The CASA Briefing
Your monthly CASA update

 Civil Aviation Safety Authority

September 2008

From CEO Bruce Byron

CEO Bruce Byron

CASA spends a lot of time talking to people and organisations right across the aviation industry about a wide range of issues. Some of this is formal consultation, which is required in the process of making new regulations, while much is conducted one-on-one or at functions and presentations. It is vital that CASA communicates effectively with the aviation industry and we listen to your views and concerns. This month I gave an address to the Regional Aviation Association of Australia’s annual convention where I discussed CASA’s relationship with the industry. In part I said:

"There is a long proud history in some aviation associations that the measure of the success of an organisation, or maybe of the board or of the executive of that organisation, is the extent to which it can bash the regulator around the head. I'm not precious about this or, I hope, paranoid - we are big enough and ugly enough to take whatever comes our way, and to respond in equal measure when that is appropriate - but it does promote an atmosphere of confrontation, and that is rarely productive and not usually the best way to achieve useful outcomes.

We deal with many interest groups and associations. Our legislation requires us to consult and there are a plethora of processes that adequately satisfy that requirement. But when it comes down to allocating the time of busy CASA executives to talk to industry reps I've developed a standard question of 'What's in it for safety outcomes?' We've spent a lot of time over the last few years driving CASA to a position of looking at safety outcomes rather than just blindly following processes. When we have a meeting with an airline CEO or maintenance controller we're fairly confident safety issues will be addressed – because those people have statutory safety obligations. But when we engage with industry associations that is not always the case. Quite often there are other agendas at play that have nothing to do with safety. So what I am saying – and this is really applicable to any industry association – is if you want the safety regulator to allocate expensive quality time to you, we need to be assured that you have a genuine interest in safety outcomes. A good starting point is to make sure your articles of association address safety outcomes."

Read the full speech.

This month the Senate Committee that oversights CASA reported on its recent review of our administration and activities. As it is a Parliamentary Committee report the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Anthony Albanese, will provide a response. Mr Albanese has said he will deliver a considered response as part of the Government’s development of a national aviation strategy.

Alcohol and drug program starts

New regulations introducing a comprehensive drug and alcohol program for the aviation industry have come into force. The regulations include random alcohol and drug testing, as well a requirement for aviation organisations to develop comprehensive drug and alcohol management plans. It is expected random testing will begin later this year, while aviation organisations have six months to develop and implement their drug and alcohol management plans. More than 120,000 people who work in Australia’s aviation industry will be covered by the new program. This includes pilots, engineers, cabin crew, ground refuellers, dispatchers, load controllers, baggage handlers, air traffic controllers and CASA inspectors.

The random testing will be carried out by a professional contractor on behalf of CASA and can happen day or night, seven days a week. There will be a blood alcohol limit of less than 0.02 and drug limits set out according to the Australian standard for urine and saliva testing. Penalties may involve an administrative fine of $550 if an infringement notice is served and paid. If the matter is determined by a court a fine of up to $5500 may be imposed. Where appropriate, action to vary, suspend or cancel a person's licence my also be taken. A nation-wide education program on the new alcohol and drug regulations is under way for people working in the aviation industry. Twenty seminars are being held at major aviation centres.

Find out more about the alcohol and drug program and free seminars.

Qantas put under the spotlight

A special CASA review of Qantas maintenance did not find any systemic factors were behind recent incidents involving Qantas aircraft. However, the review did find a number of emerging issues within the airline that need to be addressed. These include organisational functionality in the engineering and maintenance operation and adverse trends in the technical health of the aircraft fleet. CASA’s deputy chief executive officer Operations, Mick Quinn, said Qantas is working on a plan to make improvements to their maintenance performance. "In terms of the management structure of the maintenance organisation, it's not CASA’s business to tell Qantas how to manage its business," Mr Quinn said. "We’re talking about the application of the business model they've got, and what outcomes it is providing. And at the moment, we believe that there are some potential areas where things might slip through the gaps, and they need to tighten up the split of accountability and responsibility in the maintenance organisation and the air operator."

