Explanatory Statement
Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998
AD/GENERAL/86 — Darwin Inspection and Testing Service Ultrasonic Inspection
Under section 98 of the Civil Aviation Act 1988 (the Act), the Governor-General may make regulations for the Act and in the interests of the safety of air navigation. Under regulation 39.001 of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998 (CASR 1998), CASA may issue airworthiness directives (ADs) for kinds of aircraft or aeronautical products. Subregulation 39.001 (5) of CASR 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. When a State of Design issues an AD against a type of aircraft on the Australian Register, CASA, as Australia’s national airworthiness authority, must assess that information and, if appropriate, issue an Australian AD to mandate the requirements of the State of Design.
AD/GENERAL/86 applies to any aircraft that have had Ultrasonic Inspection carried out by Darwin Inspection and Testing Service (DITS) in the nominated period,
1 January 2010 through 8 February 2013.
CASA has identified that during the period 1 January 2010 through 8 February 2013 that the DITS carried out Ultrasonic non-destructive inspection tasks on aircraft using non-authorised personnel. Furthermore, CASA cannot establish that inspections conducted by the personnel concerned during this period were conducted to a standard acceptable to the authority. In addition the organisation concerned cannot provide suitable records to CASA identifying work that was conducted during the nominated period. Therefore the need exists to have operators review their aircraft records and where it is identified that Ultrasonic non-destructive inspection tasks have been carried out by DITS during the nominated period, this work will need to be repeated. CASA is issuing AD/GENERAL/86 to mandate this requirement. CASA understands that some operators have already repeated some Ultrasonic non-destructive inspection tasks, using authorised personnel, and therefore there is no further need to have to repeat such work.
Consultation
Due to the urgency of the requirements of this Airworthiness Directive, no consultation of the Australian public has taken place.
The Office of Regulatory Review has determined that ADs do not require a Regulatory Impact Statement.
Compatibility with human rights and freedoms
A statement of compatibility with human rights is at Attachment 1.
Commencement and making
The instrument commences on 2 August 2013.
The AD has been made by a delegate of CASA relying on the power of delegation under subregulation 11.260 (1) of CASR 1998 and subsection 94 (1) of the Act.
[Instrument number AD/GENERAL/86]
Attachment 1
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the
Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
AD/GENERAL/86 – Darwin Inspection and Testing Service Ultrasonic Inspection
This legislative instrument is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.
Overview of the legislative instrument
CASA has identified that during the period 1 January 2010 through 8 February 2013 that the DITS carried out Ultrasonic non-destructive inspection tasks on aircraft using non-authorised personnel. Furthermore, CASA cannot establish that inspections conducted by the personnel concerned during this period were conducted to a standard acceptable to the authority. In addition the organisation concerned cannot provide suitable records to CASA identifying work that was conducted during the nominated period. Therefore the need exists to have operators review their aircraft records and where it is identified that Ultrasonic non-destructive inspection tasks have been carried out by DITS during the nominated period, this work will need to be repeated. CASA is issuing AD/GENERAL/86 to mandate this requirement. CASA understands that some operators have already repeated some Ultrasonic non-destructive inspection tasks, using authorised personnel, and therefore there is no further need to have to repeat such work.
Human rights implications
This legislative instrument does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms.
Conclusion
This legislative instrument is compatible with human rights as it does not raise any human rights issues.
Civil Aviation Safety Authority