SAFA Skysailor Magazine

4 SKY SAILOR March | April 2023 Compliance Matters We’ve had some situations recently that have brought home the increasing responsibility we all have as pilots, to know and to conduct our aviation activities within the regulatory environment that applies to our disciplines. In our emerging Part 149 environment, SAFA and other aviation bodies, have greater autonomy to administer our operations, but this comes with greater accountability. Also, a pilot’s compliance history is effectively shared across aviation groups in measures to improve the safety of aviation across the board. More detail around this is contained in Safety Management Officer, Iain Clarke’s excellent Part 149 article elsewhere in this SkySailor edition. Recently, a PG pilot was taken to court by CASA over 16 alleged breaches of a section of the Civil Aviation Act 1988. The breaches related to operating a paraglider as pilot-in-command without the required regu- latory approval. The allegations were proven, a substantial fine was issued and convictions were recorded. In another matter, a weight- shift microlight pilot crashed very recently and sustained significant injuries. The Austra- lian Transport and Safety Bureau are likely to be engaged. The aircraft was unregistered and the pilot-in-command did not hold current membership of either SAFA or RAAus. The matter has not been finalised yet, but CASA is also likely to be involved. A trend that has been evident for some time has been the use of social media and/or avia- tion forums for regulatory discussion among pilots. On its own, this is a healthy develop- ment, however, the overwhelming majority of what we see postulated by contributors is variously incomplete, inaccurate in detail or just plain wrong. In aviation, one person and one person only is responsible for what they know or don’t know, and what they do or don’t do. That person is the pilot-in-command. As such, it is fraught with risk to rely on informa- tion gleaned solely from social media/forum opinions. The starting point for all pilots wanting operational clarity should be the current operational documents that govern our aviation disciplines and the SAFA Operations Team. Again, we stress this because of the greater reporting obligation SAFA will have in a Part 149 environment, and we want to see all pilots advantaged by being correctly informed. The Operations Team exists to help all pilots, no matter how big or small the query. Aviation regulation is complex, as can President’s Update by Paul Green