– Steve Hitchen
This week's LMH is coming to you from the Regional Aviation Association of Australia annual convention on the Gold Coast. We had a good line-up of speakers yesterday including RAAA Chairman Jim Davis, ATSB boss Greg Hood and a very impressive presentation from Bankstown supremo Lee de Winton. So far, there seems to be a thread of optimism going through most speakers, although there is almost universal agreement that a lack of engineers and no effective way of training them is one of the greatest threats to the industry so far. With CASR Part 66 being consigned to a Technical Working Group, the solution may be at hand. Surely Australia has the means to fix this problem ourselves, after all, we once did it so well. Airfield charges are also set to come under scrutiny in the coming 12 months.
Yesterday the first draft of the BITRE GA Study report was delivered into the hands of the members of the General Aviation Advisory Group. This is the report that the government's attitude to the future of general aviation hinges on. The GAAG members now have until 3 November to comment back to the minister. Although I have not seen the report as such, there are people who are telliing me there are things in it they are not happy about. That's to be expected; has there ever been a government report that everyone has been happy about (except maybe for the government)? Sometime between now and the end of the year, the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development will let us have a look at the final copy, which I presume will be the resultant of the initial draft corrected for the expertise provided by the members of GAAG. Or am I being too naive? I've been guilty of that before ...
And on the subject of reports that have been a long time coming, we are on the cusp of getting the ATSB Norfolk Island ditching report Mark II. According to Chris Manning, we should see it next week, but I'm not putting my life savings on that given the battering the ATSB copped over the initial report. You can guarantee they'll be looking to make sure this one is as healthy as it can be before it's released into the wild. Whatever the final report says, I doubt that anyone from the flight crew to Pel-Air, CASA or the ATSB is going to come out of this smelling like a Violet Carson. Hopefully, this report won't itself become the battle ground for the war to continue; people need closure on this issue, and even though some of us may not like the conclusions, we're unlikely to find reasons to demand a third effort. This, as they say, will be it.
Shane Carmody has picked up the thorny rose of predicting when regulatory reform will end. In his newsletter this month, he has said it will be all over by the end of next year; a little over 14 months away. CASA CEOs before him have pricked their thumbs on this, from Bruce Byron to John McCormick and Mark Skidmore. So far none of them have been right, and you have to ask if the person in which the ultimate power to make this happen can't make it happen then can we actually finish regulatory reform? To answer that, we have to understand why it has taken nearly 30 years to do the job, and many people are struggling to do that. Getting reform through CASA in the past has been like trying to drive a straw through a potato: there is so much resistance that the straw is likely to bend before the potato yields. It can be done, but only if you know how and hit the potato hard enough. Let's hope Shane Carmody knows how and can bring this saga to a close.
I believe Airservices is looking now at alternatives to its much maligned AIC H29/17, which threatened removal of ALAs and HLSs that didn't update their data. I have been told they are considering is a less onerous data specification for smaller aerodromes and helipads, which may also include a note or depiction on charts of how much confidence Airservices has in the details in their database. What we, the industry, need to do is make sure our part is done: getting the data up to date in the first place. As pilots, we rely on what we read in documents, plus asking owners, to find out as much as we can about the spot we're about to land on, so we stand to gain from Airservices having confidence in the data. Expect a revised AIC to come out in the next week or so, and also expect it to ask the industry how best to manage the database.
From a controversial and shaky start, it looks like Airventure Australia delivered the goods last weekend. Around 2300 visitors and 440 aeroplanes is respectable based on the past attendences at Narromine, and the same goes for the number of exhibitors. Most impressive is that the quality of the expo seems to have taken a huge step forward. From initially being housed in a hangar, to allocated spaces in a marquee, the 2017 exhibitors were housed in proper display stands with a floor. It might seem a small thing, but appearance does reflect professionalism, and people like to see professionalism at all levels of aviation, even from amateurs. Provided the organisers can stay away from the bitterness that dogged the event in May this year, Airventure Australia could now be on a footing from which it can grow into something very special for our industry. However, there is the issue about the fence. A large reo-mesh-style fence that separated the crowd from the aeroplanes, and the reasons for its existence are still a bit unclear. We can but hope the organisers find a better way next year to mitigate the risks. If we are to genuinely get to an Oshkosh atmosphere, the people need to feel they are a part of what's happening and not something to be kept at arms' length.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch