And so the minister has sent in his own man.
The appointment this week of Shane Carmody as Acting CEO and Director of Aviation Safety raises more questions than it provides answers. Carmody was Deputy Secretary of the Department of Infrastructure and Transport, and as a former CASA Deputy Director he went to that job with a solid aviation background. The move was applauded in the aviation community; he was seen as a white-hat that shouldn't have been passed over for DAS when John McCormick landed the role. Now, Shane Carmody gets his chance to drink from a chalice that has becoming increasingly poisoned. CASA DAS has become responsible for a string of broken hearts, and no-one in the position in the past 20 years been able to stamp authority on the place and rein in the rampant bureacracy that has infected the regulator. Suddenly, Minister Darren Chester expects Shane Carmody to do the job by the end of the year. Honestly, if Carmody has the goods to do that, then just leave him there. If he can't do that, then Mr Chester has a problem larger than he ever knew, as it may come to pass that no one person can clean up CASA to the point that it has any earned authority over those it regulates. Within weeks of Carmody striding in through the automatic doors at Aviation House, I have no doubt that he'll be reporting back to Chester that he does indeed have a problem larger than anyone at the department ever thought. Having said that, Carmody has been there before; he has first-hand frustration with the empire building, megalomania and job-protection rackets that continue to undermine reform attempts. He could have written such a report a month ago! Maybe he did ... maybe that's why the minister has sent his own man in now; because no-one else is capable of being the walk-up start needed to drive reform.
I had the honour last week of experiencing night vision goggles (NVG) for the first time, thanks to Sunshine Coast's Becker Helicopters. Those things are both a revelation and a revolution; they stand to make Night VFR actually visual flying! Let's get real ... most of the time flying at night is on instruments when you're away from the comforting lights of built-up areas. The visual horizon that must exist in NVFR is never guaranteed, you never know you're heading for cloud until you're actually in it and all sort of illusions that don't exist in instrument flight exist when you're trying to fly by eye. NVGs make night visual actually visual flight, and that capability has been proven by our military and emergency services. The advantages in safety are too great to withhold this technology from general aviation both rotary and fixed-wing. Yes, they cost around $15,000 a set, but if you think that's expensive, try having an accident.
The Australian Aviation Hall of Fame (AAHOF) announced the 2016 inductees this week, but are still looking for the relatives of two of them: Lester Brain and Edgar Percival. If anyone has contacts for these two families, the AAHOF would be very happy to hear from you via the website www.aahof.com.au or rcoulthurst@aahof.com.au.
Congratulations to Lachie Smart for completing his solo circumnavigation of the world. Lachie now holds the record for the youngest person ever to do the trip alone. His journey will inspire younger people to understand that dreams remains only that as long as you do nothing about bringing them to life. Well done, Lachie Smart. But just like Jack Guthmiller went after Ryan Campbell's record, so too will someone come for Lachie's. Since Barrington Irving did the trip solo in 2007 at 23 years old (a relative grandfather!), six others have followed to lower the record by nearly five full years. It was broken three times in 2013 alone. Clearly, the challenge is an inspiring one, if you measure by those who have followed on. We can only hope that those who seek to come after approach the task as professionally as those that went before.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch