– Steve Hitchen
I often wonder if the people within the Civil Aviation Safety Authority believe that aviation is an inherently safe thing to do. Do they believe that if they all took two weeks off aeroplanes would start crashing at random? The question has been prompted this week by some of the demands CASA is starting to place on air show organisers, and a sudden increase in focus on not the people at the show, but third-party spectators who are not involved. These third parties are those that might be going about their own business and out of the blue an aeroplane crashes on them. Given that these people live near an airport, they are exposed to that potential, but microscopically small, risk every day. So does the presence of an air show increase that risk? According to CASA it must do or they wouldn't be suddenly getting into a lather about it. The pilots in the air show are all CASA-approved by virtue of their licence, the planes are all CASA-approved by virtue of the CoA and the air show activities are also CASA-approved. So, why when you put them all together at an air show is it suddenly more dangerous to people not at an air show? The basis is in the Hawker Hunter crash in the UK a couple of years back, where people who were not at the show became victims. But, I ask myself would this crash have had this impact had it happened on an ordinary Sunday and not at an air show? Probably not, because there have been almost no crashes in Australia not at air shows that have impacted whether or not an air show gets an approval. Yes, the people around have to be warned, but when CASA starts asking "what are you doing to prevent people sitting on that hill over there watching?" I have to wonder if they're over-stepping the mark.
A great opportunity has, I believe, been missed in the re-naming of Essendon Airport. The new name, Essendon Fields, reflects the name of the commercial development around the airport, which makes it a nothing name really. In a recent article published in Australian Flying, it was put forward that Essendon services Melbourne city, and had that not caused confusion with Tullamarine, would have made a good new name. I really can't see that most of the traffic that uses Essendon is going to the surrounding developments, so it's hard to see how the name change reflects what the airport actually does. It could have been named after a pioneer with connections to Essendon, like Jimmy Melrose, which I think would have made the Fox and Beck families a few new friends. As it is, the unimaginative name of Essendon Fields stands to do little more than be advertising for the surrounding development, which will go down like a lead Lockheed with the aviation community.
That Paul Tyrrell has popped up at AHIA has to be of very little surprise to most people in the industry. Paul is a very smart operator who also has a passion for the aviation industry. AHIA has grown and become very robust and active since it came into being only a few years ago, but people at CASA be warned, the appointment of Tyrrell represents a sharpening of the association's teeth.
Here's an opportunity for you: for 24 hours only next week, on-line retail behemoth Amazon is going to be selling e-book copies of Owen Zupp's Without Precedent for only $1.49. This book is a beautifully written account of Zupp's father's career flying in both WWII and Korea, and the incident that led to him being theoretically awarded a US Purple Heart. If you haven't yet added this book to your library, now is the time to consider it ... you won't be able to do it much cheaper than this ever again. Go onto Amazon to check out the deal.
Congratulations to Paul Olsen of Wagga Wagga, NSW, who has scored himself a Lightspeed Zulu 3 headset! Paul won our Lightspeed subscription promotion, and is now the owner of what I believe is one of the best ANR headsets on the market. Thanks heaps to Lightspeed for letting us give this away.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch