– Steve Hitchen
As far as medical reform goes, is Shane Carmody "da man"? Carmody has promised that from 3 April, all DAMEs will be able to issue Class 2 medical certificates on the spot without reference to CASA. If he makes this happen, he will have achieved something that the three CEOs that came before him failed to do, despite assurances to the contrary. The sticking point has always been the DAMEs not wanting to take responsibility, which they didn't have to do if CASA issued the certificate. So what has changed? Why has Shane Carmody succeeded where his predecessors failed? There's no doubting Carmody's skill, experience and professionalism as a senior public servant, but it can hardly have been that alone that swung the pendulum. The truth is likely that a complete reform of the AVMED system is in play, and the DAMEs have found themselves having to march in step or be left behind. The cynics will say that so far this reform has been only promised (like many times before), but there is still one complete month in which the wheels can fall off. The difference is that we have a start date to the promise, which is something we've never had before.
And so another great unknown has been injected into general aviation: a Minister for Infrastructure and Transport that has no established record with aviation, and who is so far being very cagy when asked about his attitudes towards GA reform. When Darren Chester got the gig in early 2016, his spin doctors were on the ball, pointing out that he used GA regularly to get from his Bairnsdale to Canberra, and that he had GippsAero in his electorate. So far team Michael McCormack has been very quiet, which is often a sign that they have nothing to say that can benefit them. McCormack now inherits the responsibility of dealing with an aviation community that is infused with the spirit of reform; a community that is not in the mood to accept platitudes in place of progress anymore. But every minister has their own policies and plans, and it may be that McCormack continues with the initiative of Darren Chester such as the General Aviation Advisory Group (GAAG) and action plans from the BITRE GA Study ... or dismantles all that to put his own actions in place. The latter would be a sting in the arse for GA: new action plans usually start with consultation, studies and all the things that politicians love to do in lieu of actually doing anything. GA has already expressed a great frustration and shown signs of consultation fatigue, so to have to go back onto the merry-go-round of discussions and fact-finding will probably break a lot of hearts.
Australian Flying lost a real asset this week when Senior Contributor Philip Smart moved on to a new position within the aviation and defence industry. Phil is a great writer who displayed a passion for aviation at all levels from drones to A380s. As his editor, I could assign him any challenge and he would rise to it with enthusiasm, producing great copy every time. Phil was also regular contributor to Australian Defence Magazine and was the last ever editor of Aviation Business. His departure will leave a hole in the contributor line-up for Australian Flying, so we are sending out a call to the aviation community for someone to step up and take over his role. I need a right-hand person; someone who always looks up when a light plane goes by, makes a mental note of every windsock they see, stops to watch every time a propeller starts to swing. They also need to be proud of their written work, understand the readership and are dedicated to making Australian Flying better with every issue that goes out. If I just described you, we probably need to talk. Contact me: stevehitchen@yaffa.com.au.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch