Stolen plane used as justification for pointless tasks rants
 

So was in collecting my "Authority to Drive Air side" sticker so that i could drive the 50m from the airport gate to my hangar. After doing the online theory and then practical tests AGAIN, (renewal), proof of insurance with specific clause for air side access of an airport (like thats always included in insurance policies) , proof that i had a pilots license even though it was for a friggin plane in a hangar..other things too. (A simple Stat Dec saying i wouldn't stray outside hangar yellow lines is far too simple? If i do that is an offence anyway as no legitimate reason to be in a secure zone)...

Anyway, made a quip about the ridiculousness of having to show an original birth certificate every 2 years now along with passport, license, utilities, to get the ASIC card. Lovely lady replied "Well didnt you see the news on the weekend?"..referring to the stolen plane. Then proceeded to tell me how the process will be even "stricter" from October.

Surely, surely even a monkey or worse, a Canberra bureaucrat can see that the stolen plane is a reason why an ASIC is pointless. The guy went through all their relevant hoops and stole the plane. If it were in Australia, he would have had an ASIC. Yet, somehow this sort of incident is pointed to as to justification for why we needed to make it more of a pain in the ass for pilots to get to their friggin planes and for people generally to conduct aviation. How the hell is the dickaround factor of finding an original of birth certificate every 2 years going to help stop that incident, or a terrorist plot? The biggest threat to aviation i think is from someone going postal over the tedious bureaucracy of trying to do anything aviation related in Australia and shooting up the joint. I despair. Can someone please apply some common fkn sense to aviation in this country.

That feels a tiny bit better.

I feel your pain extralite. Currently going through the process of renewing my ASIC. Again. Absolutely same documents I used 2 years ago. Only difference was a more recent photo I was required to go and get as they can't be older than 6 months. Even though my passport and drivers licence can be used as proof of ID but might be nearly 10 years old. But what I find the most baffling of all, is that in order of importance of identity documents, your existing ASIC ranks a lowly category C on the same level as medicare card..! So in order of importance, it goes full birth certificate, then either drivers licence or passport, then existing ASIC. I mean WTF..? So after going though the exhausting process of identity checking, police checks, security agency checks to ensure you pose no risk to anyone and then issuing a nice shiny ASIC card to verify it, when it comes to renewing it only 2 years later, it only carries the same weight as a medicare card..? Don't even get me started on the $256.50 fee plus the cost of photos, plus postage, plus time to go in person to get 'sighted' by an agent now. And for what..? To be 'seen' to be doing something about security..? Make them valid for 10 years like a passport and stop this blatant money spinning RIPOFF..!

That doesn't feel a tiny bit better. That's just made me more p'd off. I'm going to have drink and a lie down.

Precisely the reason she is earning minimum wage working behind the counter at the security desk. Although, she might be a prime candidate for the Tiger Air boardroom....

Well, that's basically sorted it out for me. I've kept my ASIC current but use it less and less these days, so not bothering any more as I really don't have the patience to play the stupid games to renew it. :mad:

After 48 years in the industry, time to give it away I reckon and concentrate on something more enjoyable.

Hi Ya 'SIUYA' et al,

I have found 'fishin' so much MORE 'relaxin' and 'satisfyin'....and NO criminal penalty points..!!!!

Time to try it …???

Cheeerrrsss……

p.s. Still have 'an interest' though....Damn !!
(p.p.s….. Tx again Dick...…………)

That little debacle alone will probably see us all being slugged more for ASICs. Apparently the IT companies that can do the accreditation for compliance are well and truly milking it.

Whatever do you mean roundsounds..?! Nothing wrong with a glass of warm milk and a lie down is there..? ;) Stress & fatigue management at it's finest..! :D (Oh and just for the record I'm not stressed or fatigued!)

Again, an experienced pilot so in Australia he would have had an ASIC and no original of his birth certificate and new photo every 2 years would have stopped it. Wonder what the "even stricter" refers to. Will they be requiring parents birth certificates now as well? A multichoice exam on mental health" (Do you intend to crash a plane in the next 12 months. Yes/No. If answered No proceed to end of exam.) Maybe we have to make appointments to proceed to our aircraft so that w can be escorted by airport security....and then of course launch and do whatever we want. The strange thing is people i have met from CASA seemed to be mostly normal, thinking human beings, how can they come up with such illogical solutions to a problem?

