as best we can with other regulatory
authorities, so it is in some respects
easier for people to transition
between different countries and
different authorities.
It doesn’t hurt if we look
internationally and say “how else are
people doing things?” and be able to
take the best of what’s out there.
Does he think CASA has a good
culture at the moment?
The impression I’ve got is that we’ve
got good people out there who
are trying to do the best thing out
there every single day. And they are
working within a framework of an
organisation that I need to have a
look at and just make sure it’s doing
the things I want to achieve. Culture
starts at the top, so I’ll be getting out
and talking to people and explaining
what I want and expect out of
people, which is to get on and do
their job and work with the aviation
community to achieve that.
Culture is the way you do things;
it’s the way things happen when
people aren’t watching. I expect that
people will just get on and do their
job; that they’ve got a good policy
framework that they can work
within; that they understand it.
And within that policy framework
should be working with the aviation
community to understand how to
advance aviation safety.Does he support the concept of self-
administration for recreational flying?
I haven’t had much involvement
with them, so it wouldn’t be myCASA DAS view, but the Mark
Skidmore view, that I think we
have the opportunity to allow
these associations to do that self-
administration because it gives
them the responsibility, gives themownership; they are part of that and
I think that’s good. But, you’ve got to
have trust with them as well; you’ve
got to know and understand what
they’re doing and develop that trust.
So if you’ve got that trust, if you’ve
got that good relationship there, I
don’t see anything wrong with them
doing their self-administration.
If you’ve got a good association who
can look after their members, then
they have their own best interests
at heart in regards to aviation safety
and membership ... they should
be establishing their own rules to
make sure their doing everything in
accordance with the regulations.Does he believe the current CASA
staff have the expertise needed by
a regulator?
Having good people is a very
important part of the organisation,
and having people with the right
technical background. I think in
some areas you’re probably looking
at the people who have gone through
their careers developed up and got
to the stage where they’re looking
to move, stay in the location or do
something; they are the type of
people we want with the right skill
sets. [his recruiting target will be] the
best person for the job. I had good
networks in the military obviously;
I need to develop those networks
in the civil sector and get a better
understanding, so that’s something
I’ll be aiming to do. There’s great
people out there, it’s just a case of
identifying them, and trying to get
them to come here.Given he was in the RAAF for 39
years, what has been his exposure
to civil aviation?
Since the late ‘90s I’ve had a PPL
and flying as a GA pilot. I’ve
sustained that ... I flew in the US
when I was over there and had a
US PPL. I came back to Australia
and continued GA flying, so I’ve
been part of the regulatory system
in regards to that. I haven’t been
intimately involved in being where I
am now [CASA DAS], in this type
of position, but I’ve kept an eye on it
all the way through, reading people’s
articles like yours, to get a feel for
what’s going on out there.
At Raytheon I was the Directorof Flight Operations, so I looked
at establishing their aviation safety
management system and basic
operational airworthiness. I can still
remember coming to this office with
the Raytheon guys saying “how do
we do these things?”Does the Aviation Medicine
department need an overhaul?
AVMED is up there on the list,
there’s no doubt about it, mainly
because I’m coming into an
organisation losing my head of
aviation medicine. Certainly it’s an
area I’m going to have to look at and
focus on. I think I’ve looked at the
figures and there’s quite a lot of work
done on the AVMED side with the
numbers of medical certificates they
hand out – it’s significant. But, there
are a few areas where someone for
some reason might lose it while they
are going through the review process
and that is obviously a concern to
people. I think part of it is going
to be making sure we’ve got a good
communication process in place that
does keep people informed. I know
that there are people out there that
want to conduct aviation activities
and might have some issues with
their medical and we need to find the
best way to keep them flying if we
can, and just trying to make sure that
we have good, transparent process
in place to allow people to work
through their medicals.
If there’s one thing I’d like to try
and make sure that I set up it’s that
we do have good, consistent standards
across the organisation, so it doesn’t
matter who you are or where you are,
you’re treated the same.What does he want to say to the
general aviation sector?
GA is part of the aviation
community that I want to engage
with. I want to use the term “aviation
community” rather that “aviation
industry” because to me “industry”
seems to leave GA out. I want GA to
be part of this; I want to engage with
them, I want to understand how the
regulations are interpreted, how they
roll out to GA, how we can ensure
the safety of GA so we can grow
and develop that basis of aviation
in Australia. I see GA as being
important in that.January - February 2015 AUSTRALIAN FLYINGDEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE / CPL AMANDA CAMPBELLWe shouldn’t be drinking
our own bath water ...AVM Mark “Skates”
Skidmore was not only Air
Commander Australia, but
also one of the country’s very
few qualified Boxkite pilots!australianflying.com.au 75