Employment | GAA

A worrying picture of systemic inconsistency at the CAA

January 13, 2018

Inconsistent actions and conflicting demands by Civil Aviation Authority officials are causing confusion and stress, wasting time and costing the CAA and its customers thousands of dollars, says a report. In a 5000-word document sent to CAA Director Graeme Harris, exposition-writing consultants Walter Wagtendonk and Ian Wood highlight – and reject – the behaviour of some CAA personnel who assess Air Operator Certification applications …

Pilot shortage: Australia to relax visa laws to attract foreign pilots

January 1, 2018

AAP, 28 December 2017 Foreign pilots will once again be allowed into Australia on working visas to help address a shortage that threatens to ground aircraft and cancel flights. The occupations eligible for foreign worker visas were slashed during a government shake-up in April but from next month, pilots will once again be granted access after concerns about the national shortage. The Regional Aviation …

Client Satisfaction Surveys in a post-factual world…

March 26, 2017

The CAA is either living in a fools’ paradise and thinks all its customers are happy, or it is deeply afraid to ask them. We can’t think of any other reason why the CAA refuses to hire a neutral organisation and tell it go to the customers and ask some honest questions. We also have convincing proof that no company or organisation can rely …

CAA Notices – The tentacles of regulation just keep growing longer

In mid-February, the CAA announced its intention to publish CAA Notices as a means of ensuring that “the regulatory framework remains responsive and adaptable to change.” On the surface, these objectives almost appear noble. But when we peel back the layers, what emerges is a worrying erosion of the checks and balances that have underpinned aviation rule-making since the early 1990s. A CAA Notice …

Ag pilot competency checks: CAA leaves a mess in its wake

August 21, 2016

The CAA is clearly in difficulties over its plans to reform the testing regime for agricultural pilots, particularly since the GAA pointed out that much of the proposed reform was not practical – particularly for the single-seat, single-control fixed-wing aircraft. Yes, it may be “legal” using the subtle differences in interpretation between a “passenger”, a“crew member” and a “required crew member”. However, legality does …

The future for our CVD pilots: GD Review Panel’s findings, in black and white

August 16, 2016

The full report of the Colour Vision Deficiency General Direction Review Panel runs to 87 pages. In the interests of brevity, we have condensed it to three A4 pages. Fifty-nine written submissions were received in response to the consultation process. Of these, 15 were from aviation groups and the remaining 44 from individuals. The Principal Medical Officer, Dr Dougal Watson, also provided the panel …

Now the CAA puts small aviation businesses in its sights

May 16, 2016

Many of us may be thinking that, this time around, GA has been let off lightly in the CAA’s triennial funding review. But we could be very wrong. Did you know, for example, that the CAA is reducing charges for many big operators such as airports and airlines, but plans to radically increase them for many small GA commercial operators, if it can convince …

Letter from America: I don’t want to be like New Zealand…

March 1, 2016

This is from Paul Bertorelli’s Avweb.com site based in Florida… The other day, I was floating along in the Cub listening to the radio chatter when it occurred to me that I hadn’t heard a native English speaker for several minutes. I listened for several more and determined that, sure enough, there were no native English speakers on the frequency. Judging by the accents, …

Announcing the GAA’s alliance with the NZAIG

October 20, 2015

Des Lines and Brian Mackie, who manage the GAA social network on behalf of you and more than 1500 other supporters, have agreed to work in alliance with the New Zealand Aviation Industry Group. This cooperation is intended to better address issues that affect professional and private participants in the New Zealand general aviation system. Both groups will maintain their freedom of independent action, …

CVD: How the CAA seeks blind obedience to rules based on nothing at all

July 25, 2015

You don’t have a problem with colour vision, do you? So anything the CAA does to further restrict pilots affected by “colour vision deficiency isn’t your business, right? You might be wrong. OK, you can see in full-colour, but an accident of birth passed on by your partner (or further down the line) could see you with a son or grandson whose aviation career …

Category: Employment