EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
CIVIL AVIATION ACT 1988
CIVIL AVIATION REGULATIONS 1988
SUBREGULATIONS 99AA (5) AND 174A (3)
APPROVAL FOR CERTAIN GLIDERS TO FLY UNDER THE V.F.R. WITHOUT A SECONDARY SURVEILLANCE RADAR TRANSPONDER
Section 98 of the Civil Aviation Act 1988 (the Act) empowers the Governor-General to make regulations for the purposes of the Act and in the interests of the safety of air navigation.
Subregulation 99AA (5) of the Civil Aviation Regulations 1988 (CAR 1988) provides that CASA may give directions about the use of a class of airspace by aircraft engaged in flights under the Visual Flight Rules (V.F.R.) or the Instrument Flight Rules. CASA has given such directions in section 52.1 of the Civil Aviation Orders (the CAOs).
Paragraph 1.2 of section 52.1 of the CAOs provides that in Class A/RVSM airspace (airspace with a reduced vertical separation minimum for aircraft) the essential RVSM equipment of an aircraft includes a secondary surveillance radar transponder (SSRT) that has an altitude-reporting system that can be switched to operate from either of two independent altitude measurement systems on board the aircraft.
Subregulation 174A (1) of CAR 1988 provides that CASA may issue instructions relating to the SSRT equipment that must be carried on an aircraft before it undertakes a V.F.R. flight. Subregulation 174A (3) of CAR 1988 provides that CASA may give permission for aircraft to be flown under the V.F.R. although not equipped with SSRT equipment that may be required under subregulation 174A (1).
Gliders do not normally fly in Class A airspace (which includes high altitude airspace) and they are not equipped with SSRT because they do not have an adequate power source on board. However, following an agreement with Airservices Australia (AA), the Canberra Gliding Club (CGC) conducts high altitude flights in Class A airspace in accordance with 2 permissions issued by CASA.
This instrument revokes and replaces those permissions. In substantially the same terms it gives permission under subregulations 99AA (5) and 174A (3) for pilots in command of gliders, who are members of the Gliding Federation of Australia (GFA) and who operate from Bunyan Airfield in the Snowy Mountains area, to operate in Class A airspace without SSRT equipment for the purposes of those glider flights.
The instrument is subject to compliance with conditions set out in Schedule 1. The flights must be conducted in accordance with the operational requirements of AA and CASA. The pilot in command must be a member of the GFA, have received and understood a briefing about the flights from the Chief Flying Instructor of the CGC, or his or her delegate, and carry and use a VHF radio to make broadcasts in accordance with regulation 99A of CAR 1988. The pilot in command must keep on his or her person, during any flight and for a limited period before and after any flight, a copy of the Letter of Agreement entered into between the CGC and AA for the conduct of high altitude glider flights.
Regulation 5A of CAR 1988 provides that where CASA has issued a CAO, and subsequently gives a permission under CAR 1988 that affects anything in the CAO, the permission is a disallowable instrument for the purposes of section 46A of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901. The instrument would have been disallowable under regulation 5A because it affects the requirement to carry SSRT equipment in accordance with paragraph 1.2 of section 52.1 of the CAOs.
Under subparagraph 6 (d) (i) of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 (the LIA) an instrument is a legislative instrument if declared to be a disallowable instrument under legislation in force before the commencing day of the LIA.
As a legislative instrument, this instrument is subject to tabling and disallowance in the Parliament under sections 38 and 42 of the LIA.
Consultation
Consultation under section 17 of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 has not been undertaken. The instrument revokes and replaces instruments that dealt with high altitude glider operations in substantially the same terms.
Registration under the Legislative Instruments Act 2003
The instrument has been lodged for registration under section 25 of the LIA together with a copy of this explanatory statement.
The permission starts having effect on 9 June 2005 and stops having effect at the end of May 2007.
The instrument has been issued by the Acting Executive Manager, Aviation Safety Compliance, a delegate of CASA.
[Instrument number CASA 198/05]