Terry Farquharson is filling in as the Civil Aviation Safety Authority’s (CASA) acting director of aviation safety until the successor to John McCormick is named.
McCormick ended his five and a half year run as the director of aviation safety on Sunday, August 31 and has left the organisation.
CASA spokesperson Peter Gibson said Farquharson, currently the deputy director of aviation safety, started as acting director on Monday.
The appointment of a new director of aviation safety would have to wait until a full board of CASA has been formed. That was due to occur after the formal announcement of three new board members.
Aviation Business reported last Friday the three new people to be appointed to the board were Anita Taylor, Ian Smith and David Cox.
Taylor was most recently was president of the Gliding Australia, Smith is the Australian Maritime and Defence Foundation of Australia president, while Cox is chief operating officer of the faculty of engineering and information technologies at Sydney University and a former head of engineering at Qantas.
It was understood the three names have been submitted to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Warren Truss.
CASA’s three current board members were chair Allan Hawke, as well as the recently-appointed deputy chair Jeff Boyd plus Trevor Danos. The director of aviation safety also sits on the CASA board.
The fully formed CASA board would then consider the best candidate from an international search undertaken by an external recruitment company.
The process was believed to have come down to two candidates. However, the appointment of a new director of aviation safety was expected to be some time away given the minister’s office needed to approve any name put forward by the CASA board and take that name to cabinet.
Australian Aviation has sought comment from Minister Truss’s office.
