Apparently I am only medically fit to fly for another 60 days. After that, I magically become a risk because I don’t have a valid medical. This is despite the fact that a qualified doctor has examined me and cleared me to fly. But what would he know? Only CASA’s medically-untrained clerks are qualified to decide if I am fit to fly beyond the next two months.
I could go to a specialist, spend two hours per day in the gym, have Oscar Goldman fit me with bionic eyes, I could even pass a NASA astronaut medical; but the only way I am fit to fly a Cessna is if I give CASA $75 in the next 60 days. The question is: what happens if I don’t?
Well, firstly I won’t be issued with a valid medical certificate because even though the paperwork has gone in and the DAME has filled in all boxes in the online system, my application will sit in someone’s inbox until I give them my credit card number.
Secondly, if I dare to fly an aeroplane, they will haul my somewhat ample backside into the nearest court on charges of flying without a valid medical. That could be fun actually, because it would force CASA to show a link between the unsafe operation of the aircraft and me refusing to pay for the certificate. In recent months past, CASA got their fingers singed when they failed to show a strong enough correlation between unsafe aviation and an actual offence alleged. How then could they do it in this situation?
The fee is for “processing and consideration” of my application. What is there to consider? Surely the DAME has done all the considering necessary to declare me fit? But someone at CASA who hasn’t even met or spoken to me apparently knows better than a doctor who has. And for that service, I must pay or I am unsafe.
This issue is now old and hairy. It goes back to the survey done under Bruce Byron that returned an unequivocal response that the DAME should issue the certificate and not CASA. Byron even went so far as to say that he would implement the change, but then later reneged. I guess there is money to be made. I suppose we should be happy; the original fee was going to be $130!
The latest word is that the proposed Recreational Pilot Licence won’t require a medical, which is a very constructive piece of thinking. But the wheels of bureaucracy rotate slowly, and the RPL is still a way off, presuming it comes at all. Unfortunately for us GA-types, the RPL is, “some years off and only an idea” at the moment.
In the meantime, if we want to fly, we have to shell out $75. In return, CASA will do something clever to earn it, I suppose.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch
