Letter · Aviation, Drones & Space
Response to a CASA show cause notice (proposed variation, suspension or cancellation of a civil aviation authorisation)
Structure and checklist for answering a CASA show cause notice: the deadline and extension request, the facts and findings disputed, remedial action and proposed conditions or undertakings, and the review and automatic-stay steps if CASA proceeds.
- Kind
- Letter. A letter or email you adapt and send.
- Where it applies
- Australia, Commonwealth
- AI use
- Red Keep AI out of the decisive steps. A lawyer does the work.
- Law stated as at
- 18 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 18 October 2026 against the 5 authorities it cites, for Australia and Commonwealth.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use when a holder of an AOC, licence, certificate or other civil aviation authorisation receives a CASA notice setting out reasons why CASA is considering varying, suspending or cancelling it, and inviting the holder to show cause. Not for an immediate suspension for serious and imminent risk, which follows a separate court process.
Used for these tasks
Each task page says how far AI may help with the task and what the lawyer must review.
How AI may be used
The lawyer writes the response; AI may only index the notice and the evidence, build the chronology and cross-reference each CASA finding to the documents, and nothing it produces goes into the response as written.
AI may
- Index the show cause notice by each fact, finding and ground CASA relies on, with paragraph references
- Build a chronology from the client’s records (maintenance logs, flight records, training files, correspondence) with sources
- Cross-reference each CASA finding to documents that support or contradict it, for the lawyer’s review
AI must not
- Must not draft any part of the response, admissions, explanations or proposed undertakings
- Must not characterise safety events or the client’s systems; that is for the client’s accountable manager and the lawyer
- Must not be given safety-sensitive records, personal information of crew or passengers, or legally privileged material outside an approved environment
The lawyer checks
- The response deadline in the notice is diarised, and any extension is requested in writing well before it
- Every factual statement is verified against records, and any admission is a deliberate, instructed decision given possible prosecution or infringement exposure
- Remedial action and any proposed conditions or enforceable voluntary undertaking are realistic and approved by the accountable manager
- If CASA proceeds, the five-business-day window to apply to the Administrative Review Tribunal for a stay order under s 31A is diarised from the decision notice
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Read the full text
The full text is for signed-in accounts. It is free. When you sign in you can:
- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
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