[Peetwo]

CASA: "We'll consult on the consult for medical certification!" - UFB! 

True to her reputation, Su_Spence blows off over 600 industry responses to the med certificate consult:

Feedback is in! Here's what we found.
We have published the summary of consultation on our proposal to simplify and modernise our approach to medical certification.

The feedback that you gave us identified several themes that will assist us with the next steps.
Read the su
Read the survey results

Next steps
We are still in the early stages of this work and will continue to work with the medical technical working group to draft a final policy proposal. We will seek your feedback on it in the first half of 2023. - 

This bollocks so incensed Sandy that he has forwarded the following correspondence to his local MP Dan Tehan to in turn forward to Ms Su_Spence...

Dear Dan,

Please forward the communication below to the CASA CEO Ms. Pip Spence. As I have related to you in the past my previous email to Ms. Spence remains unanswered and unacknowledged in spite of my follow up requests, even just to ascertain CASA’s receipt of email.

Hopefully, as my Parliamentary Representative you will receive an answer and I’m asking specifically that you make this representation on my behalf.

Best regards,

Sandy

Ms. Pip Spence 
CASA 
Aviation House 
Canberra ACT 

Dear Ms Spence,

Thank you for the notification regarding the ’feedback’ about the proposed reform of pilot medical certification. 

I note that there’s no particulars or details of permitted types of flying operations that may be applied to any new reformed certification. No mention for example, the fact that USA instructors need no medical certificate provided their students have soloed. 

No mention either of the statistics that pertain from the USA in view of their recent years of history of a self declared private medical certification in regard to risk. Or, in reality, no noting the absence of risk compared to having no specific aviation medical regime and the USA Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) structured system. 

Supporting statistics were provided to your ‘feedback’ team. See below, these may be verified from the FAA or from the National Transportation Safety Board USA. 

In regard to your stated timeline, quote;  

“] We are still in the early stages of this work and will continue to work with the medical technical working group to draft a final policy proposal. We will seek your feedback on it in the first half of 2023.” 

This will be considered by most within the General Aviation (GA) community to be taking far too long, and that’s putting it mildly. We are losing pilots all the time due to the current AVMED system. The restrictions of COVID put GA backwards and it needs your assistance now. 

Your reform timeline does not even get past yet another consultation. We should not be strung out like this, there’s too much at stake. 

CASA should, and could, put in place some immediate sensible relief, interim measures;  example for our instructors as in the USA. 

And more broadly for Private Pilots adopt the Austroads private vehicle medical standard, instead of the present unconditional Commercial heavy vehicle standard for the Basic Class 2. This would remain a Basic Class 2 General Practitioner assessed medical, simply a modification of the present assessment (and operational criteria?) making it not dissimilar to the UK and USA systems. 

I note also that your technical working group, that has been assessing the 611 public submissions from the GA community, is 90% made up of medical practitioners. No doubt dedicated to their work but the group’s composition presents an obvious pecuniary conflict of interest and could be open to accusations of bias. 

Regards,

Alexander Cran (Sandy) Reith 

Risk?  There’s no appreciable risk, see below, also demonstrated by 30 plus years of our Recreational Aviation AUS cohort in the low weight aircraft category, membership today c.10,000 with no medical exam regime until age 75 (then annual GP only).

Sandy also made this observation to some of the email recipients:

The medical TWG  made play of the Perth instructor who had a medical incapacitation. Didn’t he have a C1?

I want to make the point that the TWG couldn’t draw the conclusion that having a C1 doesn’t protect anything. Or C2 etc. 

There is mention that car drivers are potential risks to the public at large but they’ve not produced one substantial proposal for a GA reformed medical that fits the facts.

The section to which Sandy refers was from page 22 of the 'Summary of consultation on aviation medical policy review':

..However, pilot incapacitation remains an uncommon event and while instructor incapacitation does happen (as was the case at Jandakot in August 2019 where the student pilot needed to land the aircraft after the instructor became unconscious) such an occurrence is even rarer..

I am not sure if the instructor involved had either a class one or two but here is the ATSB 'Aviation Occurrence Brief' for that incident: https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/occ...-2019-029/

I note that the 'Safety Message' did not focus on the instructor incapacitation and possibly medical certification, so much as the importance of effective communication in emergency situations:

This incident highlights the importance of how effective communication is crucial to aviation safety.

During the time the flying instructor was incapacitated, both ATC and the student pilot communicated clearly, calmly and proactively, resulting in a safe landing.

For those interested this was the Youtube recording of the radio comms for the incident:

Perhaps the most interesting part of this tale (and very much related to medical certification) was what caused the incapacitation of the instructor and the long term implications and fears for his continued employment as a flight instructor as a consequence - see HERE:

One month on, Mr Mollard revealed to A Current Affair on Tuesday night that his seizure was caused by a benign brain tumour.

"I was feeling totally fine, I hadn’t had any migraines, any headaches, anything like that, I was feeling completely normal," he said.

"I was completely unaware I was having a seizure because I was unconscious at the time and I’d never had one before."

Mr Mollard has since had emergency surgery and the tumour has been removed, however he said he was unsure if he would ever fly again.

“It’s going to be an uphill battle getting my medical back, best-case scenario is 12 months but it's possible that I’ll never fly again as a pilot," he said.

Hmm...I would be interested to know what the outcome was for Mr Mollard's pilot medical recertification...    

MTF...P2