In this Senate Estimate session, I asked questions regarding helicopter pilot safety procedures and was informed about the minimum heights required for flying over residential areas, along with general safety protocols.
I also learned about the process for filing complaints and the types of evidence that would be helpful to confirm any reported breaches. The CASA representatives were quite helpful and informative.
Transcript
Senator ROBERTS: Okay. Let’s do some safety related questions. Thank you for the copies of the permits with regard to helicopter flying and dispersion of chemicals. How low may a helicopter fly to distribute insecticide over a property?
Ms Spence: I might refer that to my colleague.
Mr Campbell: It can vary, but generally, for dispensing operations, it can be as low as 300 feet, or lower if it’s crop spraying.
Senator ROBERTS: What about in a hilly valley?
Mr Campbell: The pilots would have to take that into account. When they do dropping operations, they always do a risk assessment, and that will all come into it.
Senator ROBERTS: What about around houses, especially houses that have water tanks for catching drinking water off the roof?
Mr Campbell: Anything near a populous area will require not only the risk assessment but consultation with that property to go through those kinds of matters.
Senator ROBERTS: So you don’t have environmental responsibility?
Mr Campbell: No, we don’t.
Senator ROBERTS: I understand that. How close can they fly to a house? Could they fly close enough to disperse toxins on a house?
Mr Campbell: The drop site will be planned out previously, and it won’t involve a house. It’s up to the pilot and the operator to ensure that anything that’s dropped remains within the planned drop site.
Ms Spence: Senator, it’s a bit like the other question. As we briefed your adviser, if someone has evidence of a helicopter dropping bait in a way that’s not consistent with the way that Mr Campbell has described, again, they should report it to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority or through the ATSB’s REPCON process.
Senator ROBERTS: Must a helicopter avoid flying low over houses and dumping payload onto residential buildings? It sounds like they must.
Ms Spence: That’s exactly right; they must. And if they don’t, then it should be reported to us. We do not have any examples of it having been reported to us. So, again, as we briefed your office, we would appreciate examples of that happening. And it can’t just be an anecdotal one; we would need to have as much information as possible—preferably photos that would allow us to see what has actually happened.
Senator ROBERTS: Must a helicopter avoid dumping payloads of what it’s dispersing, to use your words, Mr Campbell, in creeks and waterways? Or is that beyond your authority?
Mr Campbell: That is beyond our remit. We deal with safety—as long as they are not dropping anything that’s going to injure humans or animals or damage property.
Senator ROBERTS: So, if a helicopter pilot dispenses something that hurts humans or animals—
Mr Campbell: Injures or damages.
Senator ROBERTS: Injures or damages. What’s ‘injures’, literally? Is it ingestion of chemicals that cause someone to be sick or an animal to die?
Mr Campbell: No, I don’t think it extends to illnesses that are created from whatever the dispensing agent is. It is about when it hits the ground or near a person.
Ms Spence: Physically.
Senator ROBERTS: If it becomes a projectile.
Ms Spence: It’s an issue where, again, as we’ve discussed, there are multiple regulators in this space. Issues about the impact of the chemicals that are used to bait the fire ants are not something that we have any role in approving or anything like that, so I expect that concerns about the impact on the environment as a result of how those baits are used are probably better taken up with someone in the environment portfolio.
Senator ROBERTS: We are, and we’ll be taking it up here again with a third committee. What can be done to stop a helicopter pilot from doing any of the things like dropping payloads on crops, animals, creeks, waterways or houses?
Ms Spence: If it’s reported to us, we can then investigate. The more information we have, the more likely we can actually take enforcement actions against an operator who does something illegally.
Senator ROBERTS: Your permits, as I understand it, don’t come with conditions. Do you leave it up to the pilot?
Mr Campbell: The operator, yes.
Senator ROBERTS: So it’d be pretty hard to say that the pilot has done something wrong.
Ms Spence : No. If they’re flying below the height that’s approved—again, as we passed on to your office, a lot of those details are set out in the actual manual of standards and the regulations. So, if they’re operating in a way that’s not consistent with the manual of standards or the regulations, that can get reported to us and we can then take enforcement action.
Senator ROBERTS: What would you say into the camera now, to constituents in Queensland who are infested with these helicopters disturbing them?
Ms Spence: I would say that they should be reporting. If they are concerned that a helicopter is operating outside the parameters that Mr Campbell outlined to you, they should be reporting that.
Senator ROBERTS: Where would they find those parameters?
Ms Spence: There’s the material that we did send through to your office, but it is around the 300 feet and the area in which they can operate.
Mr Campbell: Yes. If there are residents out there who feel that helicopters are dropping—
Ms Spence: Flying too low—
Mr Campbell: flying too low around their home, they can take video footage or take photos, as Ms Spence said, and report them, and we’ll do our best to assess whether they’ve operated outside of their approval.
Senator ROBERTS: How do you regulate these behaviours? How do you regulate their behaviours?
Ms Spence: The same ways—we provide the approval that they can operate in accordance with the requirements that we set, and then, if someone has evidence to say that someone is operating outside of those parameters, we investigate and we can either take enforcement action or refer it to the DPP.
Senator ROBERTS: Last question, Chair. What’s the process for making complaints about breaches of safety protocols or regulations?
Ms Spence: On our website, there is actually a mechanism to report a safety concern, and I think the ATSB has also got a similar ability to report on their website.
Senator ROBERTS: Thank you, and, after months or years of trying to extract things from CASA, it is a pleasure to have you in my office giving us information freely.
Ms Spence: Always happy to help, Senator.
