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. When a State of Design issues an Airworthiness Limitation for 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 limitation or AD to mandate the requirements of the State of Design.
In 1982 Piper Aircraft, Inc. published Service Bulletin No. 745 specifying periodic inspection of the spar of the vertical fin of the Piper PA-38-112 aircraft. In 1982 CASA’s predecessors issued AD/PA-38/7 Amdt 5 to match the requirement in Service Bulletin No. 745 Part I, II and III. In 1983 the USA Federal Aviation Administration issued Airworthiness Directive 82-27-08 specifying periodic inspection of similar areas in Piper PA-38-112 aircraft. The USA is the State of Design for this aircraft type. In 2008 CASA reviewed all ADs applicable to the Piper PA-38 aircraft, including AD/PA-38/7 Amdt 5. As a result, CASA decided to amend AD/PA-38/7 to amendment 6 to more closely match USA AD 82-27-08 (a)(1), (a)(2) and (a)(4). This AD will become effective on 18 December 2008. This AD cancels and replaces the previous issue.
As this AD is issued because of Australia’s obligations under the Convention on International Civil Aviation, and because it is issued in response to an Airworthiness Directive 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, Airframes and Structures in the Airworthiness Engineering Group, on behalf of CASA, in accordance with subsection 84A (2) of the Act.