CASA’s people

Our Executive

Executive

L-R: Mick Quinn, Bruce Byron, Shane Carmody

Bruce Byron, AM—Director of Aviation Safety and Chief Executive Officer

Mr Byron began his career in aviation in the Royal Australian Air Force in the mid-1960s. His service with the RAAF includes a 12-month tour with No. 35 Squadron in Vietnam, flying Caribou aircraft in 1,600 operational sorties.

Mr Byron then moved into flying training with the RAAF as an instructor, the beginning of a long association with training in both military and civilian flying. He was promoted to Wing Commander in 1980 and during 1982 and 1983 was Commanding Officer of the RAAF Central Flying School, responsible for the training and checking of all military flying instructors in Australia. In 1984, he was invested as a Member of the Order of Australia.

After leaving the RAAF, Mr Byron became an Examiner of Airmen with the Department of Aviation, flying more than 20 different types of aircraft and flight testing pilots up to senior commercial level. In 1988, he moved to private enterprise, taking over the management of North Broken Hill Ltd’s private jet operations and subsequently occupying senior positions with Kendall Airlines, Ansett Australia and Virgin Blue. He has also worked as an aviation safety consultant in the areas of flight training, human factors and aviation safety management.

Mr Byron holds an airline transport pilot licence, a command instrument rating and a Grade 1 instructor rating. He has flown more than 10,000 hours during his aviation career.

Mr Byron has had a long involvement with CASA. From 1997 to 1999, he was a member of the CASA Board, chairing the Safety Committee and guiding the development of CASA’s new safety compliance and promotion activities.

Between 2000 and 2003, he chaired the Aviation Safety Forum, a high-level industry group providing strategic advice to CASA on aviation safety. His term of appointment as CASA’s Chief Executive Officer began in December 2003.

Shane Carmody—Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Strategy and Support

Shane Carmody joined CASA in October 2006. Before this, he held senior executive positions in the Department of Defence between 1995 and 2006, including as Deputy Secretary, Intelligence and Security, and Deputy Secretary, Strategy. Mr Carmody has had an extensive career in the public service, most of this in the Department of Defence. He also held a senior position in the Department of Finance and Administration. After serving in the Australian Army for 14 years, specialising in intelligence operations, he moved to the civilian side of the Defence portfolio in 1989.

Mr Carmody was a member of the Defence Committee (managing the operations of the Department of Defence) from 2001 to 2006 and was also a member of numerous other senior defence and whole-of-government committees.

Mr Carmody oversees the work of the Legal Services Group, the Planning and Governance Office, the Information Services Group, the Finance Office, the Personnel Licensing, Education and Training Group, and the Human Resources Group.

Mick Quinn—Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Operations

Mick Quinn has had a wide variety of experience in the aviation and transport industry including as a pilot holding Australian and US licences and in airline operations and safety management, accident investigation, and transport safety regulation.

Mr Quinn has flown a range of aircraft types, from gliders to general aviation and corporate aircraft. He has also completed type ratings on numerous narrow and wide-body Boeing and Airbus airliners.

He has held the posts of Manager, Air Safety Investigation, Qantas Airways; Senior Vice President, Group Safety, and Vice President, Flight Training, Emirates; and Executive Director, NSW Independent Transport Safety and Reliability Regulator.

Mr Quinn has spent the last 10 years developing, implementing and regulating safety management systems. He is currently Deputy CEO, Operations, with CASA.

Michael Hart—Industry Complaints Commissioner

Michael Hart joined CASA in June 2007. He gained wide experience in the management of complaints and complex investigations involving the public sector through positions at the NSW Attorney General’s Department, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, and the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption. He was the general manager for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association in 1999 during the (Mobil) Avgas fuel contamination crisis.

Mr Hart has flown more than 6,000 hours in his flying career and has held aviation industry positions including qualified flying instructor with the RAAF, and check and training captain with Coastwatch.

CASA CEO Bruce Byron (r) and Deputy CEO Shane Carmody brief staff in Canberra.

