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CAA funding review: Political leadership is now essential

September 26, 2016

Since our update last month, we’ve achieved much greater clarity around a few things: The Minister of Transport, Simon Bridges, is still waiting for the final Cabinet paper and Regulatory Impact Statement on proposed charges. He believes that these two papers are months away, not weeks. He has given an undertaking that the Chairman of the Board will respond to our letter calling for …

Health and Safety: The plain truth

September 25, 2016

If you believe that H&S is a load of rubbish, give me five minutes to change your mind. It might save your skin – or a fortune in legal costs. Health and Safety aims to reduce the risk of injury or death. You may grizzle about how officialdom tries to do this, but bottom line, it makes sense to avoid injury or death, or …

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 …

CAA Funding Review: Mud sticks – and so do promises

August 18, 2016

It wasn’t just former Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee who, in 2012 (when imposing those dramatic rises), promised to reduce or remove the need for increased CAA charges in the 2015-2018 triennial review. He spoke for every minister of the day. In 2016, that still involves at least 13 ministers in the present Cabinet. There seems to be an official reluctance to even acknowledge Mr …

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 …

The doctor needn’t see you now: UK PPLs freed from Class 2 medicals at last

July 23, 2016

PPL holders in the UK are within weeks of liberation from the Class 2 medical, along with its needless hassle and expense. This means the medical requirement for UK private pilot licence and national private pilot licence holders will be the same as for a DVLA Group 1 Ordinary Driving Licence (ODL). Existing medical options (for example, a UK declaration with GP countersignature) will …

Warning: The legal responsibilities and obligations of Senior Persons

June 2, 2016

Recently, a helicopter was involved in an accident. The owning company operated under a Part 135 AOC and had its exposition written by an external contractor who subsequently became the company’s QA Manager. That manager lived far from the company and was not always at the operational base. After the accident, he received from the CAA prosecution notices relating to the accident, notifying charges laid …

Live within your means – Minister Brownlee’s promise after the 2012 review

May 31, 2016

I’ve already expressed my view that the CAA’s proposed new levies on commercial general aviation are some of the most draconian steps I have ever seen attempted, although I am assured they rank up there with the epic pricing debacle of the early 1990s. Well, it would appear our former Minister of Transport nailed the CAA’s feet firmly to the ground when he said: …

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 …

When the CAA comes calling: Part 1

May 15, 2016

In view of recent developments in Health and Safety law for which the CAA is responsible, Angela Beazer – the leading expert on New Zealand aviation law – has permitted us to publish two articles from The Legal Lounge, about dealing with the CAA. Here is Part 1, and you can find Part 2 on a separate page. Rights and obligations when responding to …

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