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, 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 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.
CASA raised AD/PMC/47 to correct an unsafe situation on McCauley threaded Propellers. The applicability of the AD is limited to propellers last released by an Australian propeller overhaul shop. An inspection of propeller hubs released by Australian Air Props revealed deficiencies in their non-destructive-testing processes with regard to eddy-current inspection. This situation, if not corrected, might lead to propeller hub failure. Since all installed propellers would have been inspected by earlier amendments of this AD, CASA has amended AD/PMC/47 to amendment 2, affecting uninstalled propellers only. The State of Design for McCauley Propellers, USA, has not yet taken action to correct this unsafe condition. As Australian Air Props is an Australian based maintenance organisation, CASA has developed an AD to correct the problem on Australian aircraft.
CASA has not consulted with the Australian industry and public because this is an amendment to an Australian unique AD already in place. Also, requirements of amended AD are less stringent than earlier amendments and will provide relief to Australian Aviation industry
The Office of Regulatory Review has determined that ADs do not require a Regulatory Impact Statement.
The AD has been made by the Manager, New Technologies and Systems, in the Manufacturing, Certification and New Technologies Office, on behalf of CASA, in accordance with subsection 84A (2) of the Act.