CASA Staff numbers - 400 required or 1000?

400 required or 1000?

In December of 1997 the advice to the CASA Board was that staff numbers at CASA should be between 400 and 450. This is after regulatory changes were made so that recreational aviation, aerial agriculture and the warbird movement self-administered the relevant aviation regulations.

I note that everything has changed. In the Adelaide Advertiser dated 1 August 2000, it was stated “The Authority was increasing its staff by 100 personnel to 700”. So there you have it. Whenever there is an aviation accident the bureaucracy claims that more staff are needed. As some people would say, “An aviation accident is a great little earner.”

More staff are needed if you generate more bureaucratic paperwork instead of introducing simple regulations and a fair enforcement system.

The following quote from Mick Toller, Director of Air Safety at CASA, was published in The Bulletin on 5 September 2000.

“If the process proves that to do the job properly you need 1000 people then it’s my duty as the director to make that case.”

It’s sad when you realise that the extra staff will not only add to industry costs – therefore meaning less money available for effective safety improvement - but will also result in the generation of more paperwork systems which often misallocate safety dollars.