4 SA Flyer
Photography- Bruce Perkins
- Guy Leitch
- Justin de Reuck
- Ray Watts
Editorial- Guy Leitch
- Graeme Wuth
- Jim Davis
- Mike Gough
- Peter Garrison
- Ray Watts
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Important
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of a similar nature which are not mentioned or advertised.ACCOUNTS
Jennifer Rosenberg
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Emily-Jane Kinnear
[email protected]SALES MANAGER
Wayne Wilson
[email protected]
072 900 2023SUB EDITOR
Graeme Wuth
[email protected]TRAFFIC
[email protected]SUBSCRIPTIONS
[email protected]POSITION
T
HE more
involved you
become in
general aviation
the more
disappointing
the current CAA
becomes.
It is an
occupational
hazard for me
to have to listen to pilots and engineers
moan about the CAA. From past
experience I have often found that there
are, as usual, three sides to every story:
In this case, the moaners’ version, the
CAA’s and the reality, somewhere in
between. Often the reality is a solution
that requires a compromise on both sides.
Where there is goodwill on both sides this
compromise can usually be found without
too much rancour.
For CAA clients, their goodwill is
based on the economic imperative of
finding a solution. The CAA is now,
however, becoming unworkable and
is rapidly losing that goodwill which
is the essential lubricant to make the
relationship between the
regulator and user
work. Simple
problems that
have to be
solved if whole
businesses
and indeed
industries
are to
work are
not being
solved.
The CAA
isincreasingly acting in an irrational and
autocratic manner that frustrates finding
workable solutions.
There are numerous examples.
The current grounding of a large part of
the Non-Type Certified Aircraft (NTCA)
fleet due to the sudden imposition of
a long-unused standard for avionics
testing is typical of the regulator’s heavy
handedness that damages the industry. At
stake are the hundreds of jobs and many
millions of Rands in foreign exchange the
industry creates. True, one single problem
will not cause the Airplane Factory (TAF)
to fold its tent and stop making its world
class little planes, but this comes on top of
what has all the hallmarks of a sustained
campaign by CAA officials to ‘teach TAF
a lesson’. The Airplane Factory is still
suffering debilitating and unnecessary
problems with basic issues, such as
getting build numbers for its well-proven
Sling 4s.
A further tale of apparent stupidity
or officially sanctioned destructiveness
emerges with the training and
development of new aircraft engineers.
I am told the proven system of allowing
aircraft maintenance engineers (AMEs) to
graduate after three years is apparently
no longer good enough. South Africa
has perversely added another two
years before they can graduate. Further,
the CAA in its wisdom is no longer
recognising factory courses. In addition
the CAA has now introduced rules that
make it almost impossible for recently
qualified engineers to be licensed on a
variety of aircraft as they have to log six
months’ worth of experience on each
type before they can be certified. This
might sound fine in theory but in practice
is absurd, as it will take probably at least
10 years for the engineer to get each of
the rarer types on his/her licence. It is a
symptom of those who make the rules not
having any practical experience in
the industry.Guy Leitch
Editor
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