– Steve Hitchen
Last week's aviation jobs and skills round-table was convened to enable the minister to take the collective challenges facing the aviation community to the Federal Government's summit currently underway in Canberra. There were a lot of issues canvassed and several voices listened to, making it impossible for all of them to get a golden ticket to the summit. The GA community will have to rely on minister Catherine King to air our problems. It therefore irks me somewhat that Qantas, which was represented at the round table, also gets a seat at the summit so they can be their own voice. Is this an indicator of the level of importance the government places on GA against Qantas? Being Australia's largest airline, it's probably fair that they get their own seat, but GA as a collective is believed to represent as many–if not more–jobs and employment opportunities than Qantas does. A voice for GA at the summit could have delivered more value to Australia than a single voice coming from Qantas, which tends to be a clarion only for itself. GA has been forced to put its faith not only in Catherine King's willingness to advocate for us, but also treasurer Jim Chalmers' willingness to listen. That is a much weaker position the being able to stand up and speak for yourself.
CASA took two more steps this week as they plough through the GA workplan that was issued in early May. They have put in place exemptions for the helicopter industry until they can get a multi-engine class rating into Part 61, and outlined details for the industry to train its own flight examiners. Although for many these may seem like fringe issues, for the rotary and training communities they are large initiatives that should have been take care of when the original Part 61 was signed into law nearly eight years ago. So far, CASA seems to be sticking well to their projected timeline for workplan tasks. If they keep this up, we can expect guidance material for independent flying instructors by the end of the month, and significant reforms in maintenance regs for private and airwork categories by the end of the year. The other big one that is theoretically due by 30 September is a proposal to give access to CTA for recreational aircraft. That one is not fringe; that one is game-changer, and unfortunately it seems to be lagging behind the program. Consultation was due on 30 June and the new Part 103 MOS by then end of this month. It seems this one could be more complex and time-consuming to put together than some of the other promises in the workplan. I have been assured that the project is progressing, but anyone holding their breath for the MOS at the end of the month will soon take on a cyan patina.
AusFly is only two weeks away now, so the GA industry is making its final preparations for what is expected to be a great show. And this year, Australia's national fly-in celebrates 10 years since inception. The Sport Aircraft Association of Australia, AOPA Australia and Australian Warbirds Association Ltd were the driving force behind the show. The idea at the time was to promote unity and co-operation within the GA community. Whether or not that aim has been achieved is highly debatable, but what it has done is provide an annual party for GA that was sorely needed in 2012, and perhaps even moreso now. Over the years, AusFly has been through some disruption. There was no event in 2014 due to a high workload shouldered by the SAAA's people, and in 2016 was combined with RAAus' Natfly to form OzKosh. It was then re-branded again to a year later to AirVenture Australia and in 2018 re-located to Cessnock NSW. Among concerns that the event was no longer what it was originally conceived to be, AusFly rose again in 2018, completely separate from AirVenture Australia. AirVenture is gone now, but AusFly has shown it is a resilient event despite the turmoil, demonstrating its importance to GA in this country. Had that not been the case, we wouldn't all be readying ourselves to be at Narromine in two weeks time.
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May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch