EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1986 NO 141
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Aviation
AIR NAVIGATION REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
Section 26 of the Air Navigation Act 1920 provides, inter alia, that the Governor-General may make regulations not inconsistent with the Act prescribing all matters which are required or permitted to be prescribed or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
The regulations effect a number of amendments to the Air Navigation Regulations. These cover a wide range of matters and include amendments to permit control over the discharge of firearms from aircraft and the picking up of persons by helicopters. The amendments overcome a number of administrative difficulties, update terminology, and effect other machinery changes in line with current drafting practice.
In the past, there have been instances where damage has been caused to parts of an aircraft as a result of the discharging of a firearm from the aircraft during animal culling operations. However, it has not been possible to exercise control over the discharge of firearms in and from aircraft. New regulation 120B prohibits a person from discharging a firearm while on board an aircraft except with the permission in writing of the Secretary. This provision complements regulation 120A which provides for control over the carriage of firearms. New regulation 120B ensures that when permission to take a firearm on an aircraft is given, the circumstances under which it may be discharged can be specified.
Helicopters are now used in rescue operations to pick up persons on the ground or in water by means of ladders or winches while the helicopter is in flight. In such operations, a person may then be carried for some distance suspended beneath the helicopter. The amendments to regulations 127 and 243 ensure that appropriate safety standards may be imposed in relation to the picking up and carriage of persons by helicopter.
Previously, permits under paragraph 133(3)(b) for low flying could only be granted in respect of aerial work of a nature which necessitated low flying. Because of the wording of regulation 191 which defines aerial work operations and private operations as separate classifications, there was some doubt that permits under paragraph 133(3)(b) could be granted for private
operations for purposes such as fence inspections, stock mustering and agricultural flights over land owned by the pilot, and low level aerobatic flights. New paragraph 133(3)(b) empowers the Secretary to grant permits for low flying in respect of private operations or aerial work operations that require low flying.
New sub-paragraph 52(8)(aa)(iii) enables flying training to continue pending the result of any medical examination required. The intention is that student pilots who pass the medical standards not suffer undue delays in the continuation of their training. Presence of an authorised instructor at all times during flight instruction ensures that safety is not compromised.
The amendments to regulations 147A and 150 bring the upper height limit for Visual Flight Rules operations into line with the upper limit under international standards set by the Chicago Convention.
The Statutory Rules came into operation on the date of their notification in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette.