President’s Opinion

Licenced Aircraft Maintenance Engineers go through years of training, schooling and examinations. They have a skill and knowledge set created through this process that is second to none, and therefore understand aircraft inside out. We are the ones that say when a plane is safe to fly and when it’s not. That’s why when we heard that AMEs were being ordered to carry out duties assigned to a Licenced Aircraft Engineer at Virgin we were greatly concerned.

There are critical reasons why certain responsibilities are only entrusted to Licenced Aircraft Maintenance Engineers – we are the ones specially trained on specific aircraft, independently assessed and examined by CASA. At Virgin Blue, however, management have decided that that those qualifications, knowledge base and years of experience are irrelevant, and that it would be cheaper to get AMEs to carry out critical duties that should be assigned to LAMEs. You would think after recent incidents they would be more than well aware of the absolute need for their licenced engineers to carry out pre-flights and first flight of the day checks on their aircraft.

Why do they want to use AMEs you might ask? In simple terms, all airlines in the modern era do not train anywhere near enough to maintain the required numbers of LAMEs in the industry. So instead in conjunction with the regulatory authority, CASA, they are continuing looking for ways to circumvent their obligation to train and protect our industry from disaster.

Rest assured your Association is taking this issue to Virgin management and CASA and we will let you know of the outcomes. All airlines seem intent on putting the safety of the flying public at risk in order to save a few dollars here and there whether it be AME checks or outsourcing your maintenance overseas. Cutting corners on maintenance and safety to keep prices down is irresponsible and downright dangerous, and we certainly won’t stand for it.

On a separate topic, it has been just over twelve months since CASA implemented the need for all airlines to implement their own Drugs and Alcohol Management Plan (DAMP). While the ALAEA is fully supportive of CASA’s stance on drugs in the aircraft industry and the implementation of an across the board standard, we do not subscribe to individual companies creating draconian systems to spy on and demean their employees.

As you would be aware, the ALAEA joined the battle with the ACTU and other unions to ensure any introduction of drug and alcohol testing that did not compromise the rights of employees.

At this point in time we have contention around the use of urine testing for impairment, the policy of informing your superiors of your prescriptive medicines, and random drug testing that unfortunately may not be too random.

Keep safe,

Paul Cousins,

President