From AOPA
I just got off the phone with my good mate Nick McGlone from Sydney,
Australia. For decades, Nick has operated Nautilus Air Services at
Sydney’s Bankstown Airport. His firm operates a fleet of Cessna 210
Centurions whose primary mission is to haul sushi-grade fresh fish every
day from Tasmania to Sydney. It’s roughly 650 miles from Sydney to
Tasmania as the crow flies, about one-third of it overwater.
Now 70, Nick might just be the highest time Cessna 210 pilot in the world, with well over 30,000 hours in type. He’s also a master mechanic (they call them “LAMEs” down there) who maintains his airplanes in tip-top shape. He has to because he depends on them to be mission-ready every day.
After we exchanged a few pleasantries, Nick told me that his airplanes hadn’t flown for months and he was not confident that they would ever fly again. That stopped me dead in my tracks; he had my attention.
It seems that in 2014, the powers-that-be at CASA handed down a startling ruling that all operators of Australian-registered Cessnas would be required to comply with Cessna’s Supplemental Inspection Documents (SIDs). These SIDs set forth an extraordinarily extensive program of structural inspections that Cessna wants performed on a regular basis.
Some of these inspections are relatively easy, but some are
extraordinarily invasive and labor-intensive and costly. The SIDs
specify a complex matrix of initial and repetitive compliance times for
these various inspections. The most invasive and labor-intensive ones
are to be done initially when the aircraft reaches 20 years old, and
then repetitively every 3, 5, or 10 years thereafter. Of course, since
all Cessna 300/400-series piston twins and all 200-series singles and
the vast majority of 100-series singles are 30-60 years old, all of them
are now past due for these inspections.
The FAA has ruled that compliance with these SIDs is strictly voluntary—NOT compulsory—for U.S.-registered aircraft that are maintained in accordance with the U.S. FARs. But CASA’s 2014 ruling was the exact opposite, and mandates that all Australian-registered aircraft MUST comply with the SIDs, whether the aircraft are in commercial service or private use.
Nick said that this is a catastrophe for Cessna owners in Australia (and in other nations like New Zealand and Germany and Spain who have also ruled that the SIDs are compulsory). Although the FAQ on CASA’s website says that compliance with the SIDs should cost about $20,000, Nick indicated that owners are finding that the actual cost of compliance is between $80,000 and $120,000 for Cessna singles, and close to $200,000 for Cessna twins. This is more than many of these aircraft are worth—or WERE worth before CASA made its ruling. Now, says Nick, the market value of these aircraft in Australia has dropped to near-zero, and many Australian owners are being forced to crate up their aircraft and ship them for sale in the U.S. (where compliance with the SIDs is not required).
And if that wasn’t bad enough, CASA has a few other tricks up its
sleeve to make operation of aging GA aircraft unaffordable in the land
down under. There’s a new Australian AD issued last February that
requires that all primary flight control cables that use stainless steel
end fittings (as almost all do) must be replaced with new cable
assemblies by the end of 2017. And another Australian AD that requires
that all propellers undergo a complete disassembly inspection every six
years and a major overhaul at the prop manufacturer’s specified TBO.
None of these things are mandated by the FAA for U.S.-registered
airplanes, nor is there a history of accidents or incidents in either
country to justify such costly maintenance burdens on the owners of GA
aircraft.
Nick told me that he is convinced that Textron and perhaps other manufacturers simply want their older aircraft to go away, and that they’ve been successful in enlisting CASA and various other national CAAs in helping them to achieve that goal. All of this is shrouded in the mantle of “aviation safety” despite the fact that there’s virtually zero history of accidents being caused by structural failure, control cable failure, or failure of high-time propellers. Nick could be right.
So next time you start griping about the high cost of personal flying, you might pause and thank your lucky stars that you’re based in the U.S. and not in the land down under. Compared to the rest of the world, we American aviators have it mighty good.
Mike Busch
is arguably the best-known A&P/IA in general aviation, honored by
the FAA in 2008 as National Aviation Maintenance Technician of the Year.
Mike is a 7,500-plus hour pilot and CFI, an aircraft owner for 45
years, a prolific aviation author, co-founder of AVweb, and presently
heads a team of world-class GA maintenance experts at Savvy Aviator. Mike's book Manifesto: A Revolutionary Approach to General Aviation Maintenance is available from Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle versions.
Tags: Australia, CASA, Cessna, maintenance, SID
Assault on GA Down Under
October 9th, 2015 by Mike Busch
Nick McGlone with one of his Cessna 210s.
Now 70, Nick might just be the highest time Cessna 210 pilot in the world, with well over 30,000 hours in type. He’s also a master mechanic (they call them “LAMEs” down there) who maintains his airplanes in tip-top shape. He has to because he depends on them to be mission-ready every day.
After we exchanged a few pleasantries, Nick told me that his airplanes hadn’t flown for months and he was not confident that they would ever fly again. That stopped me dead in my tracks; he had my attention.
CASA’s War on Aging Aircraft
Nick explained to me that in recent years, Australia’s Civil Aircraft Safety Authority (CASA)—the Aussie counterpart to our FAA—had been implementing a series of draconian policies calculated to make it economically impossible for owners of legacy GA aircraft to keep them flying. He said that Bankstown Airport—traditionally the busiest GA airport in Australia—had become a virtual ghost town.It seems that in 2014, the powers-that-be at CASA handed down a startling ruling that all operators of Australian-registered Cessnas would be required to comply with Cessna’s Supplemental Inspection Documents (SIDs). These SIDs set forth an extraordinarily extensive program of structural inspections that Cessna wants performed on a regular basis.
Some of the inspections in Cessna’s SIDs are invasive, labor-intensive, and expensive.
The FAA has ruled that compliance with these SIDs is strictly voluntary—NOT compulsory—for U.S.-registered aircraft that are maintained in accordance with the U.S. FARs. But CASA’s 2014 ruling was the exact opposite, and mandates that all Australian-registered aircraft MUST comply with the SIDs, whether the aircraft are in commercial service or private use.
Nick said that this is a catastrophe for Cessna owners in Australia (and in other nations like New Zealand and Germany and Spain who have also ruled that the SIDs are compulsory). Although the FAQ on CASA’s website says that compliance with the SIDs should cost about $20,000, Nick indicated that owners are finding that the actual cost of compliance is between $80,000 and $120,000 for Cessna singles, and close to $200,000 for Cessna twins. This is more than many of these aircraft are worth—or WERE worth before CASA made its ruling. Now, says Nick, the market value of these aircraft in Australia has dropped to near-zero, and many Australian owners are being forced to crate up their aircraft and ship them for sale in the U.S. (where compliance with the SIDs is not required).
Not Just Cessnas, Not Just SIDs
This catastrophe isn’t just limited to Cessnas, either. Now that Cessna’s parent company Textron Aviation owns Beechcraft, they’re feverishly working on developing a SID program for Bonanzas and Barons and other aging Beech airplanes. CASA has made it clear that the moment these Beech SIDs are published, CASA will mandate their compliance. There is even a rumor that Piper is working on a SID program for aging Piper airplanes.
All stainless steel control cables on Australian aircraft have to be replaced by the end of 2017.
Nick told me that he is convinced that Textron and perhaps other manufacturers simply want their older aircraft to go away, and that they’ve been successful in enlisting CASA and various other national CAAs in helping them to achieve that goal. All of this is shrouded in the mantle of “aviation safety” despite the fact that there’s virtually zero history of accidents being caused by structural failure, control cable failure, or failure of high-time propellers. Nick could be right.
So next time you start griping about the high cost of personal flying, you might pause and thank your lucky stars that you’re based in the U.S. and not in the land down under. Compared to the rest of the world, we American aviators have it mighty good.
Mike Busch
is arguably the best-known A&P/IA in general aviation, honored by
the FAA in 2008 as National Aviation Maintenance Technician of the Year.
Mike is a 7,500-plus hour pilot and CFI, an aircraft owner for 45
years, a prolific aviation author, co-founder of AVweb, and presently
heads a team of world-class GA maintenance experts at Savvy Aviator. Mike's book Manifesto: A Revolutionary Approach to General Aviation Maintenance is available from Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle versions.
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