THE Civil Aviation Safety Authority’s new boss is reviewing all activities at the regulator to ensure they contribute to aviation safety as conditions in the industry continue to tighten.
On his first day in the job, CASA chief executive John McCormick beefed up a review to ensure that the air safety regulator’s resources were being directed towards its key function.
And he indicated in Sydney this week that non-safety activities would be given short-shrift under his regime.
“Like everything else in this sort of economic climate we’re in today, we’ve got to go back and critically look at what we’re doing and why we’re doing it,” he said.
“Our job boils down to regulating aviation safety and if it’s a function within CASA that is not contributing to safety or contributing to the support of the people who are contributing to safety, then it’s not a job that CASA should be doing.”
Mr McCormick took over the reins at CASA early last month after a long career with Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific.
He has already indicated he intends to take a higher public profile during his five-year stint than his predecessor, noting that he would take the brickbats that came with what can be one of the industry’s most controversial jobs.
A veteran pilot with more than 10,000 hours experience and a master’s degree in aviation management, he began his career in the RAAF in 1974 and became a combat fighter instructor.
He joined Qantas a decade later as a second officer on the Boeing 747-200 and flew with the carrier for three years.
He joined Cathay in 1987 as a first officer on the B747-200 and was appointed captain on the Lockheed Tristar before becoming flight training manager for the type. He co-managed the introduction of the Boeing 777 to Cathay before becoming the airline’s 747-400 flying training manager and later chief pilot of the Hong Kong carrier’s Boeing fleet.
In 2002, he was appointed Cathay’s general manager, operations, before returning to the air in 2006 as the company’s senior training captain for the Airbus A340 and A380 fleet.
He joins CASA as the federal Government is finalising its aviation white paper and after the authority came under fire in a Senate report last year.
The report raised concerns about whether the air safety watchdog was too close to the industry it was supposed to regulate, had adequate governance and that the pace of regulatory reform was too slow.
It recommended returning to a board structure with a small body of up to five members to oversee the authority, a review of its funding and to make sure it was up to meeting regulatory challenges.
It also called for the authority’s regulatory reform program to be brought to a conclusion as quickly as possible and said the Australian National Audit Office should look at CASA’s safety management systems approach to industry oversight.
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