CASA confuses me.

[derekliston]

Received notification from CASA today of a legislative document. The wording includes, at least ten times I think, DAMP organisations without any explanation of what they are! I guess those who need to know probably do, but I for sure don’t.

 

 

[rankamateur]

They sound a bit wet to me!

 

 

[Sloper]

DAMPen is what they do to your enthusiasm.

 

Remember a safe sky is clear sky.

 

regards Bruce

 

 

[red750]

Implementing a DAMP - What is a DAMP?

 

An organisation's drug and alcohol management plan (DAMP) documents how the requirements of Part 99B are met. It also provides a framework for aviation organisations to manage their own risk in relation to AOD use in their workplace.

 

Search Google.

 

 

[facthunter]

Indeed, but google may come up with other non aviation (in Australia) meanings. Good to have an AUSTRALIAN aviation abbreviations thingo handy. ADF used to be Automatic Direction Finder (Radio Compass derivative). Nev

 

 

[red750]

That quote did come from a CASA web page.

 

 

 

[facthunter]

It's the only way to do it. Red .. Even then you may be confused if it's regulation as only Lawyers have a chance of knowing what they really mean. Nev

 

 

[Yenn]

cASA has a list of acronyms, if that is the correct word. When you look at any of their legislation, it is always preceded by a list of definitions. That is why understanding what CASA says is so hard.

 

 

[Mike Borgelt]

Everyone needs to remember - CASA has no interest in aviation safety. CASA is there to provide jobs and a very comfortable living to those who are incapable of providing value in the real world. The longer they spend writing voluminous and useless regulations the longer the jobs exist. It is a sheltered workshop.

 

The DAMP policy is just another useless regulation. Everybody should know not to do safety critical things under the influence of drugs or alcohol. If you insist on keeping checking up on people we become a low trust society where we used to be a high trust society. Good examples of low trust societies are found in the middle east. That is where it ends up.

 

 

[derekliston]

Everyone needs to remember - CASA has no interest in aviation safety. CASA is there to provide jobs and a very comfortable living to those who are incapable of providing value in the real world. The longer they spend writing voluminous and useless regulations the longer the jobs exist. It is a sheltered workshop.The DAMP policy is just another useless regulation. Everybody should know not to do safety critical things under the influence of drugs or alcohol. If you insist on keeping checking up on people we become a low trust society where we used to be a high trust society. Good examples of low trust societies are found in the middle east. That is where it ends up.

Sounds about right!

 

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

One rule I have never seen broken is that of not drinking alcohol before flying. Imagine my surprise at reading George Moffat's book " Winning On The Wind" where he says how in France they all stopped flying to have lunch with wine before recommencing flying.

 

The one thing that might drive me to drink before flying would be the presence of inspectors. In the meantime, I will drink after flying.

 

 

[pmccarthy]

I agree have never seen drinking before flying. But there are lots of stories about it happening in the old days. Must have been a very long time ago.

 

 

[Yenn]

Don't Air France pilots get a wine with their meal when flying?

 

 

[red750]

A week ago, a Singapore Airlines pilot was stopped from flying out of Melbourne after he failed a random breath test. Pilot alcohol testing is not compulsory before each flight in Australia unless it is specifically included in a pilot's contract. ...ABC News.

 

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

I had a breath-test in my hangar about 6 months ago. The guy thought I was getting the plane out but I was actually making space to service the car. When he saw this, he was very apologetic but he had this empty clip-board that he needed to put some stuff in before he could go back to the office. So I blew a zero for him ( it was only 9am ) and gave him a lecture about how CASA is trying to kill me by making me fly lower than necessary over the hills.

 

This made him deny being a real CASA guy, and it turned out that he was a retired cop doing a bit of part-time work for CASA. We parted on good terms.

 

 

[Jim McDowall]

I had a breath-test in my hangar about 6 months ago. The guy thought I was getting the plane out but I was actually making space to service the car. When he saw this, he was very apologetic but he had this empty clip-board that he needed to put some stuff in before he could go back to the office. So I blew a zero for him ( it was only 9am ) and gave him a lecture about how CASA is trying to kill me by making me fly lower than necessary over the hills.This made him deny being a real CASA guy, and it turned out that he was a retired cop doing a bit of part-time work for CASA. We parted on good terms.

Had the same experience - the guy told me had only done 5 tests the day before! And never had a positive test. What a costly, ineffective waste of resources.

 

 

[old man emu]

The authority to test for alcohol and other drugs (AOD) is common in transport-related occupations. 99.9% of workers in these occupations do not do their work while intoxicated. It is that 0.1% that are a danger to everyone else.

 

Education and experience are great modifiers of behaviour. I remember when RBT was introduced. It was common to detect drivers with blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) above 0.250. Now, years later, I would suggest that the common top mark is around 0.180, and that High Range PCA offences are a lot less than they were back in the day.

 

I remember reporting on the number of tests my HWP unit had done and the number of positive tests. At the time the PCA level was 0.08. It was a coincidence that the number of positive tests was 0.08% of hundreds of tests conducted.

 

Nowadays, we should not be so concerned with alcohol intoxication in the workplace, but Other Drugs.

 

 

[Jaba-who]

Had the same experience - the guy told me had only done 5 tests the day before! And never had a positive test. What a costly, ineffective waste of resources.

CASA would say that’s proof their program works.

A bit like my elephant attack charm around my neck. Ancient African magic charm - it wards off elephant attacks. Been wearing it here in Cairns for 20 years never been attacked by an elephant. Proof that it works!!!

 

 

[spacesailor]

Yen

 

Four A4 pages of abriviations & acrimonious bits of words.

 

spacesailor

 

 

[turboplanner]

CASA would say that’s proof their program works.A bit like my elephant attack charm around my neck. Ancient African magic charm - it wards off elephant attacks. Been wearing it here in Cairns for 20 years never been attacked by an elephant. Proof that it works!!!

And then a circus comes to town, you’re standing outside the bakery when around the corner comes the liw loader with the elephant on it. Old Mavis does what she always does; steps off the kerb and turns her head away from the traffic bluffing them to stop, the truck driver hits the air, and the elephant shoots across and squashes you. Random audits work very well, not the least for keeping the guilty away as they did for Natfly, but also for gauging the depth of the problem. Prior to RBT, 50% of deceased drivers had a large amount of alcohol in their blood. It would provide a foundation for flyers if the same results could be provided to them.

 

 

[Jim McDowall]

But has there been any cause for concern raised as a result of autopsies of dead GA pilots (as a result of aircraft crashes) showing that they were intoxicated? I do not believe any showed up in the data delivered in the recent( CASA's definition of "recent" not the man in the street's) medical NPRM consultation. The Governments guidelines for regulation require the need for regulation to be evidence based. I suggest that there would be nil evidence in the GA that demonstrates the need. On the other hand mandatory pre-flight testing of ATPL in RPT operations may be justifiable as is the case in many workplaces under the guise of WHS.

 

 

[turboplanner]

But has there been any cause for concern raised as a result of autopsies of dead GA pilots (as a result of aircraft crashes) showing that they were intoxicated? I do not believe any showed up in the data delivered in the recent( CASA's definition of "recent" not the man in the street's) medical NPRM consultation. The Governments guidelines for regulation require the need for regulation to be evidence based. I suggest that there would be nil evidence in the GA that demonstrates the need. On the other hand mandatory pre-flight testing of ATPL in RPT operations may be justifiable as is the case in many workplaces under the guise of WHS.

As with all statistics, the result depends on what was searched for. If records of all GA and SAO fatalities and injury producing accidents are search for the pilot's blood alcohol level, then an assessment could be made of the extent of the problem in aviation; same for drugs. I would expect the cases to be roughly the same as in road trauma.

Random audits are much less expensive than testing every single pilot before every single flight, but that's where we are heading in the car and truck industries, with interlocks, which will save an enormous amount of money compared to fielding booze buses is every state. Transitioning that to pilots is relatively easy.

 

 

[billwoodmason]

And then a circus comes to town, you’re standing outside the bakery when around the corner comes the liw loader with the elephant on it. Old Mavis does what she always does; steps off the kerb and turns her head away from the traffic bluffing them to stop, the truck driver hits the air, and the elephant shoots across and squashes you. Random audits work very well, not the least for keeping the guilty away as they did for Natfly, but also for gauging the depth of the problem. Prior to RBT, 50% of deceased drivers had a large amount of alcohol in their blood. It would provide a foundation for flyers if the same results could be provided to them.

Turbs - please explain your statement “Random audits work very well, not the least for keeping the guilty away as they did for Natfly”.

 

 

[turboplanner]

Turbs - please explain your statement “Random audits work very well, not the least for keeping the guilty away as they did for Natfly”.

You missed the endless posts and gripes, and the drop in attendances?

 

 

[Mike Borgelt]

Now what was I saying about low trust societies?

 

Does anyone sensible want to live in one?

 

We now have the technology for the complete surveillance society and each encroachment on freedom is done in the holy name of "safety". George Orwell's 1984 was written as a warning, not an instruction manual.

 

If you have not read it, I suggest you do so, soon.