16 FLYING LATEST NEWS
News
CASA
PRINCIPLES
PG 16OUTBACK
AIR RACE
P G 17New CASA Director of
Aviation Safety, Mark
Skidmore, has opened his
new career with controversy
after publishing a list of five
principles he expects CASA
decision-makers to abide by.
Skidmore published the
five principles–safety, cost,
communication, clarity and
consistency–in his CASA
Briefing Newsletter
in January.
The cause of the
controversy is the clear
statement that safety will
continue to be the primary
consideration when it comes
to regulation.
“The Civil Aviation Act
makes this certain by stating
its main object is to ‘establish
a regulatory framework for
maintaining, enhancing
and promoting the safety
of civil aviation, with
particular emphasis on
preventing aviation accidents
and incidents,’” Skidmoresays in his briefing.
“The Act also requires
CASA to ‘regard the
safety of air navigation
as the most important
consideration’ when
exercising our powers and
performing our functions.”
The aviation community
in Australia has been
railing against the primacy
of safety for several years,
primed by fears that CASA
will use it as an excuse tointroduce regulation that
damages the industry.
Suggestions to amend the
Civil Aviation Act to include
the responsibility for CASA
to foster participation in
aviation has been rejected
regularly.
Former CASA Chairman
Dick Smith has been
arguing to have safety and
participation on equal par
as priorities.
“For more than twenty
years I have tried to move
to using the words ‘CASA
should give primacy to
safety and high participation
levels in aviation’”, he said.
“It’s amazing that the
bureaucracy has rejected
that terminology in every
way, even though it’s the way
we should be looking
at things.
“What is the use of having
high safety levels if hardly
any Australians can benefit
from the level of safety thathas been attained?
“In fact, nothing in life
is without risk and any
professional needs to balance
risk and benefit. That is why
it’s a great pity that MarkSkidmore didn’t simply
advise his staff to ensure
that there is both high
safety and participation
levels in aviation.”
Past regulation, such
as the introduction of
Class D towers in place
of General Aviation
Aerodrome Procedures
(GAAP) and the removal
of RNAV approaches
from private airports
have been cited as two
instances where CASA
has pushed through
regulation without
completing proper safety
and impact studies first.
The demise of air shows
in Australia has also been
attributed to over-regulation,
which acts as a deterrent to
volunteer organisers.
Skidmore went on to
clarify the other four
principles in his newsletter,
several of which address
concerns aired by the
aviation community and,
in some cases, backed
by the Aviation SafetyRegulation Review.
“CASA has a responsibility
to communicate clearly,
simply and effectively,” he
said. “If the aviation
community does notunderstand CASA’s safety
requirements we will not get
the right safety outcomes.
“When CASA makes
changes or takes decisions
and actions we must
consider the financial
impact on both the aviation
community and CASA
and seek to keep it as low
as possible-without of
course compromising the
achievement of optimal
safety outcomes.
“While we are bound by
legal requirements in the
way CASA’s legislation is
developed and presented,
we must do our very best to
minimise complexity and
provide clear explanations
of what we require that
are free of jargon and
confusing language.
“Finally, CASA must be
consistent in its decision
making and actions. It is
not acceptable for different
areas within CASA to
present different views
on the same issues to the
aviation community.”CASA Principles court Controversy
Mark Skidmore: confirming
the primacy of safety has
caused controversy within
the aviation community.The aviation community has responded with dismay to five
principles published by the new CASA Director.CASAAUSTRALIAN FLYING March – April 2015safety will continue
to be the primary
considerationCASA has reinforced the primacy of
safety in regulatory decision-making.
CASA