Work to achieve objectives
(PBS output groups 1–4)
Objective 1: A safer aviation community is achieved through the
development and application of quality safety standards.
CASA continues to work with the aviation industry to develop clear aviation safety standards and rules that maintain and enhance safety.
In 2006–07 the following work was completed or initiated:
- six notices of proposed rule making were published
- three notices of final rule making were published
- one notice of proposed change was published
- seven advisory circulars and six draft advisory circulars were published
- four civil aviation advisory publications (CAAPs) and four draft CAAPs were published
- three amendments were made to the Civil Aviation Act 1988
- three amendments were made to the Civil Aviation Regulations 1988 (CARs)
- three amendments were made to the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998 (CASRs)
- one amendment was made to the Civil Aviation (Fees) Regulations 1995
- nineteen Civil Aviation Orders were changed or made
- fifteen new legislative change projects were initiated.
CASA engages with industry and other stakeholders in making rules through a number of mechanisms:
- The Standards Consultative Committee (SCC). The SCC brings together CASA staff and representatives from a diverse range of aviation community organisations to work on developing regulations. The SCC examines proposed regulatory changes to determine whether they are worth pursuing, and assists CASA in allocating priorities to those projects.
- SCC subcommittees. CASA technical specialists work with aviation industry specialists to develop detailed technical regulations (both new regulations and amendments) and guidance material.
- Aviation industry/CASA working groups. These working groups are formed to develop new regulations that allow flexibility for industry to meet its safety obligations.
- Regulatory advisory panels. These panels conduct an independent review of any proposed new CASR Part and any associated manual of standards, and provide advice to the CEO.
- The Aviation Safety Forum. The forum is made up of experienced members of the aviation industry, and advises CASA on important strategic issues.
- The ‘Changing the rules’ pages on the CASA website at <www.casa.gov.au/newrules/index.asp>. CASA keeps the public informed of changes, and proposals for changes, to Australia’s aviation safety rules.
- Consultation. CASA consults the public on all proposed legislative changes that are likely to affect business or to restrict competition. Generally, there are two forms of consultation:
- informal consultation by issuing a discussion paper during the legislation development stage
- formal consultation, once the technical and legal policy and associated advisory or procedural documentation have been established or developed through a notice of proposed rule making
Note: Submissions received within the public response period must be considered by CASA before the regulation is made. All submissions received are documented, and decisions on the issues and comments contained in each submission are recorded.
- Notices of final rule making. These contain a consolidation of any comments received, together with CASA’s comments, and a ‘disposition of comments’. Notices and summaries of responses are made public. Their availability is notified in the media and on the CASA website.
CASA publishes CEO directives, regulatory policy notices and non-regulatory policy notices to guide staff in carrying out their duties and in giving effect to CASA’s legislated responsibilities.
In 2006–07, CASA published two new CEO directives:
- CEO Directive 001/2007 – Development of regulations and the regulatory framework. In summary, this directive requires aviation safety regulations:
- to be developed on the basis of addressing known or likely safety risks
- to provide for the most efficient allocation of industry and CASA resources
- not to impose unnecessary costs, or unnecessarily hinder high levels of participation in aviation or capacity for growth
- to be aligned with the standards and practices of leading aviation countries.
- CEO Directive 003/2006 – Regulatory advisory panels. This directive requires the establishment of regulatory advisory panels, and specifies that their work is separate from, and additional to, existing consultation arrangements.
CASA also updated Regulatory Policy CEO001/2004 to reflect CASA’s risk-based approach to industry sector priorities.
CASA continued to develop the regulatory framework needed to introduce the new multi-crew pilot licence to Australia.
Objective 2: Compliance with Australian legislation is secured through effective surveillance, education and procedurally fair enforcement.
CASA implemented a risk-based audit programme for manufacturing organisations, based on an international risk model. The programme identifies organisations posing the greatest risk and enables resources to be targeted to areas where they deliver the best safety outcomes.
