CASA is giving new focus to the safety regulation of sport aviation in Australia.
The responsibility for overseeing sport aviation safety has been moved from CASA’s Standards Division to now fall under the watchful eye of its Office of the Director of Aviation Safety.
CASA says there’s a number of reasons for moving the regulation of sport aviation to Office of the Director.
“An important role of this Office is to oversee the introduction of new policies, functions and projects and the development and implementation of significant changes to existing policies and functions,” the regulator explains. “It brings a sharp focus on governance, consistency, overarching government and CASA policies and relevant legal requirements.
“This is particularly important when policies and functions are new or being refined. When the policies and functions mature, they can be moved to the most appropriate area within a division of CASA.”
CASA anticipates moving the regulation of the sport aviation functions to its Operations Division in the future.
Sport aviation covers about half of the aircraft operating in Australia, with about 40,000 people taking part in the various aviation sports including light recreational and microlight aircraft, gliders, gyroplanes, hang gliders, parachuting and recreational ballooning.
CASA has also set up a new Self-Administering Sport Aviation Organisations section, which will report to the Associate Director of Aviation Safety, Jonathan Aleck.
(John Absolon)
