Skytrans CEO Alan Milne ‘extremely frustrated’ over CASA statements around safety and compliance
A Far North airline boss has outlined his “extreme frustration” after rule changes by the aviation regulator were being partially blamed for the death a Cairns woman and the unnecessary isolation of vulnerable Indigenous communities.
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A Far North airline boss has outlined his “extreme frustration” after the aviation regulator accused his organisation of historical unsafe practice.
A change to policy enforcement concerning aircraft payloads in relation to runway lengths, briefly grounded all Skytrans flights in the Torres Strait late last year and still has not allowed the airline to resume flights to Mabuiag and Erub Islands, to which it is the only regular commercial carrier.
The change prevented Indigenous communities on the island isolated from using commercial air transport, forcing them to transit between islands with unreliable water craft.
The rough waters surrounding Mabuiag Island claimed the life of Cairns speech pathologist Wendy Richardson on June 8.
Ms Richardson’s death has saddened locals who remain concerned over the safety of water craft.
Her death has also fired up local and federal politicians who have declared the CASA changes to be both unnecessary and partially responsible for the tragedy.
Skytrans recently conducted private test flights with payloads equivalent to full passenger weight on Mabuiag and Erub Islands to demonstrate safe operations to CASA, in line with two decades of prior operations.
On Thursday a Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokeswoman said rule changes were possible if it could be assured of absolute safe practice, but also said: “we acknowledge that Skytrans have had a strong safety record over many years. But they have been operating to manufacturer minimums, and not to Australia’s airline safety standards”.
The statement left Skytrans CEO Alan Milne extremely frustrated.
Mr Milne, who is directly responsible for regulatory compliance, said his airline had operated under Civil Aviation Order 20.7.4, paragraph 10.3 (CAO 20.7.4, 10.3) for two decades, which gave regulatory coverage of the airline’s operations on short runways such as Mabuiag’s.
Mr Milne said a spate of regulatory changes by CASA included the rescinding of CAO 20.7.4, 10.3.
He said when the airline thereafter realised the relevant order had been removed, Mr Milne grounded all Skytrans Cessna Caravan flights until they could account for compliant operations on each Skytrans route.
Mr Milne said his staff were prompted by a CASA representative during an audit in October 2022 to identify which data set and CAO the airline was using to safely operate on Mabuiag Island.
But the story around how the compliancy issue was identified has been contentious.
At a federal parliament senate estimates hearing on May 23, Queensland senator Susan McDonald put that question to CASA CEO Pip Spence.
Senator McDonald said: “My understanding is that the reason you have became aware of this was another airline competitor brought this to your attention?”
Ms Spence replied: “No. Actually the operator themselves raised it with us.”
Senator McDonald said: “That is not my understanding. They said they weren’t made aware of the change of legislation and that it was from an audit that CASA made to them.”
Ms Spence went on to say the situation was complex, but conceded her organisation “could have certainly been clearer” about the situation.
Mr Milne said the regulatory change applied to all operators in Australia, but Skytrans was the first airline to act.
He said there was never a threat to operational safety, just a matter of regulatory compliance.
“Operations were restored to the majority of the Torres Strait runways reasonably quickly, however Mabuiag and Darnley (Erub) remain out of action for regular commercial flights,” Mr Milne said.
“Skytrans continues to work with CASA to expedite regular commercial services back to those two islands in the shortest time frame possible.”
CASA declined to provide further comment.
On Saturday the regulator said it would allow flights to return to the two islands if it was satisfied “operations are safe”.
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Originally published as Skytrans CEO Alan Milne ‘extremely frustrated’ over CASA statements around safety and compliance
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