Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has suggested that the country's aerial agriculture industry come up with a proposal to self-administer safety regulation for the sector. The move would allow the authority to concentrate on passenger-carrying aviation, says CASA chief executive Bruce Byron.
Byron put the proposal to the Aerial Agricultural Association of Australia (AAAA) at its annual conference this month. AAAA chief executive Phil Hurst says that his members have welcomed the idea, but discussions have yet to take place and issues such as who the association regulates, funding and resources need to be resolved.
The AAAA has also encouraged CASA to establish a dedicated agricultural unit to deal with safety issues, which has been on trial for the past year and is set to become permanent. Its efforts have helped improve safety: the seven to eight fatalities a year of 10-15 years ago has been cut to two a year and to none in the past three years, says Hurst.
Source: Flight International