CASA developed an education and guidance programme for both CASA staff and industry to deal with the causes of past complaints. Manufacturing seminars for industry were held at regular intervals to provide forums for discussion and for clarifying issues of concern. CASA plans to continue offering these seminars in the coming year.
CASA supported two industry seminars with educational presentations encouraging industry to take increased responsibility for compliance findings, and to plan certification activities in cooperation with CASA.
The regional offices which comprise the General Aviation Operations Group carried out surveillance on an average of 98.6 per cent of active organisations. The distribution of this activity among offices is depicted in Figure 12.
Figure 12 – General Aviation Operations Group surveillance of organisations, 2006–07
The Air Transport Operations Group carries out surveillance of fewer, but larger and more complex organisations. During 2006–07, ATOG conducted 94 scheduled surveillance activities, 91.3% of active organisations (see Figure 13).
Figure 13 – Air Transport Operations Group surveillance of organisations, 2006–07
CASA has introduced a range of new and improved enforcement-related processes, all of which have been designed to allow fairer procedures and outcomes. These include:
- A coordinated enforcement process, which involves early and strategic consideration of all available enforcement tools in order to ensure that, where enforcement action of any kind may be necessary, the most appropriate tools are identified and used to bring about the optimal safety outcome consistent with the requirements of the law.
- The simplification of show cause notices to include, in appropriate cases, a clear and concise ‘executive summary’ outlining CASA’s concerns, the requirements of the law and the grounds for the action contemplated.
- ‘Pre-decisional’ review of the underlying issues in cases of administrative action where a considerable amount of time has elapsed since the issue of a show cause notice.
- ‘Post-decisional’ review, where CASA, in appropriate cases, considers reasonable alternatives to decisions in matters already before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, in a manner consistent with the tribunal’s requirements and the decision maker’s obligation to assist the tribunal in ensuring that the correct or preferable decision is given effect.
- Using the best contemporary research and analytical methods to inform and refine CASA’s enforcement strategies and practices.
- Working with existing and emerging self-administering bodies to facilitate effective and appropriate complementary approaches to compliance and enforcement, having regard to CASA’s ultimate responsibility as the regulatory authority.
- Developing and extending cooperative relations with public agencies and private organisations having complementary regulatory, oversight and other relevant involvement in activities relating to aviation safety.
Communications play a key role in the achievement of Objective 2. During 2006–07, CASA initiated a regular newsletter for designated aviation medical examiners, and articles on aviation medicine were published in Flight Safety Australia.
CASA launched a new flying training web page on its website. The web page is aimed at flying training organisations and approved testing officers and includes an email subscription service for updates. Answers to frequently asked questions on personnel licensing and aviation medical certification were published, as well as regular industry updates on the multi-crew licence project.
The Flight Crew Licensing Procedures Manual was reviewed, and an existing handbook, the Flight Crew Licensing Industry Delegates Handbook, was incorporated into the manual. The work included updating and clarifying procedures for the issuing of flight crew qualifications.
Objective 3: An informed and motivated aviation community is achieved.
CASA has worked to increase the acceptance of education and communication as the key to achieving appropriate safety attitudes, behaviours and outcomes. Our aim is to make CASA’s safety promotion products the product of choice when participants in the industry need education, training and information on aviation safety, its application and its delivery.
The flying training industry development programme produced two flight instructor manuals and a series of fixed-wing flight test guides. These contribute to the level of skill in, and the standardisation of, flying training in Australia.
Production of Flight Safety Australia continued, with 510,000 copies distributed in 2006–07. A survey included with the magazine showed that 81 per cent of readers rated it excellent overall, and considered it highly credible, accurate and effective at:
- refreshing personal aviation safety knowledge (88 per cent)
- building on previous safety knowledge (87 per cent).
The evening safety seminar series continued at local aero clubs in conjunction with local industry representatives, who raised the key safety issues they wanted discussed. There were 2,250 participants during the year.
