne seems to be off the radar for the time being. Mining closed charters are also off the hook but will be looked at down the track. Airports will also be classified according to the threat environment which may see some relaxation of certain requirements at regional airports.

At least we will be able to go back to using metal cuttlery to eat our yummy airline meals.

Much to a lot of people's annoyance, ASICs are here to stay but with the full expiry shown on the front of the card you may not lose that full month that can occur under the current regs if the clearance is issued at the end of the month. Also if you go from one employer to another, you security clearance will be able to be used to issue a new card.

Excellent, with the common sense test now being the standard by which we judge things perhaps there are a few other things we can approach Albanese about and see how we go.....like whether my missus or 11 year old daughter sitting in the jump seat is a security threat. :ugh:

Frank, he has a time frame in the document.

Pilot Licencing and Operations by the end of 2010 and the rest by 2011.

Pigs fly as well!:ooh:

Lots of other intersting "The Rudd Government has done" as well. All past history not vision for the future!

No Tax relief for replacing older aircraft.

Changes to the RASS scheme.

A definate 2012 cut off for regional airnav charges with changes in the mean time.


Also lots of words regading the skills shortage but no substance and no understanding of Aviation Training both Pilot and Engineering.

It read more like an election promise than a true vision for the future. Lots of Motherhood Statments that CASA hates us to use in our own manuals, but OK for the government to use!:=

Also LOTS of changes to Security with no information of who will pay for it!:sad:

WTF is the "minister" on?

Was there a relaxation of the Qantas Sale Act limitations and what specifically does it entail?

I just heard on sky news that as part of the white paper screening for security personal will go to yearly. By that im guessing they mean ASIC in which case does that mean the lot of us pilots as well. It could just be sky news bad reporting as usual. Short of me reading the entire white paper does anyone know about this.

Matt,
From what I remember at the various consultative meetings, there was a suggested option of annual checking for all ASIC holders and an increase in validity out to 5 years.

Don't quote me but and example of one way this would possibly work is:
ASIC application and card issue $190.00
Security screening for next 4 years @ $88.00 ea = $352.00
Total cost of card for 5 years $542.00

Currently ASIC costs $180 - $190 for 2 years so 5 years worth would be $450 - $475. Still cheaper this way but the department wants to give holders the five year option.

This wasn't mentioned in the White Paper so maybe they are just going to increase the frequency for the screening officers.

Matt, I believe they mean the competency assessment that is currently undertaken at the start of employment as a security screener. This was a post 9/11 initiative that was supposed to ensure that security staff are capable of reading an X ray correctly, but under the current system the test is not repeated regularly, ie you might have passed the 'hand granade: yes or no' test back in 2002 but no-one's checked since.
I haven't had the strength or time to read the whole thing yet, so I'm happy to be corrected.

Perhaps I am wrong . . . but I thought very fast trains between city pairs such as Melbourne and Sydney can achieve ‘point to point’ passenger transfers that rival air travel. I know it works in Europe and parts of Asia.

Pedota, that would be so cool. It works a treat in Europe, but the trouble is that it requires government spending on actual infrastructure, rather than groovy reports. It also requires laying tracks now for a return in a decade, and what politician cares about a future where they probably won't even be in power? I'm far from a rail expert, but my understanding is that our existing railway infrastructure is the equivalent of the Birdsville Track and can't cope with the high speed trains.

Never mind the increased efficiency, environmental benefits and flexibility of a decent east coast rail network. To the politicians, these pale into insignificance when weighed against short term kudos, nest feathering and duck shoving responsibility and cost outlay to the private sector. A TGV style train system would require vision and guts, two things our esteemed leaders are highly allergic to.

Yesterday's pollies, yesterday's thinking! :ugh::ugh:

Wouldn't that be a victory for common sense indeed! But as already mentioned, rather unlikely, and very unfortunate as a result.

The thing that bothers me most of all with the continuing downward spiral of common sense - and subsequent legislative knee-jerk reactions - in this industry, is that we see a steady erosion of the pilot's ability to make command decisions in his own aeroplane. Shouldn't it be the Captain's final decision as to who he/she thinks is a safety risk on the flight deck, rather than some pencil-pushing bureaucrat?

That was only 3 months ago:confused:

YSSY
 

Isn't it clever that the report on the best site for a second Sydney airport will be published immediately AFTER the forthcoming federal election.:ok:

This has been postponed until after the next election since at least Malcolm Fraser's time. :mad: If the current rate of homebuilding around Badgery's Creek continues there'll be no option but to construct another runway at YSSY, unless the regional carriers (flying from marginal seats) can be forced out of their landing slots. There's no spacefor another North-South runway, so it will have to be an East-West runway parallel to the existing one. Both the Daparture and Approach procedures will be right over residential areas. :=

I'm glad I don't own a house near YSSY! :}

Block your ears folks !!!!;)

Minister Albanese does. What does that tell you?

It tells me he's been rolled by K-Rudd.:ok: K-Rudd doesn't want to lose votes in the marginal seats by making a decision, so he pospones it like every Prime Minister before him.

Sitting here in Melbourne with our wonderful 24/7 airport this whole 25-year comedy just makes me laugh.:ok:

It is one the World's all-time greatest planning disasters:). The best since the founders of Pompeii saw Mount Vesuvius and said "Ooo, that's a big mountain, and it's a very pretty one!! Let's build a city at it's base, shall we?"

Like I said, block your ears!!!

Thankfully I live in his electorate so no noise over my house!

No noise over your house at the moment, but just wait until they build the new 07/25 runway. :{ Most of the electorates to the east or west of YSSY are Labor, including Grayndler (Albanese's electorate) so there isn't much noise there for now.

The 19/34 Departure and and Aproach Procedures mainly cover Liberal electorates on the North Shore. Labor won't be in power forever.:=

Block your ears!!:sad:

QFinsider


It's obvious now ,isn't it QFinsider, as to why Team Bazza punted the Qantas Sale Act case with such haste. Couldn't have it hanging around potentially interfering with what's been announced in the White paper.
Only it appears the White Paper didn't go as far as Qantas was pushing for. I wonder what leverage AIPA would have had now, if Barry hadn't blinked or is that ,done as he was told to?