Mr Quinn said CASA analysed a wide range of technical data supplied by Qantas during the review, including dispatch reliability. "There are industry benchmarks in this area and we believe Qantas needs to have a bit of a long hard look at how they're working towards improving current performance. Of course, there are no regulations that say you need to have a dispatch reliability of a certain percentage. The point is that this is just one of numerous indicators that give CASA a sense of the organisational health of Qantas and how the organisation is coping with stresses. This is not unique to Qantas. It's something all world airlines are dealing with currently."

CASA is also conducting a full maintenance audit of one aircraft of each major aircraft type in the Qantas fleet – a 747-400, 737-400 and 767-300. This will involve checking all maintenance documentation for each of these aircraft to see it has been completed, as well as physically examining the aircraft on the ground. A second audit will focus on the effectiveness of Qantas maintenance systems in managing and implementing airworthiness directives. This will identify any weaknesses in Qantas maintenance systems in relation to managing the ongoing airworthiness of its aircraft.

Qantas fully co-operated with CASA during its review and has been commended for its proactive approach to safety.

Find out more about the Qantas review.

Online self service is a real hit

CASA’s new internet self service tool is attracting strong attention from people across the aviation industry. More than 21,000 visits were made to the self service portal last month, a huge increase on previous months. CASA launched the self service portal earlier this year to improve the way people in the aviation industry can do online business with the regulator. The portal is being developed in stages – with the first stage allowing people to view their personal, licence and registration details. This includes postal and email addresses, phone numbers, licence details, exam details, medicals, aircraft details and subscriptions. Updates can be made to personal information such as addresses and phone numbers, as well as some aircraft data. The next steps in developing the portal will include providing the ability to fill out forms online and make payments for regulatory services.

Visit the self service portal.

Air quality under review

A panel of ten experts has been set up to look at issues relating to the quality of cabin air in large passenger aircraft. Members of the panel have expertise in aviation, occupational medicine, public health, toxicology, aviation engineering, epidemiology, aviation medicine, ethics and critical appraisal. The Expert Panel on Aircraft Air Quality will review existing international research and reports on cabin air quality, take submissions and deliver recommendations on future actions. A key part of the panel’s work will be critically looking at current scientific research on cabin air and producing a synopsis of Australian and international knowledge. The newly created panel will have its first meeting later this month and will deliver a final report in early 2010. The panel is headed by Dr Michael Bollen, a general practitioner with expertise in chemical sensitivities and experience in chairing expert committees.

Find out more about the members of the aircraft air panel.

Time to teach pilots about human factors

CASA is seeking comment on a draft advisory publication aimed at providing guidance to flying instructors on teaching human factors and threat and error management to single pilots. The guidance has been prepared because currently there is little material that addresses the teaching and assessing of practical human factors and threat and error management skills. Guidance material is now essential because the day visual flight rules training syllabus for aeroplane and helicopter pilot licences contain new standards for both human factors and threat and error management. From 1 July 2009 both skills will be assessed as part of flight tests for the general flying progress test, as well as private and commercial pilot licences. This means instructors will have to teach these skills and approved testing officers will need to assess the competency of people seeking licences. CASA has formalised the requirement for human factors training to bring "science to the often nebulous concept of airmanship."

Comments on the draft civil aviation advisory publication can be sent to Phil Astley, the project manager for introducing human factors and threat and error management licence requirements. Email to: phil.astley@casa.gov.au

Read the draft advisory publication.

A big thanks to aircraft registration holders

Aircraft registration holders have been congratulated by CASA for making an effort to keep registration data up to date. More than 80 per cent of aircraft registration holders have been responding on time to CASA’s requirement to confirm a range of registration details every three years. Registration holders are asked to confirm their aircraft details, postal address and other contact information. In this way CASA can make sure the correct details are held for every aircraft, which is vital for getting safety information to the right people at the right time. Information that must be sent to registration holders includes airworthiness directives. It is a requirement under the regulations that the three-yearly registration form is completed.

Currently, CASA posts the form to registration holders and it is returned within 28 days. However, to make the process of keeping the aircraft register up-to-date even easier, CASA is developing an online facility to allow registration holders to change their details whenever it is necessary. People would simply use the new CASA self service portal to access and change their registration details. Details will be announced when the facility is operational.

Find out more about the aircraft registration survey.

Good advice for Piper owners

Owners and maintainers of Piper 22 and 32 aircraft are being advised to continue a range of maintenance operations that were previously mandated by airworthiness directives. This follows a CASA review of airworthiness directives that found a number applying to the PA-22 and PA-32 could no longer be supported. They had been in force for many years and so had been used in planning the routine maintenance of the aircraft. For the PA-22 the maintenance that is recommended includes inspecting components of the tailplane actuating jack, the installation of new components in the brake master cylinder and inspections for corrosion. Owners and maintainers of the PA-32 should continue to make inspections for cracking in components such as the aileron spar and doubler, the rudder trim assembly and the main landing gear assembly.

Read the PA-22 airworthiness bulletin.

Read the PA-32 airworthiness bulletin.

Student pilots need to prove language skills

New English language requirements for student pilots will come into force from the start of 2009. From that time people applying for a student pilot licence will be assessed for their proficiency in communicating orally in English, as well as needing to meet one of four language requirements. The student must show that secondary education has or is being completed in Australia or in a country where English is a main language, three of the past five years have been spent in employment in Australia or other specified countries or that they meet or exceed the general English test criteria. The criteria sets out required standards to be determined by a language test which can be sat at independent testing centres.

CASA introduced English language requirements for pilots, in line with new International Civil Aviation Organization standards for flight crew, in March this year. Pilots with current licences flying within Australia did not have to take any action as they were assessed as operationally proficient in English. Australian pilots who fly internationally have applied to get an English language rating added to their licence. CASA has given extra time for flying schools to prepare for the language requirements for student pilots.

Find out more about English language requirements.

A new map for our website

It’s now even easier to navigate your way around CASA’s comprehensive web site. A 'site map’ has been added to the list of tools to help users find the information they need quickly and easily. The site map lists all the major subject headings in a series of links. The subjects are grouped in the same way as they are on the front page of CASA’s web site. With literally thousands of pages that make up the CASA web site a map can sometimes be the simplest way to find a subject that you may not have accessed before. If that doesn’t help, always remember to try the search engine. Last month there were 586,000 page visits to the CASA web site – and that figure is growing all the time. The most popular pages are the aircraft register, airworthiness directives and the designated aviation medical examiner search page.

Go to the CASA web site map.

Check your Cirrus for cracks

Cracking has been found in a number of Cirrus SR-20 and SR-22 aircraft in nose landing gear upper strut components. CASA is recommending owners and maintainers of these aircraft carry out inspections and replace components as required. Defect reports have shown cracking found in the nose landing gear upper support gusset and strut attachment welds. Cirrus does not currently have a service bulletin to address these issues in the SR-20 and SR-22 aircraft, so CASA recommends detailed inspections. For the SR-20 the landing gear strut should be replaced when an improved component is available. Owners and maintainers of the SR-22 should visually inspect welds for cracks and re-inspect the nose landing gear at each periodic inspection.

Read the full airworthiness bulletin.

Pilots - get along to a safety seminar now

A busy program of evening safety seminars for pilots is scheduled across Australia during the last months of 2008. The Avsafety seminars are being held in five states and the Northern Territory, mostly in regional centres. CASA’s safety advisers run the events, which usually go for about three hours, and focus on practical safety advice for pilots of all levels of experience. Topics covered include fuel management, situational awareness, runway incursions, human performance and operations in and around controlled airspace. Feedback to CASA from pilots who have attended the seminars is extremely positive, with a number saying the information has directly helped them in a difficult situation. The seminars are normally run in conjunction with the local aero or flying club and start at 18:00, so pilots who are working a day job can easily attend.

Find out the location of the next round of pilot safety seminars.

A better system for pilot exams

CASA and its flight crew licensing exam service provider ASL are making improvements to the exam system used by flying training organisations. A recent change has been to allow flying schools to forward block book exam reservations. This means exam seats can be booked up to 52 weeks in advance by simply sending an email to ASL. Flying schools do not need to know the names of their students when making forward bookings – just the dates, exam types and exam centres. No later than 10 days before the exam dates the flying school must lodge a form with the candidate details and payment. ASL operates 29 flight crew examination centres across Australia in capital cities and major regional centres. In addition, people sitting for a private pilot licence can complete exams on-line at 300 flying training schools across the nation where chief flying instructors supervise the tests.

Find out more about flight crew licensing exams.