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When John McCormick announced his departure as CASA Director of Aviation Safety, I was very quick to point out that we were naive if we thought that changing leaders was enough to fix culture at CASA. Similarly, just because the head of the aviation medical division Pooshan Navathe will leave next year, we are foolish to think the culture within AVMED will automatically change. Of all the divisions within CASA, it is AVMED that is drawing the greatest amount of derision from the industry. Hardly a week goes by when we don't hear of another story of a pilot treated harshly by a seeming lack of logic and fairness from AVMED. There is a long way to go, and hopefully Mark Skidmore is the man to step out on the journey.

CASA has hit back on the matter of radio frequencies for airfields not marked on charts. They are reiterating their position on the need to use the area VHF not 126.7. This is a classic example of the old saying: in aviation, if you ask five people what they think you'll get six opinions. Are we overlooking that, as CAAPs are advisory only, no-one needs to comply with CASA's advice and everyone can do their own thing anyway? That doesn't sound safe either.

Just when my heels are recovering from Avalon 2013, it seems that Avalon 2015 is right around the corner. In the next couple of months there should be plenty of announcements of stars and attractions, starting with this week's news that Mark Jefferies is coming back for another go. He's bound to have a lot of mates along the show centreline, so stand by.

I will be at the Australian Aviation Hall of Fame induction dinner at Wagga Wagga tomorrow night. This initiative is only a few years old but is gathering momentum and I expect it will become one of the banner events on the Australian aviation calendar. Check the Australian Flying newsfeed for the list of 2014 inductees.

May your gauges always be in the green,

Hitch

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