CASA today announced that they were extending the Approved Testing Officer (ATO) delegations for another 12 months. If you're not up with this story, here's how it goes. Under Part 61 CASA deleted the ATO delegation and will now require qualified flying instructors to apply for a Flight Examiner Rating (FER). This was always going to be an issue because it removed the insurance liability from CASA and placed it on the examiners. The net gain in efficiency and safety always stood to be approximately zero, so you have to ask why they bothered doing it at all. Time and time again the industry has pushed one simple point: anything that doesn't result in an improvement in efficiency and safety has to be called into question, and the whole ATO issue is one of those things. The need for the extension probably reflects that not enough qualified instructors have either applied for or been granted an FER, causing headaches for the industry as pilots try to sit flight tests. This extension seems to support the theory that CASA believes this is a time matter, and not a general reluctance for ATOs to convert to the FER system.
Diamond Aircraft's new big single range is evidence of Christian Dries' determination to take the fight right up to Cirrus Aircraft. The Cirrus SR22 dominated the category emphatically in 2016, recording sales of 152 aircraft against 23 Bonanzas, 44 Cessna TTx and 11 Mooneys. In great Australian parlance: the SR22 came first and daylight was second. With his three new weapons, Dries clearly believes he can secure a huge chunk of market from the SR22, given only that model has enough market share worth chasing. So how do you fell a giant? Firstly, you can't take them on at their own game, you have to beat them using your strengths against their weaknesses. The DA50 range boasts very wide, comfortable cockpits and options for engines that run jet fuel. Cirrus is a bit behind on both these features, but whether or not that is enough to sway the market in their direction is yet to be seen. Diamond doesn't mis-fire that often, but neither does Cirrus.
Australia's annual general aviation fly-in has been given another name: AirVenture Australia. The OzKosh brand lasted only one year, and was not popular because it was thought to be trading on the name of Oshkosh. If the organisers hoped the change of title would baulk any controversy they were mistaken: Airventure is Oshkosh's real name. Aviation community feedback to me so far tells a story of the industry wanting a unique Australian name rather than borrowing one from the USA. Mostly, people are asking what was wrong with the original name: Ausfly? Ausfly was, however, a different animal as far as organisation and ownership goes, so the name was changed to OzKosh to create differentiation. So if we can't have Ausfly or Natfly and don't like OzKosh or AirVenture Australia, what do we want it to be called? Feedback with ideas greatly appreciated.
It's giveaway time! Publisher Allen and Unwin has slung us five copies of the new book The Fabulous Flying Mrs Miller. This is the remarkable and romantic story of "Chubby" Miller, an Australian aviatrix who plied the skies during the golden age alongside Bill Lancaster. Chubby's story is one of adventure, daring, love, murder and loss. To win a copy of this book, simply go onto the Australian Flying Facebook page, "Like" the post you see there and sign-up for our weekly newsletter. Don't dispair if you already subscribe to the newsletter, you can still be in the running for a book.
Fly safe, fly well and fly far this Easter ... weather permitting, of course.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch