2018 January Bulletin

 

An overwhelming verdict: It’s time to curb the CAA’s medical unit

Reining in the CAA’s medical unit is long overdue, say responders to Part 3 of the GAA’s independent survey of CAA customers.

Seventy percent of responders say they are unaware that the Swedavia and Scott Gorman reports recommended the establishment of an Aviation Medical Panel made up of specialists. The survey goes on to ask: Do you think that an Aviation Medical Panel would be of benefit to participants in the NZ aviation system?

The results are showing an overwhelming response of 92% in favour. Among the comments: “This has been a vital step for years” and “The current system is adversarial and cannot help to get an unbiased result, plus expense is too great to meet ridiculous CAA requirements.”  There are also provisos such as “If genuinely independent and driven by evidence-based principles and practices”.

Part 3 also deals with aviation safety regulations and asks:

How confident are you in your ability to comply with aviation safety regulations relevant to your role?

Responses are giving an average score of 7 out of 10. There are, however, provisos attached with comments such as “this depends on individual CAA interpretations and the increasingly overarching and complex knowledge and responsibilities being applied”.

Across all the questions on aviation regulations, there is a clear and consistent theme in the comments: the problem of individual CAA staff interpretations of regulations.

The survey asks whether responders consider that CAA personnel have a common understanding of regulations and apply rules consistently.

The CAA is scoring 3, with comments such as: “No way – on occasion you can ask two staff members the same question and get two different interpretations” and “It’s a shame that I am not able to score this question with far less than a ‘0’.”

Regulations play a key role in ensuring that I operate safely earns a neutral score of 5, but comments provide an insight into the pragmatic and professional culture among pilots, such as

“It is far more important for an individual to take responsibility for operating safely than merely blindly following regulations” and “Not really – common sense – personal and company culture is more important in my view” and “Regulations are a frame in which I operate, but my own self preservation and due care of passengers plays more of a key role in safe operations”.

Asked if the CAA always consults with the most appropriate people in industry when developing or reforming aviation safety regulations, responders deliver less than 3 points. This is further reinforced when people consider if the CAA values their opinion about proposed regulations or regulatory reform. This question is returning a score of just over 2.

What factors would encourage responders to take part in a CAA consultation? A solid 80% say that they would if their contributions were used to bring about genuine change.

Survey update No. 2: The CAA’s service delivery score is a real shocker

Dismal performance levels feature strongly in Part 2 of the GAA’s independent CAA customer survey. This section focuses on service delivery.

The demographics are showing that:

• 60% of respondents have had direct contact up to 10 times with CAA staff over the last 12 months
• 10% have had direct contact 10 to 20 times over the last 12 months
• 10% have had direct contact more than 20 times over the last 12 months and
• 20% have had no direct contact with the CAA over the last 12 months

The survey asks: On a scale of 0 to 10 where 0 is “very dissatisfied”, 5 is “no opinion” and 10 is “very satisfied”, how satisfied are you with the CAA’s service delivery?

At this stage, the CAA’s service delivery is achieving an average score of 3.

Typical comments:

“The CAA’s service delivery from senior managers is very poor with most taking 10 working days to reply to correspondence and some only replying after complaints have been laid. On the other hand, clerical staff are often very good with their service delivery.”

“Too short-staffed and it takes way too long for aircraft to be added to ops specs.”

There are a number of adverse comments regarding delays in the order of three to four months for relatively simple amendments to expositions.

The airworthiness section is also attracting strong criticism, with comments such as:

“From an airworthiness perspective, the current situation frustrates the industry. Relationship between the industry and the regulator is the poorest I have seen in my 50+ years in the industry.”

The withdrawal of CAA staff contact details from the website is drawing a significant number of adverse comments from industry responders.

To the question: “Was your transaction completed at a reasonable cost?” our responders are ranking the CAA at 3.

The survey asks if responders “thinks that the CAA takes care to understand and relate to its customers”. The current response of 3 indicates a widening disconnect between the CAA and GA. This is also evident when participants are asked “if the CAA values my input.” Our responders struggle to give the CAA a score of 3.

Another question:

On a scale of 0 to 10 where 0 is “strongly disagree” and 10 is “strongly agree”, please indicate how much you agree that: “The CAA is vital to ensuring aviation safety in New Zealand”

Responders so far give this question a 6, but with several provisos attached to qualify their answers.

There’s still plenty of time to take part in the poll. It will remain open until mid-February.

Here are the survey links:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

The survey is anonymous. No one taking part will be tracked or recorded. Many participants in the New Zealand aviation system are very afraid of the Civil Aviation Authority. We have taken great care to protect them and encourage freedom of expression.

