– Steve Hitchen
CASA is going again with their relationship survey, last done in 2015. The result of the last one garnered the name Colmar-Brunton Report and many activists and lobby groups in the aviation industry used it as a bat to beat the regulator with. The results weren't spectacular, but were they ever going to be? The problem with surveys by governments, regulators, councils or any other body that takes money from us then tells us what to do, is that the average punter in the street will use the survey as an excuse to let fly with all batteries. Those that are happy will tend to sit pat. Consequently, despite the analytical skills of the consultant company, the reports are too often skewed in a negative direction. In the CASA instance, the satisfaction rating of their last report, broadly, was 25%, so I'm sure they'll be looking for that to improve. I'm not so sure that it will; there is a real danger CASA will actually get a worse rating. A promise broken is far worse than a promise never made, and despite reassurances and working groups, there is still a lot of misery in the general aviation community over Part 61, 66, 139, 141 and 142. Enough misery, probably, for many to use the survey as a spleen-venting exercise. There will be some improvemetn in the score over the Basic Class 2 concept, but that may be canceled out by the Multicom issue, which many in the industry are taking as an indicator that there's no real improvement at Aviation House. No matter what you think, it's important to give CASA frank and fair feedback so we can use the next Colmar Brunton Report with integrity to assess whether or not there has been reform progress.
And speaking of regulatory reform, CASA this week revealed they have processed only 38% of Part 141/142 approvals over the past 12 months. This looks bad for those schools still queued, because the deadline of 31 August looks mathematically impossible. To be fair, some schools will have contributed to their own delays, but there are reports coming back from schools about CASA taking too long to give answers, CASA staff that don't understand the material any better than the people they're approving and, inevitably, accusations of deliberate delays within the regulator in order to protect jobs. What ever is the reality, CASA is going to have to spool up their capacity to get all schools moved over to the new regs before the deadline. The numbers show there are still 181 training organisations to approve, and unless something happens we could be hearing a barrage of slamming doors as flying schools go out of business. That's good for no-one; it's not good for aviation and it's not good for CASA. CASA has said they are confidant, but I am predicting a deadline extension is coming up to enable schools to stay open and for approval work to continue past 31 August. But a quick word in the ear of CEO Shane Carmody: there once was a man who extended the Part 61 deadline then blamed the aviation community for it to cover his own organisation's shortcomings. Best not to make that mistake again if you want a better score on your relationship survey.
If you haven't planned your Sunday out yet, think about the Tyabb Air Show. This is one of Australia's best shows and, being the home of a lot of warbirds, has some magnificent machinery on display. I have flown into this event several times over the years, and it is one of the slickest when it comes to moving GA planes around, so delays in and out are rare. They've had some grief down there this year with pied locals defacing advertising hoardings, ignoring the benefits and legal standing of the airport. The GA community could do no better than to show the detractors that Tyabb is important and has the support of a lot of people. And there's the show to watch as well! Have a look at the show website; I'm pretty sure you'll find something there worth flying in to see.
Yesterday I was chauffered around the sky in a new (less than 100 hours) Piper M600 SETP. This is one magnificent aeroplane and I'm not ashamed to say I felt a little bit spoiled sitting down the back and doing not a lot whilst staring out the windows. Up the front, someone else was steering and running the Garmin 3000 and seemed to be making a pretty good fist of it even though it was his first attempt. With Tom the demo pilot talking him through the aeroplane, he made the transition from Bonanza to M600 relatively easily. And that's seems to be a market that's opening up now: upgrades from six-cylinder pistons. Cirrus has brought in the SF50 Vision to capture those customers with brand loyalty, Daher has had great success with the TBM range and now Piper has bolstered its position with the M600. It does make me wonder then why Textron hasn't entered the fray, producing a product that Bonanza loyalists can upgrade to. Brand loyalty to Cessna can go up the Citation M2 channel, but Beech owners still have nowhere to go beyond the Bonanza. Some will be captured by the Cessna Denali, but with 11 seats its a lot of aeroplane in capacity, performance and cost. The six-seat turbines are very much in the box seat.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch