MEMBER for Barker Tony Pasin has thrown his support behind the need for new minimum standards for pilots operating community service flights.
The Liberal backbencher attended a briefing by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) regarding a suite of new measures mooted for organisations such as Angel Flight.
His comments come as a family member of the Angel Flight Mount Gambier tragedy calls for bipartisan political support for the changes.
It is understood the new measures will need to go through a parliamentary process before they can be swept in.
While arguing community service flights provided an invaluable service across Australia especially for regional communities, Mr Pasin warned safety must come first.
“The devastation caused to the Redding family and the wider Limestone Coast community serves as a valuable reminder that nothing is too cumbersome if it will reduce the chance of tragedies like this occurring again,” Mr Pasin said.
The mooted changes come less than two years since the doomed SOCATA TB-10 Tobago aircraft Angel Flight plunged into a paddock near the Mount Gambier Airport.
The Angel Flight tragedy in June 2017 took the lives of Mount Gambier mother and daughter Tracy, 43 and Emily Redding, 16 and Mount Barker Angel Flight volunteer pilot Grant Gilbert, 78.
“I strongly support CASA’s new minimum standards for pilots and aircraft that are planned to take effect from March 19 this year,” Mr Pasin said.
“There is no question in my mind there should be minimum standards beyond those required for everyday private flying.”
CASA chief executive officer Shane Carmody said the new safety standards took into account the special nature of community service flights.
“Most community service flights are conducted by a single pilot in a small aircraft, flying long distances from regional and remote towns to the cities, carrying people with serious medical conditions,” Mr Carmody said.
“This puts a lot of responsibility and sometimes considerable pressure on the pilot.
Many of these pilots hold only a private pilot licence.”
Mr Carmody said it was only fair to the patients and carers using community service flights to ensure there were appropriate safety standards beyond those required for everyday private flying.
“The new standards make sure more experienced pilots will be at the controls of community service flights, with minimum requirements in total hours of flight time, hours as pilot in command and hours on the type of aircraft being flown,” he said.
Pilots will also be required to have flown within the last 30 days and be instrument rated to fly at night.
“We do not believe these standards will have an adverse impact on the majority of operations of community service flights as most of these pilots already tend to be more experienced,” Mr Carmody said.
“However, after two fatal accidents in recent years involving community service flights where six people died, it was time to set out minimum required safety standards.
But Angel Flight chief executive officer Marjorie Pagani has told The Border Watch the decision was an “attack on Angel Flight”.
The Angel Flight executive rejected claims there were safety issues with the organisation.
“There have been two accidents in the past 16 years with more than 46,000 flights,” Ms Pagani said.
Conceding the changes would create challenges for the organisation’s future, she warned they were not prepared to “give up”.
