Explanatory Statement
Civil Aviation Regulations 1988
Direction — carriage of cabin attendant in hot air balloon
Subsection 98 (1) 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 208 (1) of the Civil Aviation Regulations 1988 (CAR 1988), CASA may give directions about the number of operating crew required to be carried on an aircraft, having regard to the safety of air navigation. CASA gave directions in Civil Aviation Order 20.16.3 (CAO 20.16.3). Subparagraph 6.1 (a) of CAO 20.16.3 provides, among other things, that aircraft in charter or regular public transport operations and carrying more than 15 but not more than 36 passengers must carry a cabin attendant.
This instrument is a direction under subregulation 208 (1) of CAR 1988 that cabin attendants are not required on certain hot air balloons operated by Balloon Aloft Pty Ltd. The instrument applies to the Kavanagh B-350 hot air balloon with nationality and registration marks VH-AKH designed to carry not more than 24 passengers. Because of the design of the balloon and its basket, and subject to certain conditions, CASA does not consider that safety will be compromised by the absence of an aisle or if the balloon does not carry a cabin attendant during operations when carrying not more than 24 passengers.
There are safety conditions. Where more than 15 passengers are carried, 2 suitably trained ground crew must be in attendance to supervise and assist in loading and unloading passengers. These ground crew personnel must be located at either end of the basket and the operator’s operations manual must set out the course of training they have undergone to qualify for the role of ground crew.
Other conditions require that the passengers must be equally distributed between the balloon’s 4 compartments and that all passengers must be able to hear the pilot’s instructions. It is also a condition that the provisions of Civil Aviation Order 20.16.3 that apply to the balloon must be complied with, except subparagraph 6.1 (a) and paragraph 7.1.
Not all of the provisions of CAO 20.16.3 can be applied to balloons. Paragraph 7.1 relates to the provision of an aisle where there is a cabin attendant. The particular balloon is not required to carry a cabin attendant and paragraph 7.1 probably has no practical or legal application to balloons of this kind. To avoid doubt, however, the application of paragraph 7.1 is expressly excluded from the conditions.
Legislative Instruments Act
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. Under regulation 5A of CAR 1988, if CASA has issued a Civil Aviation Order (CAO), and CASA later issues a direction that affects the operation of the CAO, the later instrument is declared to be a disallowable instrument. The instrument affects the operation of subparagraph 6.1 (a) of CAO 20.16.3. The instrument is, therefore, a legislative instrument for the purposes of section 5 of the LIA. It is subject to tabling and disallowance in the Parliament under sections 38 and 42 of that Act.
Consultation
Consultation under section 17 of the LIA has not been undertaken in this case. The instrument is specifically issued at the request of the operator to whom it applies. A similar instrument would be issued to any appropriate operator with similar balloons who could meet the same safety conditions.
The instrument commences on the day after it is registered and stops having effect at the end of 31 May 2009.
The instrument has been issued by the Manager Operations, General Aviation Operations Group, a delegate of CASA, under subregulation 7 (1) of CAR 1988.
[Instrument number CASA 183/06]