What, apart from your bias, makes you think she is on minimum wage?
Any ramping up of ID provisions in October will have had nothing to do with this incident. They would have been planned long ago. The comment probably referred to stricter access provisions, which are coming.

Spot on Traffic. This next round has been in the pipeline for at least two years.

For what reason? What problem are they trying to solve?

There has been a downturn in whinging from the Aviation community. That has to be addressed.

And the beatings will continue until morale improves.:=

I have just been out and about in the USA and any secondary airport like Bankstown, Jandacott etc you dont need anything, yes nothing.

You can even take your car airside to carry fuel cans or load the aircraft !

Australian aviation is just stupidly following along and being put out of business by things like this ASIC crap.

If we could get every professional (read fare carrying pilots, Qantas etc) to down tools for a few days in support of this stupidity then we might get some media attention and see what happens.

You can still drive a fuel tanker without an ASIC equivalent and you can drive that into a kindergarten

We pilots are going through more checks than a pistol or automatic weapons license, how does that make any sense ?

If i wanted to crash a plane it doesnt matter if i have an ASIC or not. I fly downwind over the pollies in Canberra, park my plane where i am meet by someone with an ASIC and walk to the gate, and leave the next day the same way. Flying in and out of our capitol airport without an ASIC then whats the whole point of having this crap.

Its legitimate frustration at wasting time and money in an activity that has no purpose..not whinging i.m.o

In business, when a problem is identified we have to find a solution to adresss the problem. So assuming the problem they want to address is unauthorized access to an aircraft, making people that have employment on the airfield or private pilots submit pretty much the same documents every 2 years is not adressing the actual issue..Stil needs to be the same people on the airfield...original birth certificate found or not.

Surely, if they feel that unauthorized access to aircraft is the problem, make the aircraft more secure, not more background checks for everyone that need to be there anyway.. That wont stop rogue pilots of course, or passengers, or someone jumping the fence, but what will? Certainly not the mess that is Asic. What historic incident is the asic actually aimed at solving.

If doing pointless things is part of someones daily life then i suppose you sort of become immune to it. But irks the crap out of me seeing so much time wasted. Just make the thing similar to a passport we wear on a lanyard. Job done.

Sunfish,
And committing such offenses as: Loitering with intent to enjoy aviation.
Tootle pip!!

What the USA has, but I don't believe Australia has, is the Air National Guard equipped with F16s and the will and the authority to shoot down any aircraft that, when airborne, doesn't behave and could be a threat to others.

It's not just pilots. The ASIC process is the same for anyone who has to have one. In one way that's good. It would be very easy for a pollie to put 2 and 2 together and realise that a pilot has the ultimate weapon in his hands (as is regularly trotted out here) and thus make his/her ASIC requirements far more onerous than the guy who just comes in to fix the runway paint machine. Because then it would look like they are really doing something.

PRECISELY.

The process is generally referred to as ‘continuous improvement.'

Unfortunately though that concept is now so far-removed from the reality of day-to-day public service and government administration in Australia, and that as a glaringly obvious missing ‘control’. In fact IMHO, it’s now probably the biggest impediment/failure in our so-called democratic process(es) where cost of government (refer ASIC renewal costs as an example) is directly proportional to the embuggerance factor of complying with government requirements, and Australia is being slowly strangled by the idiocy of government red tape and total bureaucratic inefficiency such as the ASIC renewal nonsense.

LB said: CASA is not to blame for the security bull****.

And thank fcuk that CASA DIDN’T have a hand in the security bull**** either LB, because had it done so, and the CASA lunatics running the asylum were let loose in this arena, then it would undoubtedly have been a far bigger nightmare than it already is. :{

The constant 'evolution' of hurdles for security authorisations is due to the opportunities to do so created by the constant evolution of technology, and also the need for output by the hordes of intel analysts and planners whose role it is to design the legal and physical protection of aviation assets.
All it does is produce a finer and finer mesh in the filter, but unfortunately ignores the possibilities of going around the filter entirely. ASIC card vetting clears people who intend to carry out normal regular work within an airport, but it does nothing to screen the people with sinister intent who are fully aware of and plan to make use of the lack of physical security at most airports, which is where the money actually needs to be spent.

But ASIC cards do have a good use....

Jam it in the gate to stop the latch engaging so you can get back on airside again...

[QUOTE=Jam it in the gate to stop the latch engaging so you can get back on airside again...[/QUOTE]
Great, now you've pointed that out and were all gonna have to carry around 3" thick ASIC cards to prevent someone doing that...