AUSTRALIA HELICOPTER INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION (AHIA) CONFERENCE

Mr Alder has been regarded as a leader in the use of aircraft for public safety and aerial firefighting for many decades. He was General Manager of the National Aerial Firefighting Centre (NAFC) in Australia for over seventeen years and was responsible for implementation of national collaborative arrangements for aerial firefighting.

Before taking over NAFC he was the Manager of Fire Operations for the public land fire authority in the state of Victoria, where he was responsible for the development and implementation of state-wide strategies and policies on wildfire preparedness and response; and for the management of fire operations.

Richard was the inaugural Chair of the International Fire Aviation Working Group, an advisory group to the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction; and has led or participated in a number of international missions to provide assistance for control of large wildfires including to the U.S.A. and in Europe.

Mr Alder was awarded the Australian Fire Service Medal in 2000, recognising the role he has played in innovation in bushfire management throughout Australia. He holds an Honours Degree in Forest Science and is a licensed, instrument-rated, aeroplane pilot. Richard has also been certified to undertake a number of incident command system field roles at emergency events including Air Operations Manager and Air Attack Supervisor.

During his tenure as Industry Relations manager at CASA, Matt significantly contributed to the establishment of the Aviation Safety Advisory Panel and its Technical Working Groups. Returning to Qantas, he assumed the role of Group Manager Air Traffic Management, overseeing international compliance and later served as the CEO of Recreational Aviation Australia for three years.

As a private pilot and co-owner of an aircraft based in Canberra, Matt's passion for aviation extends beyond his professional roles. His journey comes full circle as he rejoins CASA as the Executive Manager Regulatory Oversight.

His flying career began in 1996 with the Australian Defence Force as both a pilot and instructor. During this time, he saw service in Bougainville in support of Peace Keeping Operations and was a member of the Joint Incident Response Unit for the Sydney Olympic Games.  In 2004 he joined the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter project as a flight and tactical instructor and was part of the integration and training team supporting the ADF.

In 2009 Richard moved to Australian Helicopters as a line pilot in South Australia conducting HEMS, Law Enforcement and Fire Support operations.  This role evolved into helicopter type, NVIS and instrument check and training positions, culminating as the Flight Training Manager for Babcock Onshore operations. In 2014, he was the AW139 production acceptance pilot and fleet manager in support of Ambulance Victoria contract operations.

Since joining Kestrel, Richard has developed the night firebombing program of which he is project manager and flight lead.  In conjunction with EMV and other industry contributors, Kestrel created Australian history in March 2018 by providing the first contracted night aerial firefighting service.  Since that time, Kestrel has continued to advance the Australian night fire capability, using early response initial attack and pioneering hover fill operations which is considered an international first.

Richard is an experienced flight instructor and examiner across a range of advanced flight regimes, in particular night vision systems.

This operational and regulatory experience has been supplemented with two terms up at Parliament House as the Senior Adviser-Aviation for the Minister (The Hon Darren Chester) and then the Deputy Prime Minister (The Hon Michael McCormack), giving Steve rare insight to policy development at the highest levels of government. With another stint at CASA as the previous CEO’s Senior Adviser and a year at Airservices Australia prior to joining the RAAA. Steve has a unique balance of aviation industry and government experience.

Steve is now back at CASA as the Executive Manager of National Operations and Standards.

She was the foundation Operations Manager for the Brisbane Aviation Forecasting Centre, when the centre was established in 2019 as part of the Bureau's transformation of aviation weather services.

Since mid-2021, Cathy's focus has been to build and maintain close relationships with the Bureau's aviation customers and partners, in her role as the Senior Aviation Customer Lead.

Prior to joining CASA, Andreas worked with Airservices Australia in a number of senior management roles, including government affairs, international engagement and communications.

Andreas holds a commercial pilot licence and started his aviation career as a charter pilot in the general aviation sector. He holds a Graduate Certificate in Aviation Human Factors from Swinburne University of Technology.

Mr Ward has represented CASA in its international engagement since 2016 on the ICAO RPAS Panel having served as rapporteur of the RPAS Safety Management Taskforce from 2017-19 and has been the co-rapporteur for the RPAS operations working group since 2021. Recently the work that he leads received its final endorsement by the ICAO Council becoming Annex 6 — Operation of Aircraft Part IV — International Operations — Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems. This document was recognised by the President of the ICAO Air Navigation Commission as the most significant body of new work presented to ICAO in more than 20 years.

In 2020 Andrew took leave of absence from CASA to move to Canada and work for ICAO in the RPAS field. Like many people’s plans for 2020 this was significantly amended by the effects of the global pandemic, and he returned to Australia and CASA after one year in 2021.

Andrew began his more than 40 years in aviation as a glider pilot in 1981 before obtaining a private pilot’s licence (aeroplanes) in 1990. Mr. Ward holds a master’s degree in aviation management from Griffith University, and an Australian Remote Pilot Licence (rotorcraft).

He is currently the Commanding Officer of the Rotary Wing Aircraft Maintenance School, responsible for overseeing Aeroskills technicians and Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Aviation Officer training.

He holds a Master of Military and Defence Studies, Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Engineers in Aerospace Engineering.

Fleet Helicopters gained its UAV Operators Certificate (now called an ReOC) in 2016 with Mike conducting the roles of Chief Controller and Maintenance Controller for all RPAS operations.

RPAS operations conducted to date have ranged from remote area night time thermal imaging wildlife surveys through to large scale cinematic production work.