– Steve Hitchen
CASR Part 91 is the latest suite of regs to be laid upon the table for scrutiny. These are the operating rules by which we fly; the skeletal bones of the entire body of regulations. So the controversy over why they were not among the first rules to be reviewed is probably pretty fair. If feedback now forces significant change, amendments would need to be made to CASR parts that have already been done and dusted. But if you read carefully CASA's description of the changes, there really aren't many at all; it's mainly just conglomerating a swag of other instruments into just two. In other words, they aren't expecting to make much in the way of change to Part 91, so there shouldn't be anything to flow over to other CASR parts. Is the consultation therefore a waste of time? The aviation industry would do well to get stuck in to this and pull it to pieces perhaps moreso than other suites; it governs what we do flight by flight. What I do like is that CASA is promising a plain-English guide to Part 91 similar to the Visual Flight Rules Guide. This will make it a lot easier for us to understand what CASA wants from us as pilots and operators. Plain English was flagged as necessary in the Aviation Safety Regulation Review, and this new guide will, I hope, be the first of several documents that take the legalese of the CASRs and interpret them into a understandable form.
And so we bid a fond farewell to the Remote Airfields Upgrade program. The $7 million of Round Five empties the treasure chest, but over the last four years that money has been put to very good use. The intent of the program was to help those communities where the airport is a critical connection from them to the rest of Australia; hence, it was available to only those airports classified as remote or very remote. So are we now going to get an upgrade program for airports that are not so remote? You could argue that airports at regional towns are just as critical as those in remote areas, but for different reasons. Regional airports become valuable resources in times of disaster, and there are many of them that are in need of an upgrade to make sure they can do the job when the chips are firmly down. May I quote the example of Cobden in Victoria? This was upgraded by a former state government a few years ago. At the time even I wondered why so much money was spent in such a small town. The government of today reaped the benefits a few weeks ago when bushfires raced across the south west of the state, threatening homes and killing livestock. Cobden Airport became a base of operations for both rotary and fixed-wing firebombers. Choppers both large and small, single-engine aerial tankers (SEATs) and C337 fire spotters used the airport to great advantage, and they probably couldn't have done it had the previous government not spent the money. The airport became critical, and there are many more just like it around Australia that may one day find their little local runway busier than Sydney International. The Federal Government needs to remember that, and look closely at funding needs for those airports as well.
The Commonwealth Games kick-off this coming week, and there's plenty of restrictions on the airspace around the Gold Coast and huge chunks of Queenland. If you don't want to be greeted mid-air by Hornets, you'll need to bring yourself up to speed with AIP SUP H145/17 and H183/17. They're both available on the Airservices Australia website.
Easter begins tomorrow, and there'll be people taking advantage of general aviation to make quick getaways from the cities to the regions for well-earned breaks. They could be private flyers or members of aero club fly-aways. Either way, don't forget to plan well and fly well. The weather for most of the country is looking very flyable, but if you're in Brisbane or Darwin you may have some decisions to make. Those decisions will utimately affect whether or not you have a good Easter, so decide well.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch