– Steve Hitchen
CASA's Office of Airspace Regulation (OAR) has now completed the study of Mangalore airspace after taking into account feedback during the consultation period. The recommendations haven't changed from the draft report: a seminar and changes to the practice approach procedures. Given the traffic congestion caused by a busy training operator, a helicopter operator, parachuting, gliding, transiting aircraft and VOR traffic, the recommendations don't seem commensurate with the risks. But when only 28 people respond to the consultation, you can't point fingers at OAR for sticking with the outcomes of their draft report. The GA community has hardly taken to the streets to demand anything else. There's obviously a lot riding on the planned seminar as the main weapon to increase safety in the area, but I suggest that the scope needs to be widened. The aviators in the area are familiar with the risks and the solutions and need only a brush-up and discussion of alternative ideas. It's the transiting traffic that adds the uncertainty that leads to unsafe conditions, so the seminars probably need to be duplicated at locations in and around the Melbourne basin where much of Mangalore's transiting traffic originates.
It should be no surprise that CASA's GA Workplan is running behind schedule: there's a lot of work in the queue and when you change one regulation, the amendments need to be cascaded down to other regs. Lots of changes. I get that. What I don't get is that the reason for some of the delays is not attributed to workload, but "policy". Policy has been one of the regulator's greatest problems over the past nearly 30 years, and clearly something is still in play if it is getting in the way of regulatory change; change that is actually supported by senior managers and a huge chunk of the GA community. The thing about policy is that it is often anchored in attitude and culture, which we know have been roadblocks to reform for some years. But the existence of the GA Workplan itself is an indicator that the force for change in CASA is more powerful now that it has ever been. After the change in government quashed the Aviation Recovery Framework, CASA could simply have shelved the GA Workplan citing a lack of departmental support as the reason. It would have been the path of least resistance, so the decision to go ahead with it shows a willingness for senior management to take the hard road when it is the one that leads to the right destination.If policy is starting impede progress, the power of the reformists will be challenged, but it is a challenge we need them to rise to.
Go you good things! The Australia in a Day team is starting to make their way to Tasmania to tackle one very ambitious expedition: touch every state and mainland territory of Australia in one day. Considering the size of this continent, that's a huge undertaking! However, the plan is solid and the arithmetic says it can be done; they just have to do it. These four women are chasing reward in the form of the Dawn to Dusk Challenge, but at the same time are using the journey to raise money for the AWPA Freda Thompson and Claire Embling Aviation Award. If you're going to do something outrageous, you may as well do it for a cause. The support the GA community has given them has been instrumental in getting them to the start line, and that includes Yarra Valley Aviation at Lilydale, which has set aside their primary A36 Bonanza charter aircraft for the team. Success depends upon a number of factors, and choosing the right aircraft is one of them. If you have some time, go to the Australia in a Day GoFundMe page and put your support behind them as well.
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And that is the last LMH until February next year. The Australian Flying weekly newsletter enters its annual hiatus after today, but we're normally up and running again around the middle of January. This time, we're away for two more weeks because I am taking some leave during January, returning in the first week of February. Between now and Christmas we'll be distributing significant news via the Australian Flying Facebook page, so check in there regularly to help you keep pace with what's happening in general aviation. This impacts only the newsletter. Production on the March-April print issue will go ahead full-steam with guest editor Kreisha Ballantyne at the wheel. Kreisha is an experienced editor who will add her own particular style to the magazine, and produce a professional and entertaining edition in the process.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch