CAA Civil Air Display Review – Final Report Published

It is all very worrying, I just wonder how many future display pilots will be put off by the new regs.
Or will it be a case that warbird pilots of the future will be former BBMF pilots or ex service demo pilots?
I can imagine that if a was a prospective warbird display pilot with a lot of tail wheel hours and a few million quid in my pocket for my first Spitfire I’d be put off entering the industry after reading PT’s Facebook message,

AA…………..

Oh how true……. “Regulation” is becoming an industry in just the same way as ‘elf & safety and “security”. At the same time the processing of steel and many other industrial operations is ceasing to be an industry.

Of course the fact that many large international corporations and some individuals “of high net wealth” exempt themselves from paying their dues in tax may have a little to do with it as well…. Government seems unable or unwilling to “take them on” and extract tax. As you say leave it to the regulator, much simpler….

It will be interesting to see the effects of the new regulations at Abingdon Airshow in a few weeks, being the first signifcant show of the season.

I see from the organisers correpondence on their Facebook Group that they (to quote) had to complete ‘triple the paperwork’ and arrange for additional roads surrounding the airfield to be closed off.

How the display format will change we wait to see. Peter is displaying his P40 out of interest also (noting his recent comments).

Please note i am not saying all the changes are uneccessary further to the tragic loss of life at Shoreham (certainly the additional costs appear excessive) just intrigued like the rest of us to see how it all ‘pans out’.

Where quangos led, regulators now follow.

Post Shoreham, the ‘airshow industry’ is now getting what the professions and industry generally have been enduring in increasing amounts over the past decade or so. But it’s hardly surprising. For the government to employ ‘front door’ revenue collecting methods, such as increasing taxes or other payments that the public have to pay directly, gets bad press and influences how people vote. Thus the ‘back door’ method has become increasingly attractive as it attracts less publicity, most people are not aware of it (because there are no direct demands to them for payment) and it is less likely to influence how they vote.

The ‘regulation industry’ also has been a boon for those who cut their teeth in quangos, who’ve never worked outside the public sector and who answer ‘regulator’ when you ask them what is their profession. Often they’ve little or no experience of the industry or profession which they are regulating. But when challenged as to that, their trite response is that they’ve a lifetime’s experience of regulating and that’s all that now needs to be on their CVs.

The regulators can charge what they like as they face no competition – beyond take it or leave it. You can’t, like supermarkets, shop elsewhere if the prices become prohibitive. If you wan’t to run an airshow, you pay what the CAA wants or you get out of the business. Of course, they say that it’s because the regulators have to be self-financing (most of you will be too young to remember when governments providing a public service was sufficient in itself). But the reality is that regulation has become a ‘cash cow’ which reduces the need to increase the ‘front door’ payments that the public is required to pay direct. And it has an added advantage. If the industry/profession adds the charge to the price the public pays for its service, it’s not the government but the industry/profession that gets the flak. Thus often the industry/profession seeks to absorb the added financial burden of regulation – so the public never knows that it’s going on or how iniquitous are the regulators’ charges.

But it’s so easy, in a rather facile manner, to justify regulation. It is, of course, in the public interest and the public benefits from it. And just to make sure that the regulators don’t step out of line, there are now ‘super regulators’ to regulate the industry/profession specific regulators. In fact, regulation is the new boom business. I wait for the first university to offer a degree course in regulation. How long is it before a youngster, when asked what he/she wants to be, answers ‘a regulator’. A fear that Britain is trudging slothfully towards achieving the regulator’s nirvana – an inverted pyramid!

Telling comments from Peter Teichmann there! I just have the feeling that my now much reduced airshow attending has come at the right time. But I do hope what we are seeing is not the thin end of the wedge.

After a long read I am guessing it is going to be harder for somewhere like Old Warden to keep to the distances for take off and landing?

The new rules refer to aerobatic display. Do not think crowdline runway distances have been changed, if indeed there are any fixed rules for that ? Would assume that CAA assess each location on its merits.
Whilst I understand the need to have healthy and qualified pilots what will happen to the like of Steve Hinton and Gene De Marco ? Both regular display pilots at UK events. Who will DA them and will their own national medical certificates be recognised. by the CAA.
Hope common sense can prevail :stupid:

500 foot to 800 ft pistons and 1000 for fast jets, restrictions on displays with the jets.
Crowd line 150m

As you might have seen or heard in the media this morning or after midnight (when the embargo on it was lifted), the CAA have issued their final report of their review of UK Civil Air Displays, after the Shoreham accident last August: –

http://www.caa.co.uk/cap1400

They’ve also published a new and rewritten version of CAP 403 – ‘Flying displays and special events: A guide to safety and administrative arrangements’ which can be downloaded here: –

http://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAP%20403%20Flying%20displays%20and%20special%20eventsMAR16.pdf

And,(for those who haven’t) it’s worth reading Peter Teichman’s latest news update on the Hangar 11 Facebook page, in which he makes his views and frustrations from his point of view as an experienced historic aircraft display pilot and owner/operator.

https://www.facebook.com/Hangar11Collection/posts/685852481555042

Cheers

Paul

Thanks for posting. The link to the guidance seems to be broken now, though it worked earlier. Does anyone know how the new heights and distances compare with the previous ones?

After a long read I am guessing it is going to be harder for somewhere like Old Warden to keep to the distances for take off and landing?

I can see a lot of the report is pretty fair as to being prior the full AAIB report but will impact greatly.