The CASA Briefing
Your monthly CASA update

 Civil Aviation Safety Authority

July 2007

From acting CEO Shane Carmody

Acting CEO Shane CarmodyBruce Byron is taking some well earned leave, so I am sitting in the CEO's chair for a few weeks.

CASA's primary roles are setting aviation safety standards, making sure these standards are complied with and providing safety education and training to the aviation industry. In doing so we deliver a range of regulatory services to the industry. These include issuing licenses and certificates, aircraft registration and the appointment of delegates and authorised persons. The aviation industry cannot function properly without these regulatory services, so it is important that CASA delivers them efficiently and effectively. We have made numerous improvements to service delivery in recent years and more is being done to improve service standards and make dealing with CASA as easy as is possible. Naturally, many of our regulatory services also require safety assessments and safety will always take precedence over service delivery.

To make sure CASA is providing the best possible service delivery, we have established service delivery standards for our operational groups. There are service standards for air transport, general aviation, personnel licensing, airworthiness and engineering. Managers are required to report against these standards each month, with the CEO also reviewing the results on a monthly basis. Where standards and targets are not being met managers must identify problems and find solutions. To help everyone in the aviation industry understand how CASA is performing against our service standards, we are now publishing the standards, targets and achievements on the CASA website. You can see a description of services and tasks, the number of working days CASA aims to deliver each service in, the performance target, the average achievement over 12 months and the currently monthly achievement.

Everyone in the aviation industry can now see how CASA is performing in regulatory service delivery. It is part of our commitment to building a better and more transparent CASA. Find out more about service standards.

Pilot tells: safety seminar saved my life

There is at least one private pilot who believes attending a CASA safety seminar saved his life. CASA field safety advisor Tim Penney was telephoned by the pilot last month with a 'what-went-wrong' story that did not end in a tragedy.

Tim says: "The call was from a private pilot with a few hundred hours who is as keen as mustard. A couple of weeks ago he flew himself to a destination and found himself stuck on top of cloud. He arrived in the area at 8,500 feet with cloud extending from about 2,000 feet to 6,500 feet. With not a lot of fuel remaining and limited options to divert, he prepared to descend through the cloud until he got visual. However, he remembered that in our 'Weather to Fly' evening safety seminars, the point was made to make every use of what you have available in the aircraft if penetration into cloud is inevitable - in this instance, the autopilot. He conducted his descent with the autopilot keeping the wings level yet, even still, he found himself with an attack of the leans and was actually trying to fight the autopilot at one stage. He then remembered what he was told about spatial disorientation in the same seminar presentation, realised what was happening and let the autopilot do its work. He popped out at about 2,000 feet or thereabouts and landed safely at the destination. Now although he made a number of planning mistakes and errors of judgment which led him into this potentially deadly predicament – and should have at least pressed the button and asked for assistance – he said quite categorically that attendance at the evening safety seminar did in fact save his life."

Bookmark this link for information on the next series of pilot safety seminars.

Guidance for flight reviews

CASA has established a project to develop guidance material for the conduct of flight reviews. The Civil Aviation Regulations require pilots to undergo flight reviews every two years, but there is very little material available to flight instructors or approved testing officers on how a review should be carried out. This means some flight reviews are thorough, while others involve little more than a quick circuit. This lack of consistency in flight reviews makes it difficult to be confident about good safety outcomes. Flight reviews are conducted to make sure pilots can safely exercise the privileges of their licence and to allow advice and guidance to be passed on where appropriate. CASA will develop a Civil Aviation Advisory Publication. This will be a valuable guidance tool for the expanded flight review process which is proposed in Part 61 of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations.

Find out more about the flight review project.

Alcohol and drug testing

Key steps are being taken in the development of the new drug and alcohol testing program for the aviation industry. Draft legislation to amend the Civil Aviation Act has been before a parliamentary Senate committee. The legislation is required to allow regulations to be made covering drug and alcohol testing of personnel undertaking safety sensitive aviation activities, as well as for company drug and alcohol management plans. The regulations will set out details such as the people who may be required to provide a breath and saliva sample for testing, who can ask for a sample, how tests may be conducted and the devices to be used in testing. The Senate committee held public hearings on the draft legislation on 16 July, where a small number of submissions were made. CASA is close to releasing a notice of proposed rule making which will set out the policy behind the proposed new regulations. This week, the industry Standards Consultative Committee was provided with a briefing and opportunity to provide comment on the notice of proposed rule making.

Read the draft alcohol and drug legislation.

New airspace office opens

CASA's new Office of Airspace Regulation began work at the start of July, taking over functions previously carried out by Airservices Australia. A team of people, headed by Peter Cromarty, make up the Office, some having transferred from Airservices. There has been a seamless transfer of day-to-day airspace regulatory work, with many processes remaining in place. Peter Cromarty says the new Office will be reviewing these processes to make sure they remain appropriate, as well as looking at the medium to long term airspace reform issues. The key activities of the Office of Airspace Regulation are: assessing and managing airspace change proposals; consulting with industry on airspace matters; monitoring flying activity within Australian airspace to ensure that the relevant airspace is fit for purpose; periodic reviews of the airspace structure; participating in future strategic airspace planning. The Office will directed by the Federal Government's Airspace Policy Statement.

Find our more about the Office.

Airspace Policy Statement

The Airspace Policy Statement is a blueprint for the future administration of Australian airspace. The Statement brings together current policy with planned changes. It sets out airspace reform priorities for the next 18 months, with an implementation program still being developed. The Statement says: "The Government remains committed to the National Airspace System reform objectives, particularly greater flexibility and the allocation of air traffic management services on the basis of risk. The Government expects CASA to adopt a proactive approach to assessing the Australian airspace system and its operations, and to identify and pursue reform opportunities. It is expected that CASA will undertake regular and ongoing reviews to ensure that it meets its obligations as a proactive airspace regulator. As a minimum these reviews should cover existing classifications of volumes of Australian-administered airspace, existing services and facilities provided by air navigation service providers and regular reviews of Australian-administered airspace in general and as specific issues arise."

Read the Airspace Policy Statement.

Vertical guidance on the way

Work has started to find the best way to introduce vertical approach guidance technology for aircraft making instrument landings in Australia. CASA has commissioned consultants Booz Allen Hamilton to review available technology and conduct a cost benefit study. Under review are the options for augmenting Global Navigation Satellite System approaches to provide vertical guidance to pilots. The International Civil Aviation Organization says approaches with vertical guidance are eight times safer than current straight-in approaches. Benefits include safer approach path guidance, simpler approach procedures and lower minimum descent altitudes in adverse weather. The major airlines, with the advanced navigation technologies of their 'new generation' aircraft such as the Boeing 737-800, are already using this type of approach around Australia and overseas. Potential GNSS augmentation systems that may be suitable for Australia include aircraft systems such as Required Navigation Performance, the wide area satellite augmentation, the Ground Based Regional System being developed by Airservices Australia and possible hybrids of core systems such as GPS and Galileo.

Find out about vertical approach guidance.

Better safety for multi-engine ops

Pilots and flight instructors operating smaller multi-engine aircraft now have a new source of important information to make their flights safer. CASA has published comprehensive advisory material on multi-engine aeroplane operations and training. It addresses the fundamental causes of many accidents in twin-engine aircraft weighing less than 5700kgs. These are a lack of systems knowledge, fuel mis-management and unfamiliarity with asymmetric handling. The 148 page document supplements the information found in flight manuals and pilot operating manuals. There is detailed information for flight instructors, including training syllabi for multi-engine endorsement training. There are also two questionnaires which will help pilots prepare for their endorsement knowledge requirements, as well as being a useful ready-reference tool for pilots who do not fly regularly. The advisory material was developed by CASA after an analysis of multi-engine aircraft accidents over a ten year period.

Read the Civil Aviation Advisory Publication on Multi-engine Aeroplane Operations and Training.

Rule change to collect AOC data

CASA is proposing to introduce a requirement for holders of air operator's certificates to provide detailed information about their operations as part of a twice-yearly survey. Amendments to the Civil Aviation Orders will be made to give effect to the survey requirements. If AOC holders have given CASA a correct email address, they will be sent an email with a link to an on-line version of the survey. Where CASA does not hold an email address, a paper survey form will be sent - which may take longer to fill out. The data collected by the survey will then be used to improve CASA's safety oversight of the aviation industry. CASA will be able to better prioritise safety surveillance, make more accurate judgements of aviation risks and how these can be addressed and offer better targeted safety support to the industry. The first survey is due to be conducted before the end of this year.

Find out more about the AOC survey requirements.

Thumbs up to 'crash comic'

CASA's Flight Safety Australia magazine has overwhelming support from people across the aviation industry. New research shows that 82 per cent of readers rate the magazine as excellent. The research, commissioned by CASA, also found most people read the magazine from cover-to-cover and consider it "almost iconic". Respected research organisation New Focus conducted the study through telephone interviews with a cross section of aviation industry people. Ninety-two per cent of research respondents said Flight Safety Australia was very effective or effective in raising awareness of aviation safety issues. Almost 90 per cent said the magazine refreshed their personal aviation safety knowledge, while 87 per cent said it helped them build upon previous safety knowledge. And 68 per cent said information in the magazine had a positive impact on their own safety behaviour and attitudes to safety. The research also looked at other CASA safety products such as CD-ROMs, booklets and DVDs. It found people were positive about the safety promotion products and believed they had a lasting effect on safety behaviour. A number of suggestions for improvements were made, which are being examined by CASA's Safety Promotion branch.

Private flying accident study

More than half of all accidents in privately operated fixed wing aircraft between 2001 and 2005 were during the landing phase of flight. A study just released by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau found other phases of flight each accounted for about 10 per cent of private flying accidents. These include initial climb, cruise, manoeuvring and approach. The overall accident rate for private flying generally declined over the five year period, although the fatal accident rate remained steady. Loss of aircraft control and collisions make up most fatal private flying accidents. There were a total of 324 private and business aircraft accidents in the five years studied, with fixed wing aircraft making up 87 per cent of the crashes. Ninety per cent of accidents were not fatal in fixed wing aircraft - this dropped to 88 per cent in helicopters. Rotary wing aircraft were involved in proportionally more accidents than fixed wing aircraft.

Read the ATSB private flying study.