Jabiru's battle with CASA looks like going into extra time now that the regulator has extended the restrictions on aircraft using their engines. Clearly, someone at CASA is not satisfied with the work coming out of Bundaberg. It has been six months now, and I would have thought that Jabiru could have put reasonable measures in place to get this sorted in that time. That CASA has seen fit to extended the restrictions is not good for the industry, pointing to some kind of major failure in co-operation between Jabiru and the regulator. We are left to believe one of two things: either Jabiru is digging in its heels and refusing to do anything, or CASA is demanding a resolution that is just not workable. We should have had a plan for going forward before now.
Sydney's GA airports have been put in the spotlight this week with the release of the Camden Preliminary Draft Master Plan, then NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley standing up in parliament and saying effectively that Bankstown should be converted into a high-tech business park. Camden's PDMP tells us that there's not a lot planned to change down there because the airport is running well under capacity, and other than the air museum's potential relocation from Bankstown, there's also not a lot on the horizon for non-aviation development either. Of course, the great jumbo in the airspace is Western Sydney Airport. Once you plonk that in the middle of the Sydney basin, things are bound to change everywhere. However, one thing that is unlikely to happen regardless of what Mr Foley says, is the relocation of GA traffic to Western Sydney. I will concede that something will have to happen, but we can assess that when the airport finally opens.
It was good to see so many aviation identities gathering in Sydney last Wednesday for the announcement of the Australian Aviation Hall of Fame inductees. The AAHOF is quickly becoming an institution within the aviation community as we start to realise the importance of recognising the contribution of so many people who built aviation into what we have today. At one stage I stood back, looked around the room and counted the heads that I thought would one day become inductees themselves. It drew a wry smile from me when I understood that in this room full of achievers, there would not be that many that would ever consider themselves worthy. Indeed, they are the very sort of people that should be in the AAHOF.
Now, I have to close with a bit of a whinge. There is a lot of feedback getting to me (and I know it's reaching CASA as well) that is advocating CASA do something about the Aviation Security Identification Card (ASIC). Yes, it's onerous and air crew shouldn't need it at all, but it's nothing to do with CASA! CASA became an issuing authority, but the ASIC comes from the Department of Infrastructure. This was even acknowledged as a problem in the Forsyth Report, but noted that it comes outside the scope of aviation safety, and therefore outside the scope of CASA itself. We are better to re-direct our efforts to Warren Truss than a regulator that already has its hands very full.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch