[Peetwo]

Full steam GD – NOW!
{Blame P2 - he kicked it off} - HERE-.

In any, and I do mean any activity or pursuit which has a ‘risk’ element the essential thing is to address any item which may increase that risk, immediately.  The ‘snow-ball’ syndrome, delight of simulator instructors, is a classic example; where a simple fault which, if not dealt with promptly and correctly, can trigger multiple warnings, leading to a potential accident situation.  But one does not need to look at the extreme, esoteric situations to see the potential for ‘trouble’ that allowing things to escalate causes; a simple thing like putting off the laundry creates a situation where additional time, effort and expense is a direct result of allowing things to pile up. For the sake of a nail etc.  

And on Friday, CASA apologised to pilots and air traffic controllers who have faced delays in obtaining an aviation medical certificate.

Here we find the quintessential example; how can a supposedly ‘modern’ department with unlimited resources get into such a diabolical mess.  This huge log jam did not magically appear last Monday morning when sleepy and rumpled the Avmed turned up according to their own flexi-time preference. This backlog has been piling up, steadily, day by day with the Avmed crew sitting back, watching it happen.  And the best they can do is apologise.  BOLLOCKS.  Resignation of the ‘PMO’ is the minimum acceptable form of apology.  Out in the real world, this chump would, with malice aforethought, be fired, just for the embarrassment caused to a corporation.  This is not just one or two being inconvenienced; or, some hapless character with a dodgy ticker being bully-ragged though the AAAT; this is hundreds of pilots and Atco potentially becoming unemployable.  It is a ducking disgrace and an apology is no where near good enough, not by a bloody long march it ain’t.

CASA said it had put on more staff to address the delays in processing medical certificates.

WTF, why now, suddenly?  Why was the situation ever allowed to develop beyond the usual, inevitable delay we have experienced for years now? It is an absolutely ludicrous situation which become untenable, when you look at the ease with which FAA manage three or four times the number of ‘routine’ medicals.

“Sorry – we have put on a couple of extra clerical staff, please be patient”  BOLLOCKS - They are just taking the Mickey and expecting industry to nod, smile and come over all understanding like.  BOLLOCKS.

Hurst - “Whoever the new Minister is after the election, they will have a massive task still ahead of them which may require further personnel changes if reform cannot be delivered rapidly – something supported by an industry focussed on outcomes not talk.”

Amen. Here, here: Bravo, well said Phil Hurst.  They new boy (or girl) need not worry too much about reforming the regulations, reform this useless, incompetent crew running the departments, before they bring this industry to it’s knees.  FFS just imagine the trouble if the public transport drivers of buses and trains has this sort of carry on; better yet reduced services during peak hour because none of their union members had current medicals.  Pony-pooh.

It’s the sheer  bloody lunacy, purblind, total incompetence we have come to expect from an 'authority' which needs to be reformed, NOW, not in some distant century, far far, away.

There, I feel much better now – “Yeah, turn it off GD; we’re done here”.

Toot (exasperated) Toot.

How much better an example of the total shambles CASA has become do you need? Seriously.  Avmed typifies the complicated, costly, counterproductive, counter intuitive, of no practical (as in ‘safety’) or intrinsic value (as it saves everyone time and money) system to anyone.  Ayup; Keep that boiler warm GD; there will be more on this almost unbelievable, ‘cept it’s true, CASA cock up. UFB.

Well vented "K" clear as mud to me and what's left of the long suffering survivors of a totally regulator embuggered industry. However to perhaps clear it up for those more legally moribund pollies and self-righteous bureaucrats, here is the sticking point articulately spelt out by the resident UP legal eagle Lead Balloon (aka Creampuff):

If 11.140 applies to medical certificates, it operates way beyond mere bureaucratic delay in doing a 're-print' of a medical certificate. It would mean that if you put in everything necessary at least 21 days before expiry of your current certificate, 11.140 keeps that certificate alive until CASA makes and implements a final decision, whether that's one month later or 2 years later. It would also mean that if, having received your application, CASA asks for the results of specified tests to be provided to it within 2 weeks, and you then provide those results within that time, the certificate continues to be kept alive until CASA makes and implements a final decision.


So it would cover all of the time wasted by Avmed in its deep thought processes in second-guessing mere private practitioners and specialists, and "complex case management meetings", as well as the basic inefficiencies of having turned what used to be an efficient process into a dog's breakfast. (All to 'value-add' to the safety of air navigation, of course.)

It's almost unthinkable to contemplate, but maybe 11.140 was put there precisely for the purpose of protecting the holders of time limited authorisations from this kind of bureaucratic inefficiency and obfuscation.

(And remember: "authorisation" for the purposes of 11.140 is defined to mean, among other things, "a certificate capable of being granted to a person under these Regulations", "the Regulations" include Part 67, and 11.140(3) starts with the magic words "Despite any other provision of these Regulations...".)

Alas, this is all just domestic law, so I see the conundrum for pilots who fly internationally. Other countries can apply whatever medical certification rules they like to foreigners who fly into their jurisdiction. I can only speculate on how commercial international pilots and their associations have resisted nuking CASA from orbit as a consequence of the uncertainty and frustration caused by those who have the comfort of a nice office and a nice six figure salary no matter how inefficient and ineffectual they may be.

It might take the sting off a bit to contemplate the machinations that must be going on in CASA to avoid acknowledging and dealing with the consequences of the reality that 11.140 might apply to medical certificates. All of the faux concern about the safety of air navigation if the delays caused by their own incompetence, inefficiency and sense of self-importance resulted in people being able to continue to go to work to feed and house their families, instead of being 'grounded' until Avmed condescended to deal with the distracting trivia of plebs and their plebeian problems.

That is, of course, unless CASA considers 11.140 doesn't apply to medical certificates, in which case CASA should have the corporate integrity to step up and say that, and why.

   

MTF...P2