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Category: Opinion

2014 is the year General Aviation tells them exactly what we think of the CAA

December 27, 2013

We begin 2014 with the first in a series of online surveys to give users an opportunity to have their say on the issues that currently affect GA, and client relationships with the CAA. Our survey of CAA users is similar to what many commercial organisations do amongst their own client base to gain feedback so they can improve systems and service – and …

You’d like a trial flight? OK, but just one smile, and you’re nicked

December 7, 2013

The latest Vector magazine contains an article headlined Adventure Flights are not Trial Flights, and says “A so-called trial flight, or flight instruction, should not be used as a backdoor method for conducting commercial activities such as adventure or scenic flights without certification”. What follows is a rather baffling piece of work, based on Part 115 – itself inspired by panic and created in …

O Canada! Where the skies are vast, the charges are fair and the Admin is sane…

November 16, 2013

Today, NAV CANADA – the Canadian equivalent of our Airways – published its 2013 Customer Guide to Charges, and GAA is quietly proud to be the first website in the world outside Canada to reveal some of the contents. They will come as an unpleasant surprise to Kiwi general aviators, still hurting from Airways’ heavy increases earlier this year. We also hope that they …

More Yakkety Yak from the CAA – The forecast is TURB (MOD/SEV) for Asteron House

November 13, 2013

From November 14, by decree of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (and, as always, in the interests of safety), general aviators’ weather forecasts will be more difficult to decode. The use of actual place names (or their abbreviations) in SIGMETs is henceforth banned, to be replaced by latitude and longitude references. Presiding over this latest imposition of potty rules created by aliens are the …

The Dilbert Principle of 21st Century Management

November 2, 2013

While walking the short distance between our hotel and Parliament, along Featherston Street with a following gale and against the flow of black-clad pedestrians, Des Lines and I played a game of I Spy A Smile. “First one to spot ten smiley people earns lunch at Rydges Hotel”. This was a prize not to be sniffed at, but neither of us won. Gazing upon …

Would the last PPL holder out of here please turn off the clubhouse lights?

September 30, 2013

Without wishing to tempt fate, this is a semi-serious request. When it comes to GA, fate needs no tempting because the GAA survey of aviators has already revealed alarming statistics that include a major switch by PPLs to either the RPL or to microlights, and provides evidence of serious damage to general aviation. Many PPL holders say they have given up altogether because they …

Crisis in the airline hangars: A badly tuned piece of anti-social engineering

August 26, 2013

Hot on the heels of a claimed skills shortage of pilots, in which an application by Air New Zealand and PricewaterhouseCoopers said that only eight people in our great nation qualify for an interview for airline pilot positions, Air NZ now threatens up to 190 redundancies in its team of wide-body aircraft engineers. In stark contrast, at Singapore Airlines, SIA Engineering is benefiting from …

GAA supporters versus PwC and Air New Zealand: We rest our case.

August 9, 2013

Submissions for or against the PricewaterhouseCoopers/Air New Zealand application to have Aeroplane Pilot added to the list of Essential Skills In Demand for immigrants closed on Friday August 9. GAA met the extended deadline with 24 hours to spare, thanks to an astonishing response from supporters who – within the space of 14 days – provided a wealth of evidence and comment to combat …

The foggy court case that could turn any pilot into dog tucker

July 1, 2013

The curious case of The CAA versus John Tucker has serious implications for any pilot faced with fog. In June, Mr Tucker was fined $2000 in the Napier District Court after pleading guilty to flying in conditions below the minimum required. He had also been accused of the much graver charge of careless flying, during a take-off at Hawke’s Bay Airport on September 24 …

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