EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
CIVIL AVIATION ACT
CIVIL AVIATION REGULATIONS
INSTRUCTION UNDER REGULATION 174A RELATING TO THE CARRIAGE OF TRANSPONDERS BY AIRCRAFT OPERATING IN CONTROLLED AIRSPACE
Section 98 of the Civil Aviation Act 1988 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations for the purposes of the Act and in relation to the safety of air navigation.
Under subregulation 174A (1) of the Civil Aviation Regulations (the Regulations), CASA may issue instructions specifying the equipment that must be carried on aircraft that operate under the Visual Flight Rules (‘V.F.R.’). Under subregulation 174A (1C) of the Regulations, an instruction issued under subregulation 174A (1) is a disallowable instrument for the purposes of section 46A of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.
Instrument number CASA 207/98 required that:
(a) an aircraft must be fitted with a serviceable Mode A and Mode C secondary surveillance radar transponder before the aircraft undertakes a V.F.R. flight within radar coverage in Class A airspace, Class B airspace, Class C or Class D airspace; and
(b) an aircraft fitted with an engine driven electrical system capable of continuously powering a transponder are to be fitted with a serviceable Mode A and Mode C secondary surveillance transponder when operating under the V.F.R. in Class E airspace.
Aircraft operating in general aviation aerodrome procedures control zones were permitted to operate without a transponder.
The reference to Class D airspace in instrument CASA 207/98 was unnecessary and has been deleted for, while some Class D airspace is within radar coverage, carriage of a transponder is not mandatory for operations in Class D airspace because procedural control is exercised in that airspace.
The instrument has been issued by the Director of Aviation Safety, on behalf of CASA, under section 84A of the Act. The instrument took effect on 25 August 1998.
[INSTRUMENT NUMBER CASA 316/98]