Our Senior Management Group

Senior_Management

Front row L-R: Peter Boyd, Greg Hood, Chris Farrelley, Betty Edwards, Jonathan Aleck, Michael Hart, Greg Vaughan. Back row L-R: Gary Harbor, Malcolm McGregor (for Peter Cromarty), Shane Carmody, Mick Quinn. Absent: Rob Wight; Peter Cromarty

Dr Jonathan Aleck—Head of Legal Services Group

Jonathan Aleck started work with the then Civil Aviation Authority in 1993 as a legal officer. Before joining CASA, he lectured in law and politics at universities in Australia, Papua New Guinea and the United States, and for many years was the director of a private legal research and consultative organisation.

From 1998 until 2003, he was the Australian representative to the International Civil Aviation Organization, based in Montreal. During that time, he also lectured on an occasional visiting basis at the Institute of Air and Space Law at McGill University.

Dr Aleck is currently a member of the National Executive Committee of the Australian Institute of Administrative Law.

Peter Boyd—Head of Planning and Governance Office

Peter Boyd started with CASA in 1999. A professional engineer, he moved from technical management work to a senior management role at Telarc Ltd, a New Zealand management system auditing organisation. He came to CASA with experience in the development and assessment of safety management systems and has since served in many management positions within CASA.

Peter Cromarty—General Manager, Airspace and Aerodrome Regulation Group

Peter Cromarty has more than 30 years of experience in the international aviation industry. He has worked as both a pilot and an air traffic controller, starting his career as an area radar controller in the London Air Traffic Control Centre. He also worked in the United States and the Middle East before moving back to the United Kingdom to work in various roles in the regulation of air traffic services at the United Kingdom’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Before joining CASA in June 2007, Mr Cromarty was a senior manager at Air Safety Support International, a not-for-profit subsidiary company of the CAA.

Betty Edwards—Chief Financial Officer

Betty Edwards joined CASA in August 2004. Before moving to Canberra, she was based in Adelaide and held several senior finance roles in the private sector, including National Finance Manager for Co-operative Retirement Services (Adelaide Bank), and General Manager, Finance and Administration, for Great Southern Railway. She is a Fellow of CPA Australia and has a Bachelor of Economics and a Master of Business Administration.

Chris Farrelley—Chief Information Officer

Chris Farrelley started with CASA in October 2005 after 18 years with the Health Insurance Commission, two years as Medibank Private’s Chief Information Officer and five years consulting with Acumen Alliance in technology and business roles for the Australian Communications Authority, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, and the Department of Defence.

Gary Harbor—Head, Human Resources

Gary Harbor joined CASA in April 2005, with an extensive private sector background in human resources. He has been a personnel manager for Toyota; General Manager, Human Resources, at Email Metals; and head of human resources at the pharmaceutical firm Sigma Company. He has degrees in arts and economics and an MBA.

Greg Hood—Group General Manager, Personnel Licensing, Education and Training Group

Greg Hood began his career as an air traffic controller with the RAAF. In 1990 he joined Airservices Australia, where, during his 17-year tenure, he carried out a variety of roles, including Manager, Regional Services, and Manager, Melbourne Air Traffic Control Centre, before joining CASA in June 2007. Mr Hood is a glider pilot and private pilot.

Rob Wight—Acting Group General Manager, Air Transport Operations Group (from February 2008)

Mr Rob Wight joined CASA in 2002 and has served as the acting General Manager of the Air Transport Operations Group since February 2008. Mr Wight’s substantive position is as the Operations Manager, Air Transport Operations Group. Prior to working with CASA, Mr Wight was the General Manager Operations with Kendall Airlines and was the accountable AOC Manager, and before that was a Training & Check Captain.

Patrick Murray—Group General Manager, Air Transport Operations Group, June 2005 – February 2008

Patrick Murray joined CASA in 2005 in this newly created role. Before this, he conducted aviation safety research and chaired CASA’s Standards Consultative Committee. He began his aviation career as a pilot with the UK RAF. Mr Murray also served with the RAAF, and as a pilot and senior check and training captain with Cathay Pacific.

Greg Vaughan—Group General Manager, General Aviation Operations Group

Greg Vaughan has had a career as a design and development engineer in the United States and Canada, including manager of air safety investigations at Pratt and Whitney Canada. He has also held senior safety and technical positions at Ansett and Kendall. Mr Vaughan joined CASA in October 2004.

Senior management changes during the year

There were a small number of changes in CASA’s senior management during 2007–08:

Mr Mick Quinn was appointed as Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Operations.
Mr Patrick Murray resigned as Group General Manager, Air Transport Operations Group, and was replaced on an acting basis by Mr Rob Wight.
Mr David McBrien was appointed as Manager, International Programs.
Mr Mark Sinclair was appointed as General Manager, Airworthiness Engineering Branch, and from 14 July 2008 the acting Group General Manager, Airworthiness Engineerin Group.

Green credentials for Brisbane operational headquarters

CASA’s Air Transport and General Aviation operational headquarters completed its move to its new Brisbane office during the year. The building has received a four-star Green Star Australian Building Greenhouse rating, representing ‘World Leader’ status, from the Green Building Council of Australia.

The building is energy and water efficient, incorporating thermal and solar design principles, flexible air conditioning systems and balanced natural and artificial lighting. All the concrete used on the project contains recycled content; highly efficient water systems and extensive recycling facilities are also in place. Other environmentally sustainable principles incorporated into the design include measures to reduce waste and landfill as well as facilities recycling for co-mingled and organic waste.

picture of Brisbane Headquarters external view

Our organisational structure

Figure 1.7 shows CASA’s organisational structure as at 30 June 2008.

Figure 1.7 CASA’s organisational chart (click the image for a larger version)

Changes to structure and office moves

CASA’s operational headquarters, located in Brisbane, moved to new premises at Brisbane Airport.
Reconfiguration of the General Aviation Operations Group to better align CASA’s operations with the aviation industry.
The creation of a new International Programs Section in the first half of 2007–08.
CASA’s airspace regulation and oversight functions (which were transferred from Airservices Australia in June 2007 to a newly established CASA Office of Airspace Regulation) expanded during 2007–08 to become the new Airspace and Aerodromes Regulation Group (AARG).
The Manufacturing, Certification and New Technologies Office was transferred to the General Aviation Operations Group to become the new Airworthiness Engineering Branch (AEB).
Relocation of Western regional office at Perth airport in May 2008.

Our locations

CASA’s corporate head office is located in Canberra, and CASA’s operational headquarters are now located at Brisbane airport. Figure 1.8 shows the location of these offices and CASA’s offices.

Figure 1.8 Geographical location of CASA’s offices

Our groups

Staff by group

As shown in Figure 1.7, CASA consists of a number of operational groups. The distribution of staff across each group is shown in Figure 1.9.

Figure 1.9 Staff by operational groups

Figure 1.9

Note that the Air Transport Operations Group included the Airworthiness Engineering Branch, which from 14 July 2008 became the Airworthiness Engineering Group.

Airspace and Aerodrome Regulation Group

The Airspace and Aerodrome Regulation Group (AARG) is responsible for regulating airspace and managing airspace change proposals to ensure the safe, orderly and efficient flow of air traffic, cognisant of national security, the protection of the environment, and the equitable use of Australian airspace. It is also responsible for aerodrome certification and oversight of providers of communication, navigation, surveillance and air traffic management services.

Air Transport Operations Group

The Air Transport Operations Group (ATOG) is responsible for the safety oversight of aviation organisations for large passenger carrying aircraft (weighing more than 5,700kg). ATOG also monitors safety performance of airlines and maintenance organisations in the air transport sector across Australia and maintains safety oversight of foreign aircraft operating into and out of Australia.

ATOG conducts surveillance activities on foreign and domestic airlines. As part of CASA’s overall risk-based approach, ATOG surveillance consists of regular scheduled auditing of operators, as well as ‘no notice’ and adhoc surveillance activities.

ATOG is also responsible for certifying air operators within Australia. ATOG also ensures that maintenance organisations who carry out work on Australian registered aircraft in Australia and overseas are appropriately certified.

