The DAS poll.
 

Calling all 'not sure' and 'too early to know' fellow aviators, and please note that Mr Skidmore now refers to himself as CEO and DAS, in that order. This is a step, however small, in the right direction. When I first heard 'Director of Air Safety' I thought of his Highness sitting on Cloud 9 with a long baton safely conducting all aircraft. Hopefully Mr. Skidmore is cognisant that the pretentious DAS title is an embarrassment.

But back to business about the realities of regulatory reform quoting from a letter sent to me as an AOC operator with RPT, charter and flying school, 3rd. April 1989, quote:-

".... newly created CAA....more business-like procedures in its regulation of the aviation industry, with a view to reducing requirements, and their associated costs, to a minimum. To this end, the Authority is currently engaged in a major review....." Blah blah blah.

Sound familiar? It was a lie when written and no apology for the disgraceful treatment of the industry has, or will be forthcoming. Without Parliamentary intervention, and it behoves all of us to engage our MPs, GA will continue to decline, thousands more will leave the industry and more airline pilots will come through the 457 visa route.

Wren, the regulatory system is so totally compromised that no real reform is possible. The "forums" in my opinion produce an effect like pissing in a wetsuit. Nice warm feelings for all the attendees,, but no visible output for the rest of us.

The sheer volume and complexity of CASA's output is the indicator of a totally broken and out of control system.

The only available cure is to rewrite the Act and then break CASA up into regulator and a separate enforcer.

Oh! And get rid of the sham "government business enterprise" model that makes me almost physically sick - paying people "commercial market" salaries while they hide behind an unaccountable "public servant" facade.

To put that another way, the whole of Avmed and CLARC would be fired in an instant if they attempted to deliver the service levels they do in a commercial operation.

To put that yet another way: How dare CASA send me a text message ordering me to do something?

Folks,
As has been recommended on a number of occasions, and always thwarted by the entrenched bureaucracy.

See right back to the "Lane" reports of the mid-1980s, which coined ( for the first time, to my knowledge) the "mystique of aviation safety" as a mechanism to snow politician and the public with vision of bodies raining from the skies and various other apocalyptic outcomes, if the "air safety expert's" recommendations are deviated from one iota, or their powers over the "privileged" curbed in any way at all.

Indeed, a very senior and influenza CASA "lawyer" (and no,not the good doctor) is on record as saying that neither the Australian aviation community NOR CASA is sufficiently "mature" for outcome (performance based) regulation and therefor we must have ultra prescriptive regulation to keep the immature committers of aviation and their keepers on the straight and narrow.

You are seeing that policy in action in Part 61/141/142, the whole engineering suite so far, and the rest of the government policy defying regulations about to hit you like the previously mentioned runaway train (or was it a truck).

And the increasingly more obvious result is a shrinking industry and a steadily deterioration record of air safety outcomes.

Tootle pip!!

No incentive for CASA to reform for GA growth
 

As Leadsled says the 'mystique of aviation safety' is alive and well used as a deterrent against change.

However into the pot of ill fate, the poisonous mix for GA, is the fact of the failed government experiment of the 'independent government business enterprise' introduced in the eighties in order to apply 'user pays', and to separate Ministers from their responsibilities or opprobrium. It was never explained how user pays would work. Of course now we know that the monopoly GBE sets whatever fees it can get away with and worse it invents procedures for which fees must be applied. Hence the very idea of independent instructors working without an AOC has no traction.

GBEs taking over from direct Ministerial control will never be even slightly like a business being run by public servants (masters?) with every incentive to maintain and increase their influence. GBEs are monopolies and almost totally impervious to customer satisfaction, competition (there is none) and any efficiencies will only lead to job cuts. Job cuts lead to less influence, lower pay scales and loss of standing in Canberra, city of heirachy and great prizes for the top jobs, eg CASA CEO around half a million pa. Incredibly the joke is also on the taxpayer who pays more than the DCA needed, even with CASA 'user pays' fees.

It is clear that to expect reform from CASA is like expecting water to run uphill. A very strong board, with not less than job suicidal tendency and great determination might make some growth policies stick, but it is only Parliament with change to the Act that can revive the sickening body of GA.

We used to live in a (relatively) free country, wasn't too bad so we let things slip, did not question 'privileges', aviation medicals and log book keeping for PPL, all special ways for us elite flyers. The expensive AOC nightmare replaced a simple no cost charter and training licence, criminal offenses were enacted and huge penalties added even for the most minor transgressions.