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/SWSA226/43 Amendment 6 to correct an unsafe situation on Fairchild SA 226 and SA 227 series aircraft. As a result of a request from industry, CASA has decided to amend this AD to update compliance to the latest version of the requirement document. The State of Design for these types, the United States of America, has not yet taken action to correct this unsafe condition. As there are several examples of the type on the Australian register, CASA has developed an AD to correct the problem on Australian aircraft. The amended AD, AD/SWSA226/43 Amendment 7, will become effective on 27 January 2012. This AD cancels and replaces the previous issue.
CASA has not consulted with the Australian industry and public as the AD amendment is administrative only and simply updates the requirement document to the latest version. Compliance times remain unchanged and the amendment does not introduce any additional requirements.
The Office of Regulatory Review has determined that ADs do not require a Regulatory Impact Statement.
Compatibility with human rights and freedoms
This 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.
Human Rights Implications
The instrument sets out technical requirements as detailed above. The instrument does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms.
Conclusion
The instrument is compatible with human rights and freedoms.
The AD has been made by the General Manager, Airworthiness and Engineering Branch /Manager, Initial Airworthiness/New Technology and Regulatory Trends, on behalf of CASA, in accordance with subsection 94 (1) of the Act.