Thank you for persevering during the recent system outage. Thankfully it was only for the 3 business days and we were once again operational on Monday morning 6th July.
Several of CASAs systems have been updated including the demographic database which MRS draws on. It was for this reason that the Medical Record System was unavailable.
One notable change is the shift to 7 digit ARNs.
What this means for DAMEs? Not much will change, the system will automatically add a '0' to the beginning of existing ARNS. All new 7 digit ARNs generated from the 1st July will begin with a '1'.
As the paper based application forms will be superseded with the implementation of MRS2 later this year, the forms will not be reprinted to accommodate the 7 digits. Please place the 1st digit on the left hand side of the ARN field and complete the ARN in the space provided.
The shift in the demographic data base has also affected the availability to print a declaration where an ARN is not present. Therefore the applicant is required to hold an ARN prior to you conducting an examination. You will recall that we have mentioned this requirement previously as it is needed for the replacement MRS 2 certification system.
We currently have between 75 – 80% of our DAMEs using the online system. With the implementation of MRS2 in the near future all Medical Examiners will be required to use the online system.
We highly recommend that those of you still using the paper forms get online to familiarise yourself with the current system prior to the MRS2 rollout. It is the best form of training for the new system. Please contact us if we can assist you with this change.
Mid July saw the launch of the new 'AvMed' website. The new web pages have been organised and rewritten to make it easier for pilots, air traffic controllers and medical examiners to access the information that is relevant to them and their needs when working through what can sometimes be a complex medical certification process.
Information for different users is now clearly identified from the start. Navigation is easier and text simplified. Another feature is recently produced case studies and fact sheets on common aviation medical conditions. These provide real life examples of how medical conditions may affect pilots and CASA's role. More case studies and fact sheets will be developed on additional conditions in coming months and will be published on the Av Med pages as soon as they become available. We suggest you save the page as a "favourite". Print them out for your pilots and controllers, and let us know what you think of them.
The DAME2 Delegation has been opened up to those that attended the training sessions held in 2014 (The new MRS 2 sessions were different).
Several of the applications have not been able to be finalised due to the indemnity insurance certificates provided. Our legal team require certified copies of the Indemnity Insurance certificate in order to obtain the Delegation.
On the 11th July we ran a workshop with NZ CAA and Industry representatives regarding Psychiatric/Psychological assessment of pilots.
There were presentations from eminent specialists within this field, and very practical discussion following. There is a natural tendency to want to change something: however, it is important to be sure that there are no unintended consequences, and that any change will improve overall aviation safety and not just create a problem elsewhere. It is evident that there are a range of "flags" which may indicate elevated risk. We are looking at how to optimise information flow to identify and manage such flags in an efficient manner. International regulators are also going through a similar process – you may be interested to see the EASA Task Force for example. I will be talking more about this at the ASAM Meeting in Adelaide.
It's been a while but we will be engaging you once again via Survey Monkey. It's deliberately short.
The focus on this survey will be to obtain your view of DAME assessment of medical applications, please take the time to complete the survey. We base our policy development on this information, so thanks for your help.
ASAM Meeting 10-13 September 2015.
And finally… the best opportunity to keep up-to-date with what is happening. We will be running a session on topics of current interest on Sunday together with seminars in MRS Online. We look forward to seeing you there.