Jim McDowall

Does anyone know if CASA was actually called back before the committee as foreshadowed towards the end of their Nov 19 appearance?

 

 

In any event CASA may have been outside its powers for the registration audit. The CAO says that an aircraft must be registered with RAAus. The agreement of the day gave no audit powers to CASA so how was it that RAAus let them conduct the audit? Remember RAAus is a private body holding no delegations etc so where did CASA get its power to audit apart from a bureaucratic over-reach?

 

 

Audit failures which grounded a lot of RAA aircraft a few years ago.

Were the audit failures about the registered characteristics of the subject aircraft or actual defects picked up on inspection of the aircraft? My recollection was that the audit turned up RAAus system failures not actual airworthiness issues. But I could be wrong......................

 

 

In the US holders with sport pilot licences (RAAus equivalent ie drivers licence medical) with appropriate endorsements can fly in properly equipped aircraft in Class B airspace which includes the airspace around all the major international airports like LAX (which has 5 VFR transit routes that I understand do not require ATC clearance below 10,000 feet). It may also be that US training is more rigorous. That given, the argument about collisions would seem to baseless)

 

 

cost will be exponentially increased with the need to self administer CTA operations

Pardon my ignorance but what is the role of RAAus in the management and operation of CTA? The pilots who want a CTA endorsement will pay for it just like every other endorsement.

 

 

Angle grinding on a hot windy day without clearing the dry grass

Isn't it amazing the number of grass fires started by "angle grinders" or people who are unaware of their surroundings!

 

 

I am reading the graph correctly? It seems that Mining and Public administration and safety experience roughly the same proportion of worker fatalities. Clearly the safety business aint safe!

 

 

As a "contracted service provider" to the Commonwealth, Raaus is quite possibly in breach of the Privacy Act

 

The RAAus Privacy Policy say:

 

5.3.Use and disclosure of personal information

 

RAAus will only use and/or disclose personal information for the purposes for which it was collected (the primary purpose), unless an individual has consented to another use [APP 6].

 

There are certain limited circumstances in which RAAus may use or disclose information for a different purpose (a secondary purpose) without consent, such as where the secondary purpose is:

 

• directly related to the primary purpose for which the information was collected

 

• required or authorised under an Australian law or has been ordered by a court or tribunal

 

• necessary to lessen or prevent an immediate and serious threat to the life, safety of air

 

navigation, health or safety of any individual, or public health or safety

 

• to facilitate the investigation of an occurrence involving an RAAus registered aircraft and the death or serious injury of one or more persons

 

• a permitted general situation or health situation, as defined by the Privacy Act;

 

or

 

•an enforcement related activity and the use or disclosure of the information is reasonably

 

necessary.

 

If RAAus uses or discloses personal information for a purpose other than what it was originally collected for, RAAus will keep a written notice of that use or disclosure as required by the APPs.

 

Clearly the "primary Purpose" is the purpose for which it was originally collected and the envisaged "secondary use does not include passing it on to a third party private company without specific consent.

 

 

Anyone is free to suggest they are all out of step.

Most are small businesses who are simply cutting and pasting to fulfill a legislative or contractual obligation - probably with their fingers crossed. It is only large companies (and government - checkout how much your local council spends on WHS) that can genuinely implement SMS. And BTW the ubiquitous yellow (orange sometimes) and blue are only worn as they are cheap and they get you on to work sites without a fuss. I doubt that, because they are so commonplace now (ie functional blindness) they improve a workers visibility.

 

 

Safety and quality management people are continually making up new processes and rules, that ensures employment.

Could not agree more! CASA is a great example.

 

 

people are just copying and pasting on a computer to complete paperwork

Just like in the building industry where most people just tick the safety paperwork off as "done". It is very rarely read much less interrogated with any vigor.

 

 

pretty poor form for the head of CASA to call AOPA the "airline operators and pilots association" 

Perhaps it illustrates the pressure they were feeling.

 

 

And the question remains  - if you can fly an 850kg glider (ie no operable means of support like an engine) in CTA without a transponder, on a drivers licence medical certificate and without a PPL why not another non-VH aircraft being flown on a drivers licence medical certificate? I am not advocating anything just pointing out the inconsistency of the regimes that have evolved from the silo approach of CASA by endorsing the RAAO recreation aviation management system.

 

In respect of the CASA testimony, the selective approach to informing the committee demonstrated the contempt CASA has for the parliamentary system. For example, the shorthand description of the UK and US medical system was designed to mislead, not to mention the reliance of Carmody on Ben Morgan's regrettable enthusiastic response to the Basic med announcement before the details had been released.

 

Selective obfuscation is not going to endear CASA to this committee.

 

 

It appears that nothing is scheduled for the Senate:

 

https://www.aph.gov.au/News_and_Events/Events_Calendar/Events_Search_Result#range=daily&display=list&from=2018-11-19&to=2018-11-19&senate=1&house=1&estimates=1&sb=1&sa=1&ss=1&committees=1&sh=1&hh=1&jh=1&sc=1&ir=1&visit=1&tr=1&se=1&ex=1&od=1&general=1&pubhol=1

 

 

Hi Ian, have a look at https://www.lastpass.com/

 

Jim

 

 

I use LastPass for automatic logins which used to work on the old platform but now my username is not picked up from LastPass (field is blank) so login info is incomplete requiring manual input of username. Password is OK.

 

Can this be fixed?

 

 

Safety is not that hard..

I agree - My point is the same as yours - the "industry" that surrounds the concept. After all, none of us want to die or kill anyone.

An analysis of the ICAO Safety Management Handbook illustrates that it is a "how to" for bureaucrats to build their empire, particularly if applied to a relatively defenceless sector like ours.

