CIVIL AVIATION ACT 1988
CIVIL AVIATION SAFETY REGULATIONS 1998
ISSUE OF AIRWORTHINESS DIRECTIVE
Under section 98 of the Civil Aviation Act 1988, the Governor-General may make regulations for the purposes of the Act and in the interests of the safety of air navigation. Under regulation 39.001 of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) may issue airworthiness directives (ADs) for kinds of aircraft or aeronautical products. Subregulation 39.001(5) of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998 provides that an AD is a disallowable instrument for the purposes of section 46A of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901. Therefore, in accordance with section 6 of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003, an AD is a legislative instrument.
Under Annex 8 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, the State of Design has overall responsibility for continuing airworthiness of an aircraft type, and must provide any information necessary to ensure the continuing airworthiness of a type to appropriate States of Registry. ADs (and their equivalents) are the most common form of continuing airworthiness information, and are issued by most ICAO Contracting States.
The State of Registry of an individual aircraft is responsible for its continuing airworthiness. Under Annex 8, the State of Registry must develop or adopt requirements to ensure the continuing airworthiness of aircraft.
AD/DHC-1/31 was raised to mandate an inspection of the de Havilland of Canada DHC-1 (Chipmunk) aircraft. Details of the inspection were specified in Technical News Sheet No. 156 published by the organisation responsible for the airworthiness of the aircraft type. In 1996 AD/DHC-1/31 was amended to specify Issue 4 of TNS No. 156. It has been brought to CASA’s attention that TNS No. 156 is now at Issue 5 and some of the details of AD/DHC-1/31 Amdt 1 are not consistent with Issue 5. CASA has decided to amend AD/DHC-1/31 Amdt 1. The amended AD,
AD/DHC-1/31 Amdt 2, will become effective on 30 July 2010.
As this AD is issued because of Australia’s obligations under Convention on International Civil Aviation, and because it is issued in response to an AD raised by the relevant State of Design, no consultation of the Australian public has taken place on this AD. The Office of Best Practice Regulation has determined that ADs do not require a Regulatory Impact Statement.
The AD has been made by the Manager, Continuing Airworthiness in the Airworthiness and Engineering Branch, on behalf of CASA, in accordance with subsection 94 (1) of the Act.