EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
CIVIL AVIATION REGULATIONS 1988
DIRECTION UNDER SUBREGULATION 235 (7)
USE OF MOBILE TELEPHONES AND HAND HELD PERSONAL DATA ASSISTANTS DURING REFUELLING
Subsection 98 (1) of the Civil Aviation Act 1988 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations for the purposes of the Act and in the interests of the safety of air navigation.
Subregulation 235 (7) of the Civil Aviation Regulations 1988 provides that CASA may, for the purposes of ensuring the safety of air navigation, give directions with respect to the method of loading persons and goods (including fuel) on aircraft.
Subsection 4 of section 20.9 of the Civil Aviation Orders was made under subregulation 235 (7) and sets out CASA’s directions in relation to the loading of fuel on aircraft with a maximum seating capacity of 20 or more. The directions include a requirement in sub-subparagraph 4.2.2 (a) (iii) that fuel is not to be loaded onto the aircraft unless persons who may be on board, or entering or leaving the aircraft, have been instructed not to use electrical equipment. They also include a requirement in subparagraph 4.2.2 (b) that all persons observe that instruction.
Subparagraph 4.4.3 (b) contains a requirement that a person must not operate electrical equipment within 15 metres (50 feet) of the aircraft’s fuel tank filling points, vent outlets or ground fuelling equipment unless the equipment complies with Appendix I to the Order and has been inspected.
Directions have been issued to vary the effect of these provisions, in order to allow the use of mobile telephones and hand held personal data assistants (PDAs) in the cabin, or the vicinity of certain aircraft, while refuelling is taking place.
Under the directions, mobile telephones and PDAs may be used in the cabin of a turbine-engine aircraft with a maximum seating capacity of 20 or more with the permission of the pilot.
Permission to use mobile telephones or PDAs must not be given unless the operator of the aircraft has ensured either that radio frequency emissions will not affect aircraft systems or that procedures are in place to correct, before engine start, any effect that the emissions may have. The operator must have established procedures for the use of mobile telephones and PDAs in the cabin and included them in the operations manual.
Mobile telephones and PDAs must not be used if a propulsive engine of the aircraft is running.
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 under legislation in force before the commencement of the LIA.
As a legislative instrument, it is subject to tabling and disallowance in the Parliament under sections 38 and 42 of the LIA.
Consultations were undertaken as part of the proposed Part 91 of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998.
The direction has been issued by a delegate of CASA. It commences on the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments and stops having effect at the end of June 2008.
[Instrument number CASA 167/05]