• Australian Flying Editor-at-Large Steve Hitchen (Steve Hitchen)
    Australian Flying Editor-at-Large Steve Hitchen (Steve Hitchen)
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– Steve Hitchen

I was pleased to see the ATSB deliver a bouquet to the pilot of the Adavale R22, despite the fact that the helicopter ended up immersed in flood water. Ultimately the aim of the flight was altruistic, and from the description the person was in a precarious situation. The call was made and this pilot answered the call. To me there are two underlying issues in this incident: the R22 was the wrong machine to be doing this with (with acknowledgement that it was probably the only type available at the time), and the pilot was not trained for rescue missions. Even professional HEMS and SAR helicopter pilots, when given a task, assess it first with the condition that they are allowed to turn it down if they think it endangers the crew and machine. This pilot didn't get the chance to do that; the moment called for action, and they delivered the action. All of this feeds my ongoing belief that GA pilots both rotary and fixed-wing are Australia's greatest untapped emergency resource. If we had had a program of training GA pilots for emergency missions and aid work as a reserve force, this pilot would have been better prepared to understand the limitations of the machine to perform the task. Given the potential, surely it's worth at least exploring the idea of properly trained GA pilots adding to the ranks of Australia's emergency service capability. That's one way of ensuring the aircraft stays dry.

AAA this week reiterated to the ALP Federal Government the need to exclude minor regional airports from the proposed Aviation Consumer Protection laws. This is the suite that will guarantee monetary compensation for passengers impacted by delayed and canceled flights. As delayed and canceled flights are a significant–albeit undesirable–component of the airline industry, this plan has the potential to see a lot of money flowing back to passengers. For regional airports balancing on financial precipices, this could be the upset that tips them over. Quite rightly, the AAA has gone hard at the government over this issue, and their submission points out that although this is about airlines and airports, there are ramifications linked back to GA. We need the airports that are being asked to give money back to the consumers, and if their financial camels are asked to carry too many straws, we could lose them and the services they provide to us. Regional cities are likely to lose RPT services in that case, causing infrastructure to be laid to waste as local councils decline to throw more money at an asset they will reclassify as a liability. That's a Damoclean sword we've been eyeing warily for 30-plus years, and having a powerful lobby group such as the AAA bring this to the attention of the minister in this context can only help our cause. And they are not on their own, the Regional Aviation Association of Australia (RAAA) has said something similar in their submission. In reality, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find any aviation group that will support consumer protection provisions applied to small regional airports. That, however, is no guarantee that the Federal Government will not prioritise airline passengers over the needs of GA.

But there are signs that the government does recognise the value of air links to the regional and remote communities, such as the money they are shelling out to keep remote airstrips in usable condition. The list of successful projects for funding under Round 11 of the Remote Airstrip Upgrade Program (RAUP) came out this week, revealing another $25 million to be spent across 43 airports. Whilst providing safe access for the RFDS is a key driver of these grants, a desire to maintain air links is also a motivator. Many of these remote strips are connected with low-level GA services operated with Beechcraft rather than Boeing on schedules that if not ad-hoc are the nearest thing to it. This is not a world where an army of people swarm over an arriving aircraft to ensure a fast turn-around, or passengers zip through self check-in kiosks. This is a world when the pilot is all of the above. Delays are not abnormal; they are part of the service despite the best intent of the operators. A 25-knot wind will tickle an Airbus, but bully a C210 into longer leg times. It's a challenging operational environment that needs all the support it can get, so kudos to the government for putting funding where it's needed.

May your gauges always be in the green,

Hitch

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