Media Release

KAP Leader and Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter has called out the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) for its latest show of incompetence that could kill charity Angel Flight.

“One of Dick Smith’s finest moments was his attack upon CASA; CASA has downed more planes than the Red Baron,” Mr Katter said, adding the Authority had repeatedly displayed its ineptitude.

“The mind-numbing hypocrisy and incompetence of this organisation is clearly demonstrated by the repeated and continuous efforts that we have made to get the warning sounders onto helicopters; because of the mustering, geological and Telstra helicopters, because of the highest mountains in Australia, every North Queenslander is familiar with the chopper industry.”

More than half of six fatalities over a three-year period were attributed to collisions with powerlines, Mr Katter said, which could have be avoided if a couple of hundred dollars had been spent on a $200,000 helicopter to install a warning signal device. And yet, they were still not there.

“One lawyer claims to have won around 70 cases against CASA; it may be because he’s a brilliant lawyer, but it may also be because of the excessive fanatical conciliatory of people who are sick with power, blinded out of doing their job properly,” Mr Katter said.

“To take Angel Flight out of the skies is to remove the mantle of safety put there by Reverend John Flynn and his Royal Flying Doctor Service, and I speak with great passion because both my father and his brother died at the hands of that Australian tyrant – the tyranny of distance. My uncle had a near-fatal rugby league injury, there were no planes handy and by the time fledgling Qantas got a plane from Longreach to Cloncurry and back to Brisbane, near-fatal had become fatal. My father’s scheduled prostate operation was postponed because of pilot strike. By the time he got from Mt Isa to Brisbane for the operation, it was too late; the cancer had spread. So when you protect your precious statistics, that conciliatory is costing us lives. It is quite clear to me these very generous self-sacrificing pilot-owners cannot afford to take the risks of CASA prosecutions – the safety Nazis – and we will lose this wonderful service,” he said.

Research is currently being undertaken but Mr Katter said it appeared the number of light aircraft registered in North Queensland (population over one million) had halved and initial research indicated the major cause was CASA.

“We have contacted the Minister for Transport and demanded his immediate intervention and asked rural chambers of commerce, flyers, clubs and councils to join the fight on this issue.”

-ENDS-