CASA Involvement

CASA Recognition

Quoting directly from the letter of recognition by Graham Edkins, the CASA Group General Manager for personnel licensing and education:

• CASA formally recognises the Board.
• The workings of the Board must be transparent, it is to be representative of all the aerospace sectors utilising NDT and be independent of CASA.
• The Board is to perform the functions as per the AS3669 standard, including the assessment of all levels of personnel and providing guidance with respect to employers’ written practice.
• The Board is to be involved with CASA’s legislation and process changes, working on behalf of the NDT aerospace industry.
• The Board is to work with CASA to achieve mutual recognition with other NANDTBs.

New CASA Regulations and Enforcement

The new CASA Regulations are to be based on the EASA model, which are more outcome based. The EASA approach to regulation was considered more relevant than other models because they were newer and not formulated from dated material or ideas. The AMC (Acceptable Means of Compliance) for the NDT Regulation is expected to prescribe adherence to AS3669, the need for a company written practice, and that a Level 3 person should review and approve it.

An edited extract from a presentation by Dr. Jonathan Aleck, the acting General Manager of CASA Legal Services Group in November 2006, is shown here to background CASA's position.

"I want to talk with you today about a number of important changes to CASA's enforcement strategies and practices, some of which are still under consideration, and some of which are already being introduced. These changes are based on a careful evaluation of the operation of the New Enforcement Procedures that came into effect February 2004, and on CASA's new regulatory priorities, which focus our resources more sharply, but by no means exclusively, on passenger carrying operations."

" They are also designed to support and serve an evolving regulatory regime that envisages a greater devolution of CASA's functions and powers on the industry, bringing considerably more freedom and flexibility, coupled necessarily with corresponding levels of individual and organisational accountability-which means a greater measure of personal and institutional responsibility and self-discipline."

"We are also developing bases for effective working relationships with the insurance industry, training and industry organisations, as well a growing number of operators, complementing similar contacts CASA has with these kinds of organisations at the operational, technical and educational levels, with a view to the achievement of shared objectives."