The RPL and the instructor: Did the bureaucrats stuff it up again?

AC 61.20 contains the following note:

“Under rule 61.303, an RPL does not qualify the holder for the issue of a flight instructor rating.

Therefore, a flight instructor rating cannot be endorsed on an RPL.

A person holding a flight instructor rating endorsed on a CPL or ATPL may not exercise the privileges of that instructor rating with a Land Transport (DL9) medical certificate.”

The first part of this note is correct, in that for the issue of a flight instructor rating, a CPL or higher licence must first be held. This is appropriate and demonstrates that a minimum level of experience has been achieved.

But the GAA challenged the bolded statement above and the CAA has conceded that an instructor may exercise the privileges of his/her instructor rating on a PPL or RPL.

A flight instructor exercising the privileges of a RPL must be aware of the limitations in Rule 61.357 regarding the size of the aircraft, the type of operation that may be conducted and that the aircraft may not be operated at night or under IFR.

It is equally important to point out that whilst a flight instructor exercising the privileges of a RPL or a PPL cannot receive remuneration when acting as PIC, they may be legitimately remunerated for the ground time they spend with their student or a pilot on whom they are carrying out a proficiency test.

This would normally include the time spent on a pre-flight briefing before an exercise, pre-flight inspection of the aircraft and post-flight analysis of the training exercise or a flight check such as a BFR. The time spent on the ground will often exceed that spent in the air and it is appropriate that a flight instructor be remunerated for his/her time if he/she so wishes. Not all instructors may wish to make a charge for their time. Some may prefer to carry out training or checking on a pro bono basis as a way of giving something back to the GA sector, in the same way that some lawyers volunteer their time and expertise on a similar pro bono basis.

In contrast to Rule 61.357, the UK CAA and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) permit the remuneration of a flight instructor who is using the privileges of a PPL.

The UK CAA and EASA recognise the value of allowing flight instructors who are unable to meet the Class 1 medical certification to continue to pass down their knowledge and skills.

The present situation in New Zealand has resulted in flight instructors who have been unable to meet Class 1 medical certification dropping out of our system because it has not generally been recognised that they could continue on Class 2 medical certification, using the privileges of a lower licence, albeit without remuneration when acting as PIC.

The considerable flight experience of instructors, often accumulated over a great many years, is a resource that the New Zealand GA sector can ill-afford to lose. This comes at a time when many of our young instructors are just “passing through” the flight training establishments and are primarily using flight instruction as a way to build hours before moving on to an airline.

PPLs and the RPL: Yet another wrong has been righted

Back in May 2017, we drew the CAA Director’s attention to the unlawful content within AC61.20, namely that Rule 61.41 did not apply to the Recreational Pilot Licence.

Rule 61.41(b) states that a pilot who meets the currency requirements for a lower pilot licence may exercise the privileges of the lower licence.

The CAA subsequently reconsidered its initial view that the Recreational Pilot Licence is an entirely separate type of aviation document from the ICAO-recognised licences (ATPL, CPL and PPL). As a result, in applying CAR 61.41, holders of ATPL and CPL licences who had paid for the issue of a RPL became entitled to a refund.

In July, the CAA wrote to ATPL and CPL holders advising them that they would be refunded the cost of their RPLs.

Due to Rule 61.41 having been written before the RPL was created, the Rule only referred to the then existing licence types, with the PPL being the lowest licence category. Because of this, Rule 61.41 only applied to holders of a CPL or an ATPL and PPL holders were not entitled to a refund.

In September 2017, the GAA filed a petition for exercise of the Director’s exemption power under s27 of the Civil Aviation Act 1990 to address the anomaly whereby ATPL and CPL holders were able to exercise the privileges of a lower licence but PPL holders could not.

On Friday 5 January 2018, the Director issued the exemption, which you can view or download here.

This is the latest success in an ongoing and often arduous GAA campaign to rectify CAA shortcomings and wrong-doing.

Medical certificate reform: Is our regulator deaf, dumb and blind?

On 30 November 2017, CASA announced major reforms to the aviation medical certification system. Importantly, pilots flying commercial operations with no passengers – such as flying training and aerial agriculture – will now be able to do so on the basis of an unrestricted Class 2 medical certificate.

These reforms to the Australian aviation medical system maintain appropriate safety standards while offering flexibility and reducing red tape.

This is something which NZ CAA Chairman Nigel Gould has stated the Authority is committed to. We have seen no evidence of it happening, but we are watching.

Tom Riddell †

Former Aviation Industry Association Executive Director Tom Riddell has died, one day before his 87^th birthday.

Many aspects of our operating environment stand as testament to his unwavering determination to ensure a fair deal for aviation participants. His efforts spanned the late 80s and early 90s when air navigation services were corporatised and stand-alone safety regulation was introduced, the writing of the Civil Aviation Rules in the mid 90s, and then into the 2000s with the challenges that came with their introduction.

Even in retirement, Tom Riddell maintained a keen interest in the goings-on of aviation. With his passing, we have lost a colleague, a staunch supporter of the industry – and an aviator.

Survey update No. 1: It’s looking grim for the CAA

The responses received so far to the GAA-initiated survey of CAA clients have already provided some compelling data and comments. Here, we summarise just a few major trends detected in Part 1 of the survey.

We strongly urge everyone to take part in this independent and anonymous survey, which will remain open at least until the end of January.

If you haven’t already done so, please get involved and have your say. It doesn’t take long – initial results indicate that each part is taking an average of around eight minutes.

In Part 1, the survey asks:

On a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is “very poor”, 5 is “no opinion” and 10 is “very good”, please rate the CAA’s services in terms of value for money. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the responses have so far returned an average score of 2.

The survey asks whether CAA clients considered that the Authority strove to minimise administration costs and charges. Respondents have returned an even lower score: just 1.

The survey asks whether participants considered that the CAA was openly accountable for its actions. This question has so far returned an average score of 2.

The survey asks if the CAA builds a relationship of trust. The Authority is scoring 3 out of 10.

The survey asks if New Zealand’s aviation system would benefit from having an independent aviation complaints authority. The answer sits at a resounding 96% vote in favour.

The demographics of survey responders have also been interesting. For example, those who completed Part 1 have come from:

• Aerial work – 15%
• Charter – 8%
• Business – 8%
• Air Transport – 24%
• Private – 39%
• Other – 6%

Question: “How long have you been operating or involved in the aviation sector?” The results so far:

• More than 40 years – 39%
• 31 to 40 years – 16%
• 21 to 30 years – 24%
• 11 to 20 years – 15%
• 4 to 10 years – 6%

The success of this GAA survey can be measured by 97% of responders indicating that they are willing to take part in future surveys.

The GAA’s ultimate goal is to achieve change within the CAA, and this critically depends on CAA customers overcoming the notion that “You can’t fight city hall”. There is plenty of evidence that change driven from the grass-roots is not only possible, but probable.

The survey is not difficult to complete and your time spent is a very valuable contribution to overcome an obstinate public service – yes, the people at the CAA are public servants!

In recent years, previous transport ministers have been in denial about the problems that exist within general aviation and have shown little apparent interest in the civil aviation part of their portfolio. This may soon change, because the survey has already produced significant statistics and the final results will be made available to the CAA Board, the Minister of Transport and the Transport Select Committee.

Report your position

A number of GAA supporters are no longer receiving their regular email updates because their clear.net and paradise.net accounts have been shut down. There’s also a problem with yahoo email addresses.

If this affects you, please send an email with ‘Change of address’ in the subject line to airfabrico [at] xtra [dot] co [dot] nz so that we can amend your record on the database. Please also state your old email address – that makes it easier to track you down.

About the GAA

The GAA is a voluntary social network for people involved in New Zealand General Aviation. It has more than 2000 registered supporters.

It has no constitution, no formal membership and no fees. It has no income and it seeks no profit. It exists to independently promote and defend GA in New Zealand by analysing and publicising aviation issues, challenging authority, and often personally advocating on behalf of “the little people” in our aviation system – many of whom find it hard to confront seemingly powerful bureaucrats.

GAA supporters are concerned about the Civil Aviation Authority – its poorly controlled overheads, its inadequate service levels, its red tape and its escalating fees. Many are worried about CAA policies that threaten general aviation-related businesses and may harm the future of the next generation of amateur and professional aviators.

The GAA aims to encourage constructive dialogue among everyone involved in our nation’s aviation – including bureaucrats, politicians and established aviation organisations.

GAA supporters include:

• Airline pilots of all ranks, based in New Zealand, Australia, and around the world
• Helicopter pilots based in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia
• PPL and RPL holders, and microlight pilots
• Homebuilt aircraft pilots
• Instructors and student pilots
• Balloon pilots and operators
• Glider pilots
• Skydivers and skydive operators
• Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineers
• Flight training schools
• Fixed base helicopter operators
• Maintenance organisations, and
• Small commercial aircraft operators

Become a subscriber

By registering on the GAA website, you also benefit from a regular update by email – and you can have your say on the website.