Australia’s Lip Air Grounded

Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) suspended the operations of Cairns-based airline Lip Air on June 27.Lip Air – which trades as Aero Tropics – was suspended because CASA believes there were serious and imminent risks to the safety of passengers traveling on the airline. CASA will now make an application to the Federal Court to extend the suspension of their air operators certificate for up to 40 days. If the extension is granted CASA will complete investigations into safety deficiencies within Lip Air and may seek to cancel the airline's air operators certificate. CASA began investigations into safety problems at Lip Air in September 2007.   The airline and key personnel have been subject to a number of actions by CASA, taken to achieve improvements in safety performance. However, in recent days CASA has discovered further evidence that safety standards within Lip Air have not in improved and in fact have deteriorated. CASA believes the deficiencies are indicative of a total failure of the airline's management structure, creating an unacceptable risk to aviation safety. CASA's safety concerns center on pilot training.  Aero Tropics Air Services has operated  to regional destinations using one 11-seater Beachcraft King Air B200, two Cessna Grand Caravans, four Aerocommander AC-500s and six Britten Norman Islanders.