CASA’s boomerang effect

CASA often has a boomerang effect on its staff. It’s a bit like that classic “The Godfather III” line: ‘just when you think you're out, you get pulled back in’.

And in a not-so-dissimilar Michael Corleone situation, Darren Angelo, manager of our Aerodromes Operations, is back at the helm, ready to lead CASA and his team through new challenges and toward new successes.

Darren, formerly a longtime CASA senior standards officer and inspector based in Melbourne, left in 2019 to ‘spread his wings’ (pardon the pun) and worked at Melbourne Airport as a manager in the Airfield Team.

He’s certainly hit the ground running in his new tenure at CASA. Now leading a team of 14, he recently participated in a meeting in Thailand with the Aerodrome Operations and Planning Subgroup, which falls under the Asia/Pacific Air Navigation Planning and Implementation Regional Work Group (APANPIRG).

APANPIRG is a regional body of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) that was established to address air navigation planning and implementation matters in the Asia and Pacific region.

It’s one of several regional groups under ICAO that facilitates coordination and cooperation among Member States (countries that have formally joined the ICAO by ratifying the Chicago Convention) in the region.

‘In terms of the agenda, there were 26 working papers and 20 information papers,’ Darren explains. ?‘Some of them were on governance matters, but a lot of it was focused on the ICAO annexes, which then get translated into our state-based regulation.

‘A key thing was understanding global averages in AGA – which is aerodromes and ground aids [such as instrument landing systems, GPS augmentation equipment, navigational aids, etc].

'So, we are one of the member states that exceed the ICAO target. We are seen as a leading state, and the question is how do we help our Asia-Pacific neighbours?

‘We do this through a lot of international collaboration. I provided examples of practices we use in Australia, such as safeguarding airports. We have very mature processes in Australia. We've also got some changes in aerodrome reporting happening, so there were discussions about that.’

Darren and his team’s contributions will play a vital role in advancing CASA's goals and supporting aviation safety in our region.

And you never know, his journey might just inspire others to boomerang back to CASA and contribute their expertise once again!