“Don’t You Just Love Regulatory Trifle?”: Operator’s Frustration with CAA Boils Over

So on Friday, last week, the Civil Aviation Authority wrote to me to inform me that we were proceeding to Regulation 6 review with regards their failure to renew our Operational Authorisation. I suspect I am the first RPAS Regulation 6! but what a amazing bureaucratic trifle the CAA have served up for themselves.!

The Regulation 6 review process is established by Regulation 6 of the Civil Aviation Authority Regulations 1991. When a review is requested, a review panel is established to hear that matter comprising of CAA Non-Executive Board Members who are appointed by the Secretary of State and have had no previous involvement in the case.

The RPAS unit of the CAA claim that I am not “competent” to be an Accountable Manager, as for a completely different legal entity that had been closed down, they claim that I did not supply them flight documentation, despite the fact that our lawyers had informed their lawyers of the flight status prior to their request. If only their legal department had shared such information, but what can you do when faced with such a siloed, dinosaur?

I asked the the Regulation 6 review, back in December last year, but we had to follow the correct process, allowing for the level 2 finding to progress to a level 1 and thus allow the process to be triggered. It is nice to see that one element of the CAA follows due process.

I relish the opportunity to put my case to the Regulation 6 panel, warts and all, showing how a continued process of harassment, interference, malfeasance and failure to follow their own policy has left a completely unconnected entity unable to trade.

Don’t you just love regulatory trifle? The proof will be the pudding!

A big thanks to all who have lent me their support to date.