Finance Office

The Finance Office is responsible for the functions of finance, procurement, and property and security. It provides strategic advice and guidance to senior management on all matters relating to these functions, with its main purpose being to facilitate the achievement of CASA’s corporate goals. The office is also responsible for implementing relevant statutory requirements and undertaking all associated corporate and financial reporting.

General Aviation Operations Group

The General Aviation Operations Group (GAOG) deals with operations with aircraft of less than 5,700kg maximum take-off weight. This includes fixed and rotary wing aircraft, sports aircraft and parachuting activities. GAOG functions include regulatory services, surveillance and development of initiatives that contribute to aviation safety.

In 2007–08 GAOG also included the Airworthiness Engineering Branch, which is responsible for the overall safety oversight of engineering activities in the aviation industry, including the policy and process development for engineering, initial and continuing airworthiness and engineering standards. From 14 July 2008 the Airworthiness Engineering Branch became a Group of its own, due to the importance and the increasing complexity and range of activities undertaken by this area.

Human Resources

Human Resources Group consults with and advises CASA staff on all employment and workplace related matters. The Group’s aim is to develop and maintain an integrated approach to managing CASA’s human resource and staffing strategies to meet the goals of the organisation. Human Resources Group facilitates CASA’s organisational development strategies and the national training program. It drafts and implements policy on staff and industrial relations, including conditions of service, payroll, occupational health and safety, and learning and development.

Information Services Group

The Information Services Group (ISG) supports CASA’s ongoing information and communication technology (ICT) operations, including the periodic refreshment and upgrading of technology employed by CASA to improve the stability of business and corporate systems. ISG is also involved in the development of new ICT solutions and the ongoing enhancement of CASA’s information management systems.

Legal Services Group

The Legal Services Group (LSG) provides a full range of legal assistance, advice and support to CASA staff, as well as handling matters in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and Federal Court, responding to summonses and subpoenas, and assisting in aspects of CASA’s involvement in coronial inquests and litigation.

LSG also provides advice on legislative drafting matters and assists staff in the preparation of regulatory and other documents, such as drafting instructions. It is responsible for drafting subordinate civil aviation legislation and all manner of statutory instruments.

The Group is also the focal point for the coordination of all CASA’s enforcement activity. It issues infringement notices, carries out investigations under Part IIIA of the Civil Aviation Act and refers briefs to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.

Personnel Licensing, Education and Training Group

The Personnel Licensing, Education and Training Group (PLET) develops and administers standards for air transport and general aviation operations. PLET performs critical service delivery functions for CASA, including:

aircraft registration
licensing of flight crew and maintenance personnel
aviation medical certification
certification of maintenance training organisations.

PLET also develops and delivers safety education and communication programs, including the magazine Flight Safety Australia, a range of safety communications products, the Aviation Safety Advisor (ASA) program and the human factors and flight development initiatives.

Planning and Governance Office

The Planning and Governance Office (PAGO) coordinates CASA’s interaction with a range of government, industry and international stakeholders, as well as providing support to CASA staff with handling of correspondence, ministerial briefings, and other parliamentary related matters such as Senate Estimates and Parliamentary inquiries.

PAGO also manages and coordinates CASA’s standards setting function, from managing consultation with the industry on regulatory development proposals through the issue of Discussion Papers (DPs), Notices of Proposed Rule Making (NPRMs) and Regulation Impact Statements (RISs). PAGO also liaises with the Office of Best Practice Regulation in relation to new regulatory proposals.

PAGO is also responsible for the delivery of a range of communication services, including media relations, internal communications, communication evaluation and content management of CASA’s Internet and intranet. Finally, PAGO coordinates and communicates CASA’s corporate and operational strategies and plans.

Staffing summary

At 30 June 2008, CASA had 653 employees. This number included 30 temporary staff and 4 staff managed as inoperative staff. (Staff who are managed as inoperative include those on long-term leave for maternity/paternity reasons or on long-term leave pending formal retirement.)

Figure 1.10 shows CASA’s staff profile.

Figure 1.10 Staff profile as at 30 June 2008

Figure 1.10