Pilots accuse air safety boss of ‘dummy spit’ over criticism

CASA boss Mark Skidmore has been accused of a ‘dummy spit’ after quitting the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

Air safety boss Mark Skidmore has been accused of a spectacular “dummy spit” after quitting the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, apparently over its criticism of aviation red tape.

Mr Skidmore, aviation safety director at the Civil Aviation ­Safety Authority, sent an email to the AOPA at 8.02pm on Saturday advising it to: “Please cancel my membership with immediate ­effect as I no longer want to be ­associated with AOPA.”

Mr Skidmore did not give a reason for the resignation but it came a day after AOPA president Marc De Stoop met federal Major Projects Minister Paul Fletcher to present him with an expert briefing paper exposing “inappropriate … regulation that has decimated our once-thriving general aviation industry”.

Mr De Stoop told The Aus­tralian he was surprised and dis­appointed that Mr Skidmore, a former Royal Australian Air Force air vice-marshal, had ­resigned from the association.

“It’s unfortunate because it wasn’t a personal attack on Mr Skidmore; it’s just that we couldn’t get any significant traction (dealing with CASA),” Mr De Stoop said.

The 130-page “Project Eureka” briefing document is scathing of aviation bureaucracies, blaming creeping over-regulation for a dramatic decline in aircraft movements at secondary airports and in aviation mechanical engineering apprenticeships.

In a letter to Mr Fletcher, ­posted with the report on AOPA’s website on Friday, Mr De Stoop claims “government bureaucrats, through lack of understanding of the need for businesses to be commercially viable, have failed this industry”.

The letter quotes an author of the report, aviation safety expert Ken Lewis, as warning that CASA would seek to bury the document.

“The politicians will send it to CASA for guidance; CASA will then defer comment as long as they can, which will be after any coming election,” Mr Lewis’s ­advice reads.

Mr Skidmore fired off his email to AOPA the following evening.

Mr De Stoop said he did not believe Mr Skidmore’s resignation was an attempt to intimidate aircraft owners or pilots, but other aviation experts warned that may be the consequence.

Veteran aviator and former CASA chairman Dick Smith told The Australian he thought Mr Skidmore, who flies his own Globe GC-1B Swift, a stylish sports monoplane, was sending the wrong message.

“It’s outrageous that just ­because he’s an active general ­aviation pilot and for the first time in 10 years the AOPA actually criticises CASA, he as the director immediately resigns his membership,” Mr Smith said.

“It’s so pointed. Everyone will hear about this and the message will be, don’t join AOPA or identify with it.”

Mr Skidmore was understood to be travelling overseas ­yesterday; he did not respond to The Australian’s calls and emails.

Mr De Stoop said he understood that Mr Fletcher had been asked by Malcolm Turnbull to ­investigate ways that cuts to general ­aviation red tape could revitalise the industry.

AOPA represents 2600 general aviation aircraft owners and pilots in private, commercial charter and airline operations.

Mr De Stoop said its Eureka report recommended privatising Airservices Australia and using the proceeds to help revitalise the industry, while “radically” streamlining regulation.