CASA Director of Aviation Safety and CEO Pip Spence has said she expects to release the GA Workplan 2.0 by the end of this year or early in 2025.
Spence made the comments in her November CASA Briefing newsletter, which was published today.
Extending the 2022 GA Workplan was one of the core actions laid down in the Federal Government's 2024 Aviation White Paper, intended to simplify regulation surrounding general aviation where possible.
Earlier this year, CASA asked the GA community for feedback on areas that would need attention in an update GA Workplan 2.0, which collected a number of suggestions.
"Your feedback indicated what you'd like to see addressed and we've since been working to understand some of the new issues raised as well as on initiatives identified in the original workplan," Spence said.
"This is helping inform our refreshed 'GA Workplan 2.0'.
"Broad themes from the consultation include opportunities to streamline rules affecting carriage of passengers on non-standard transport operations, improving pilot licensing rules, simplifying medical arrangements and prioritising solutions to address skills shortages."
Alongside the public feedback, CASA has also drawn from the General Aviation Advisory Network's (GAAN) 2024 strategy paper, a document produced for the minister that also underpinned initiatives in the white paper.
"The workplan's significance is recognised in the federal government's Aviation White Paper and the General Aviation Advisory Network's (GAAN) General Aviation Strategy 2024," Spence said.
"As articulated in the GAAN strategy, we want a better, risk-based regulatory environment that offers improved service delivery, supports innovation, facilitates new entrants and removes unnecessary requirements that act as obstacles to growth."
CASA is still working on two outstanding initiatives of the 2022 GA workplan: access to CTA/CTR for recreational pilots, and CASR Part 43 on general aviation maintenance rules.
The proposal to give RAAus pilots access to controlled airspace was open for consultation in September, and CASA is currently collating responses to issue a feedback summary. One sticking point has been the CASA requirement for a Class 5 medical certificate to enter controlled airspace.
CASR Part 43 has encountered resistance from the MRO industry after initial support waned. Spence told an audience at RotorTech in May that she expected Part 43 to start in the fourth quarter of this year.
The GA Workplan 2.0 is expected to include timelines stretching out over the next three to five years.