 

 

This whole safety thing is going to bog our society down and destroy its spirit. ICAO Annex 19 is the source of CASA's thrust in this regard. Annex 19 is supposed to only apply to International operations and "approved training organisations" and not aircraft under 5700kg. This is being reflected in changes to EASA rules where maintenance and training operators will not be required to have SMS.

 

In this country we have laws that relate to the operation of aircraft and system for training people (inc flight reviews) to fly safely. Imposing a subjective safety system with the associated arbitrary review is tantamount to a totalitarian system.

 

After all, a private operator of a VH reg aircraft flies in the same airspace under the same air law WITHOUT an "surveillance" by a private body. If CASA wants to surveil or audit let them do it, as they can do in the VH system today. Experience has shown that they are very loath to do this as there is little in the way of justifiable outcomes.

 

 

You would appeal to RAA under their rules, fail, appeal to CASA, fail, appeal to Administrative Appeals Tribunal (by this time you've sold you plane(s) lost your home, wife and sanity) then perhaps at the same time try Australian Securities Commission for oppresive conduct against a shareholder (best of luck on that front).

 

 

Maybe 544kg = 1200lbs

 

 

They will simply raise reward until it is attractive to run businesses

If only it was that simple. There is a point where potential customers say "no way can this be justified" and sell their aircraft or choose to fly outside the rules (really only a short term solution that will give us all a bad name).

Another point I sought to make is that we are now reaping the cost of deleting competition from the education system. Competition is the fuel that feeds the fire that burns in every small businessman's (person?) belly. If you don't grow up in an environment where it is OK to succeed you dont learn to compete. And now with the atmosphere of mindless conformity that social media breeds it takes an unusual amount of guts to swim against the tide and buy your boss's business even if the terms are great.

 

Today a colleague told me about his client who has a business that turns over $150million p.a.and employs over 100 people. The kids work in the business, take home well over $100k each and basically want for nothing. The succession plan which has been in place for many years has failed as the kids don't want the responsibility even though the business is pretty much debt free. It appears the business will be sold up in its various parts for not very much to the incumbent management - I suspect the kids will end up well provided for but out of work.

 

This is not an unusual story.

 

 

Ongoing LAME supply is the sleeping giant here. The demography of the workforce is heavily grouped at the retirement end of the spectrum and with many younger people only wanting to work for someone (ie they want someone else to carry the risk for their reward) many maintenance businesses will close in the not too distant future for the want of someone wanting to own them. AND these are the businesses that service GA (including RAAus but not RPT) so making the industry more dependent on them by more regulatory requirement where none need exist makes no sense IF the goal is to keep GA a vibrant and growing sector.

 

 

From Drew McKinnie's submission to the Forsyth inquiry:

 

In April 2013 I was selected to perform an investigation into a fatal mid-air

 

collision at Carrick NSW, near Goulburn, between a landing sailplane and a

 

training glider launching behind a winch. I undertook that investigation after

 

telephone advice from the then GFA Chairman of the Operations Panel, that

 

“ATSB had declined to conduct an investigation and requested GFA lead in

 

assisting NSW Police and Coroner.” At that time, I was therefore performing

 

this function in lieu of ATSB, but as if I were an ATSB officer or delegate.

 

I understand that ATSB has the power to use CASA officers as delegated

 

officers or special investigators to perform certain investigations.

 

The Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003, Part 7, para 63B subsection (4),

 

sub-paras © and (d) apply to Commonwealth employee delegates (such as

 

CASA) and special investigators respectively, and subsection (5) then states

 

that a power that is exercised by a person under a delegation under

 

subsection(4) is taken, for the purposes of this Act, to have been exercised

 

by the ATSB. Subsection 63E spells out provisions for special investigators.

 

Those persons then have protection under subsection 64 Immunity, where “A

 

person is not subject to any liability, action, claim or demand for anything

 

done or omitted to be done in good faith in connection with the exercise of

 

powers under this Act.” Under subsection 65 ATSB also has the power to

 

provide certification of involvement in investigations.

 

The irony is that the NSW police report was never submitted to the Coroner.

 

Council assisting the Coroner, in his final submission said:

 

Counsel assisting the coroner, Peter Aitken put it bluntly in his final submission.

 

“There was an extraordinary lining up of all the holes in the Swiss cheese to create the tragedy that unfolded,” he said.

 

Mr Aitken contended there was no single cause but multiple factors at play. These included system and human failures at the airfield.

 

He attributed this to a degree of “complacency” about safety procedures, which Gliding Federation of Australia, Drew McKinney had also highlighted in his investigation.

 

 

So what is the point of Human Factors training? We are regarded as being responsible enough to have a licence/certificate - without publication of detailed RBT outcomes CASA hasn't got a leg to stand on.

 

 

I think having to comply with "International" rules holds us back.

CASA doesn't comply with international rules when it suits. For example, ICAO Annex 7 deals with registration of aircraft and details the categorization of aircraft. In the rest of the world any aircraft with an engine is an "aeroplane" so powered gliders, self launching sailplanes and touring motor-gliders are "aeroplanes". Yet in Australia where CASA and the GFA have some sort of special relationship which ensures the GFA of the maximum possible membership (income) these aeroplanes are excised from the international definition. Recent changes that accompanied Part 149 consolidated this position.

International rules only really apply to aircraft that fly internationally and across the globe there are plenty of examples where local rules that are not ICAO compliant and guess what - the sun still comes up in the morning.

 

Safety Management Systems are promoted by CASA as a requirement for all aviation but in reality the ICAO requirement only applies to international airlines. Even EASA has realised that SMS have no practical application in private GA and is moving the abolish SMS for private ops.

 

In summary ICAO compliance is only an excuse.