I agree with that Mike. I will write to the minister, for what that is worth.
Peter Champness On Mon, Jan 27, 2014 at 10:31 AM, Mike Borgelt < [email protected]> wrote: > So everybody knows the background: > > The CASA regulatory change program began in 1995. The aim was to align the > Australian regs with US FAA regulations as far as Part numbers etc went. > > Somehow this became a source of employment for the people involved so > there was no incentive to finish. > > About 5 years ago the present CASA CEO took the job and shortly > thereafter decided to align Australia with the European regs. > > Fine for airliners as FAA and Euro regs are much the same and airliners > get leased, cross leased, bought, sold etc right around the world and many > overseas airlines fly into Australia so it is good that the rules at that > level are internationally aligned. > > However this has been extended into General and Sports Aviation which will > cause great difficulty. Gliding in Europe is suffering and even the UK was > forced into going along with EASA rules in the UK. > > One long time UK instructor friend said to me a while ago that he doubted > there would be any gliding in the UK in 5 years as a result. > > Now the UK is part of the EU so those people are going to have to fight > their own fight. We can only provide moral support. > > Australia is not part of the EU although we are a signatory to ICAO > (International Civil Aviation Organisation - an agency of the UN) > > ICAO has a set of desired rules or standards which most countries will try > to use as a basis for their own, however in most cases they make local > rules which differ from ICAO rules. The only obligation is to notify ICAO > of these differences. There is no compulsion to actually > > slavishly follow ICAO rules in every way. > > Any CASA desire to do so or align with ICAO, EASA etc is merely a CASA > policy. It can be changed by CASA at any time or CASA can be told to change > by the Minister. Australia is an island continent and there is little > international GA and sporting aviation going on with > > the exception of participation in international competition in the soaring > sports and parachuting. > > Much of sporting aviation in Australia is already not recognised by ICAO. > RAAus and Amateur built Experimental are two examples. There are others. > Both of these have had strong growth in the last 10 years, in contrast to > gliding. > > It is just historical fact that gliding was around already after WW2 when > various civil aviation regulators around the world increased regulation and > oversight of civil aviation and gliding was caught up in this. If it was > invented right now I doubt that any regulators would be much > > interested apart from preventing conflicts with other airspace users, much > like the treatment of hang and para gliding. Unfortunately, having been > recognised historically by the regulators, gliding gets caught up in > mainstream aviation regulation. A bit like a mouse being > > caught in an elephant stampede. > > > What needs to be changed here is the CASA policy of aligning sport > aviation and particularly gliding, with EASA regulations. This is probably > best done by getting the Minister to give direction to CASA on this matter > to the effect that regulations > > governing gliding and the rest of sport aviation in Australia are a matter > for Australians, not Europeans and that CASA should negotiate with the > interested parties to arrive at suitable Australian regulations. > > This does not mean that overseas regulations should not be looked at, in > particular Canadian and US. The Canadian regs are sensibly based on those > of the FAA as they share common borders and are vastly shorter and simpler > than the CASA ones. Canada shares a > > common cultural and political heritage with Australia and even to a > greater extent than Australia, general aviation is not optional, unlike the > case in Europe. > > I recommend looking at the Canadian regs, start here : > http://www.tc.gc.ca/civilaviation/regserv/Affairs/cars/menu.htm > > Sports aviation is not alone here. The CASA attempt to align with EASA > with maintenance for light aircraft has the entire light aircraft > maintenance industry up in arms and was one of the factors leading to this > enquiry. > > The issue here is in bold above. What exactly the local regulations should > be is another issue. > > Mike > > > > > > > > > > *Borgelt Instruments* - > *design & manufacture of quality soaring instrumentation since 1978 * > www.borgeltinstruments.com > tel: 07 4635 5784 overseas: int+61-7-4635 5784 > mob: 042835 5784 : int+61-42835 5784 > P O Box 4607, Toowoomba East, QLD 4350, Australia > > _______________________________________________ > Aus-soaring mailing list > [email protected] > To check or change subscription details, visit: > http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring >
_______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