A new style of presentation was adopted for CASA material and its quality was improved. A survey of communication and education material showed that the ‘Global navigation system’ and ‘Operating in and around controlled airspace’ products were of specific value to users, and that overall:
- 58 per cent believed CASA was either very effective or effective in raising awareness of safety issues through its educational products
- 69 per cent agreed that information in the material had a positive impact on their own safety behaviour and attitudes to safety.
Recruitment for, and implementation of, the field safety adviser programme was successfully completed. CASA now has a total of six advisers in place in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria/Tasmania, who will provide support to other states and territories until further expansion occurs. These advisers are successfully delivering safety messages and educational material to target areas and are responding to safety issues identified in the field.
CASA also:
- issued 80 media releases
- updated the CASA website more than 30 times each week on average. The site recorded about three million visitors during the year, and monthly visits to the site increased by about 60,000 per month.
- launched an industry newsletter, The CASA briefing. Eight editions had been published to 30 June 2007, and there are now more than 6,000 subscribers.
- managed 21 email distribution lists, with more than 16,160 subscribers. More than 400 bulk emails are distributed each year. These cover key areas of CASA’s activities such as regulatory reform, airworthiness, aircraft registration and licensing.
- received more than 2,000 emails requesting information from the public and the aviation industry. All were acknowledged on the same working day, and full responses were provided on average within five working days.
- provided $198,000 in sponsorship to industry for the introduction and delivery of safety education programmes.
Objective 4: Regulatory services are provided in a timely and consistent manner, aligned with CASA’s safety obligations.
During the year under review, CASA:
- continued operation as an issuing authority for the aviation security identification card, and issued 7,202 of these cards
- provided 20,438 flight crew exams and 7,415 maintenance engineer exams
- answered 51,000 telephone inquiries and 15,000 email inquiries relating to aviation personnel licensing, aeromedical certification and aircraft registration, with an average resolution rate of 90 per cent at the first point of contact
- issued all manufacturing-related approvals, and other services such as certificates of airworthiness, within the specified delivery timeframes
- aimed to deliver all regulatory services to licensed personnel, including aviation medical certification and aircraft registration services, in accordance with service standard targets
- appointed a dedicated flying training industry liaison officer to manage the personnel licensing services for Australia’s 35 largest flying training organisations and largest high-capacity regular public transport operators
- improved the operations of the Gliding Federation of Australia through action including a review of delegations and standardisation of legal documents and procedures, as preparation for future automatic data entry to CASA systems
- initiated a single point of entry control for maintenance licensing applications, resulting in improved data integrity
- completed a review of the class 2 medical certification system and began an analysis of the future delivery of aviation medical certification
- began planning to move regulatory services and payments to the online environment, to be accessed through the CASA self-service portal
- issued 556 air operator’s certificates and 264 certificates of approval
- issued a legislative instrument to recognise maintenance data approved by the National Airworthiness Authorities of recognised countries. This removed from both CASA and industry the burden of individual Australian approvals
- devolved to industry, for the first time, the authority to issue flight manual supplements under Civil Aviation Regulation 55A
- provided certification services for the increasing use of ‘synthetic trainers’ and flight simulators
- continued to benchmark flight crew examination pass rates against major international standards. In addition, a statistical performance analysis of CASA’s examination question database was undertaken to further enhance the integrity and quality of CASA flight crew examinations. A new flight crew examination centre was opened in metropolitan Melbourne. Statistics are being analysed to better anticipate the demand for flight crew examinations across Australia.
CASA’s 2006–07 safety sponsorships were $198,000.
They included:
- Aerial Agriculture Association of Australia
- Australian Aviation Psychology Association
- Australian Society of Air Safety Investigators
- Australian Society of Aviation Medicine
- Australian Warbirds
- Australian Women Pilots Association
- Aviation Safety Foundation Australiasia
- Aviaton Careers Expo
- Fearless Flyers
- Flight Safety Foundation
- LAME Scholarships
- Regional Aviation Association of Australia
- Royal Federation of Aero Clubs Australia
- Safeskies