Explanatory Statement
Civil Aviation Regulations 1988
Instructions — for navigation of aircraft on V.F.R. flight
Legislation
Section 98 of the Civil Aviation Act 1988 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations for the Act and the safety of air navigation.
Under subregulation 174D (1) of the Civil Aviation Regulations 1988 (CAR 1988), CASA may issue instructions in relation to Instrument Flight Rules (I.F.R.) flights specifying, among other things, the method by which an aircraft is to be navigated and how a positive position fix is to be obtained. Under subregulation 174D (3A), if an instruction is not issued in the form of a Civil Aviation Order (CAO), it is a disallowable instrument for the purposes of section 46A of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.
Instructions
The instrument applies to the aircraft operated by Fugro Airborne Surveys Pty Ltd, (the operator). It contains instructions which the operator must follow if using GPS navigation equipment to obtain a positive position fix when conducting V.F.R. flight over the sea at or below 2000 feet above mean sea level. Under the instrument, the operator is instructed to comply with a series of instructions set out in Schedule 1, including the standards applicable to the GPS, flight crew competency and procedures.
Legislative Instruments Act
Subregulation 174D (3A) of CAR 1988 declares instructions that are not in a CAO to be a disallowable instrument. Under subparagraph 6 (d) (i) of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 (the LIA), an instrument is a legislative instrument for section 5 of the LIA if it is declared to be a disallowable instrument in legislation in force before the commencement of the LIA. The instructions are, therefore, a legislative instrument and are subject to tabling and disallowance in the Parliament under sections 38 and 42 of the LIA.
Consultation
Consultation under section 17 of the LIA has not been undertaken in this case. The instrument has been issued at the request of the operator to enable it to satisfactorily carry out its operations.
Duration
The instrument commences on the day after it is registered and stops having effect at the end of 31 January 2012.
The instrument has been made by a delegate of CASA under subregulation 7 (1) of CAR 1988.
[Instrument number CASA 06/11]