– Steve Hitchen
Yesterday's announcement of the new Basic Class 2 medical standard is not CASA's reform of aviation medicine in total; it is only one part of it. The AVMED department has been a worthy target of reformists in GA for at least 15 years, mainly because it has been a heavy burden on pilots for decades, and was only getting worse. High DAME costs, a lack of DAMEs, ludicrous questionnaires, bewildering decisions and processing fees for doing not a lot robbed AVMED of any credibility and isolated it from the aviation community. Various CEOs promised reforms and delivered nothing, so Basic Class 2 represents the first real improvement to an AVMED system that needs a lot more improving. Basic Class 2 captures a very large chunk of Australia's private pilot operations–less than six pax, VFR, piston engine–but it still has limited value in some areas. Aerobatics, for example, are not allowed on Basic Class 2. Asking around CASA, I was left with the impression that what they have done is reform the low-risk areas first whilst they try to gather information about how the Austroads standard will effect IFR, NVFR and aerobatics. Personally, I believe that evidence will show there is no reason why pilots can't fly almost unrestricted on the Basic Class 2, but that's something we all have to leave CASA to work out for themselves.
Another part of the announcement was that some commercial operations will now require a Class 2 medical only, whereas before a Class 1 was needed. The big two are commercial ops without fare-paying passengers and flying instructors. Here CASA has recognised that ops like aerial ag and helicopter sling loading doesn't carry the weight of risk to general public that RPT and charter ops do, which is nice piece of commonsense; we've been asking for risk-based regulation for years. The whole idea of Class 2s for instructors is probably to allow CPLs and ATPLs who can't maintain their Class 1 to stay in aviation, locking in all those hours of experience rather than losing it all. But what we have to consider is that all this is only intent at this stage: there are no timelines and as yet CASA hasn't worked out how it will all function together, and what the real impact will be. However, having your GP do your assessment and CASA leaving the decision in the hands of your doctor is what we've been asking for. And there is more to come, I feel; AVMED may be in for somewhat of a complete overhaul.
But to many in the aviation community, these proposals are like being half-pregnant. Rather than go for a complete self-certification system like RAAus or the new FAA BasicMed, CASA's has based Basic Class 2 on a standard that is still reasonably rigid and still requires pilots to attend a medical centre. Because it's not the solution many wanted, they see it as just more rubbish regulation coming from Canberra. But there is another way of looking at it: Basic Class 2 will mean less cost impost both in doctor's fees and in the processing fee paid to CASA. It will mean people who don't have a DAME within cooee of home can wander down to see Dr Jones in the mainstreet for their medical, and it will mean the doctor seeing the patient is the one who gets to decide if they meet the requirements of fitness to fly. It sounds awfully like reform to me.
Cessna's new 408 SkyCourier came a bit out of the blue, as there hasn't been much clamouring for an aircraft that has this sort of capability. But then, if you have a launch customer like FedEx who wants to put deposits on 100 aeroplanes, I supposed you'd call that demand even if they never sold one to anyone else. The performance details, when they become available, will be of interest to companies like Viking, who builds the Twin Otter, and GippsAero, which is still contemplating resurrecting the Nomad as the Airvan 18. The SkyCourier has the potential to soak up quite a bit of demand in their cargo and short-haul passenger niches.
After my tirade about air display approvals the other week, I was pleased to hear that CASA is indeed going to bring all air display approvals under one roof, most likely the sport aviation office in Canberra. There's a lot of experience and enthusiasm for air shows and displays there, which means approvals should be easier and more transparent in the future. That doesn't mean lax; there have been some accidents here and overseas that have caused CASA to focus on mitigating risk to ensure these things don't happen again. There is still the problem that CASA can over-step the mark by insisting on measures that air show organisers don't have the legal clout to bring about, but hopefully a spirit of co-operation between the show organisers and the sport aviation office will prove capable of solving most issues so the shows can go on.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch