Costs | GAA

$400,000 or more down the drain? A cost analysis of two worthless CAA prosecutions

October 14, 2019

Two prosecutions, in both of which the CAA failed to achieve a criminal conviction, have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, we can reveal. We have already reported the more-than-two-year ordeal of a pilot relentlessly pursued by the authority, all the way to a failed CAA appeal. But soon after we posted that report, we learned about another CAA prosecution with similar circumstances. Once …

Two years of private grief, more disgrace for the CAA, massive expense – for what? Nothing.

September 10, 2019

The case has finally closed on an episode that brought two years of misery to a pilot and piled more shame on a misguided Civil Aviation Authority. The pilot was charged with, and subsequently pleaded guilty to, careless operation of an aircraft. (Among the prosecution evidence in what we’ll call the Go-Pro Case was video footage taken in the cockpit. GAA supporters raised more …

Hats off to the CAA whistleblower

June 25, 2019

The CAA, a place of dysfunction and distrust A whistleblower working in the Civil Aviation Authority has told Newshub that dysfunction and distrust at the CAA is putting the public at risk. The employee decided to speak to Newshub‘s investigations reporter Michael Morrah because, he says, the CAA has repeatedly failed in its regulatory role, and a “toxic” work environment is contributing to the …

The tragedy of ZK LSV shows why ADS-B in GA must get cash support

June 18, 2019

Everyone who operates responsibly in the New Zealand aviation system knows that ADS-B surveillance could be a priceless enhancement to flight safety. This extends beyond the observation of aircraft within controlled airspace. The scope and potential of ADS-B reaches further into the realm of safety in uncontrolled airspace and, in particular, in the event of an accident. In June, an RV12 microlight crashed in …

ADS-B approaches The Twyford Zone – but is this another black hole?

April 25, 2019

In six days, some claim, God created Heaven and Earth. On the seventh, He rested. There was light, and God saw that it was good. Much later, this also pleased every aviator who did not possess a night rating. Making an entire world out of nothing, in less than a week, is an unimaginable feat of weight and balance, particularly when you compare it …

Imagine what might happen, if New Zealand had an APPG

March 23, 2019

It stands for an All-Party Parliamentary Group whose members cast aside politics and focus on matters directly affecting real people and their livelihoods. In the UK, this is a long-established concept and its APPG-GA is a group of 203 MPs and members of the House of Lords who, among other things, have succeeded in a campaign to Cut the Red Tape at their Civil …

CAA safety levies are dangerous: Some shocking facts about the slush fund

March 17, 2019

On 1 July 2017, the CAA removed hourly charges for routine surveillance (audits and inspections). This was sold to operators on the basis that all future routine audits and inspections would be free. Where operators were found to be non-compliant, follow-up activity would be charged at the existing standard hourly rate. Hourly rate charges would continue to apply to certification, activities requested by the …

Want to subsidise Airways and the airlines? Have your say on ADS-B

Most aircraft owners will be aware that, as part of the New Southern Sky (NSS) programme, Airways is moving to Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B). The current secondary radar service will be replaced by ADS-B as the main source of surveillance information for separation of aircraft in controlled airspace. The CAA’s proposed rule change would make ADS-B mandatory for all aircraft in controlled …

More than 6000 GA pilots get EU grants to upgrade their comms

January 29, 2019

Funding provided by the EU has helped more than 6000 GA pilots and private aircraft owners to change from their 25 kHz radios to 8.33 equivalents. This issue is essentially no different from New Zealand’s switch to ADS-B transponders, because in both cases GA operators must incur costs for equipment in a change that profits commercial players in the aviation system, and provides little …

Flight training and the pilot crisis: A litany of lost opportunities…

January 13, 2019

There is no evidence that any New Zealand government (including the current one) has ever had any interest in writing a strategy for our aviation industry, and a new report from Massey and NZ ALPA gives an indication of some of the consequences. They include: A lost opportunity for this country to capitalise on the training needs for an enormous international shortage of airline …

Category: Costs