CASA announced today that it will send some functions of regulatory oversight back to the regional offices after problems connecting with the aviation industry through the central office in Canberra.
The Regulatory Oversight Divsion (ROD) will still handle most day-to-day inquiries such as applications, approvals and safety regulations, but CASA is now encouraging the aviation community to contact the regional offices for complex inquiries like surveillance issues or operational services.
According to CASA, the changes came from a review of the national oversight model that was established in 2020.
"We’re doing this following a review of our 2020 move to manage regulatory services nationally," a CASA spokesperson said. "Our goal was to make sure we were providing a more consistent service across Australia, however, in practice, we understand this made it more difficult for [the industry] to interact with us.
"The changes we’ve made are designed to rectify that, while maintaining the improvements we’ve made in national standardisation.
"We’ve changed our processes to make it easier for you to get in touch with us when you need to speak directly with someone who understands your operations and the environment you work in,."
ROD functions were brought under a national model in 2021 because the aviation community was being provided with inconsistent advice and rulings from regional offices. CASA now believes some services are best delivered from the regional offices.
"To be clear, we're still looking for consistent and predictable results through a national system," Director of Aviation Safety and CEO Pip Spence said.
"Complex issues will still require centralised consideration, while more straightforward matters will be progressed locally, consistent with nationally settled policies and procedures.
"But we operate better and get improved safety outcomes when we're engaging with industry and that's what our local offices will do."
CASA will send out an e-mail to all holders of Air Operator's Certificates detailing the changes.