A fresh start, or more of the same?

For example, over recent months, GA AOC holders have been faced with having to provide reasons why they should not have to have drug and alcohol management plans but should simply fall under the random testing regime.

The argument is not about whether the principle is sound – it is about coming up with a simple means of getting behaviour change or maintaining current good behaviour.

You can achieve that in GA through better education and working with industry associations who either have their own professional development and accreditation programs like AAAA, or who could be helped to develop one.

Similarly, industry is being asked to help with the imposition of fatigue risk management systems for all pilots. The next cab off the rank will be the imposition of safety management systems for all operators.

All good ideas if it doesn’t send you broke or if you actually have the staff to do the paperwork. In GA, these are all safety objectives that can be achieved without all the hassle of a mandated system.

There may be a sound economic case for companies introducing such systems, but shouldn’t that be left to the GA company to work out? What is appropriate in an airline environment will probably not work in GA – mostly because the costs will kill the project and because there are no ‘staff ’ to undertake the work (especially after five years of drought), but also because the culture is different, the communication is different and the relationships and structures are different.

Safety is not about regulation for its own sake – it is about behaviour change and an outcome on the ground and in the air.

CASA cannot be in the cockpit with every pilot on every flight. In single pilot ops like aerial application it is critical that safe behaviour be ingrained into the culture – not through regulation but through education and training.

Regulation has a role to play, but it should not be confused as an interchangeable term for safety. More regulation does not mean a system is safer. If ‘safety through clarity’ remains CASA’s mantra, then they have got it badly wrong in most of their regulations.

For GA, the aim should be improved safety through education rather than regulation.

CASA seems to have multiple personalities – one minute it is saying it will not put resources into GA, the next it is over-regulating GA for no clear safety benefit.

It talks about safety through clarity, but then promulgates rules that lawyers let alone pilots have difficulty understanding.

It says education is important, but prefers regulation.

Is it any wonder that industry is tired of the constant meetings without results (almost 40 per cent of my working month in November)? The fatigue the new government should be concerned with is the ‘reform’ fatigue that may lead industry to walk away from providing CASA with free consulting services and advice because there has been so little achieved over recent years.

If things don’t change dramatically there seems little point in industry devoting such massive resources to a lame duck organisation.

The starting point for getting back on track is to get the classification of operations policy aligned with the different safety responses required from different sectors according to their risk, consequence, capabilities and culture. The next step is enforcing this decision on all CASA staff.

Then GA can begin to stretch its wings.

PART 137 Time is running out for operators to transition to Part 137.

The cut-off is to have your new AOC by May of 2008.

Take out Christmas and most of January and the possibility of a glut of applications and delays around April/May, and aerial application operators should move NOW! AAAA understands that a new exemption to correct an error in the maximum weight limitations of Part 137 should now be available to all operators who have transitioned to Part 137. It should be available on the CASA website. It maintains the pre-Part 137 regime that was inadvertantly changed during legal drafting.

CONVENTION DATES The AAAA Convention 2008 will be held at Wrest Point in Hobart with the main plenary days being Tuesday the 3rd and Wednesday the 4th of June.

The convention will be a celebration of 50 years of AAAA and will feature the usual high quality speakers, trade show and workshops.

Details will be posted on the AAAA website – www.

aerialag. com. au. r Australian Aviation is proud to be the official supporting journal of the Aerial Agricultural Association of Australia. The views in this column are those of the AAAA, and not necessarily Australian Aviation’s.