EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
CIVIL AVIATION REGULATIONS 1988
AUTHORITY UNDER REGULATION 151
PERMISSION UNDER SUBREGULATION 250 (2)
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.
Regulation 151 of the Civil Aviation Regulations 1988 (the Regulations) provides that persons or objects are not to be picked up by an aircraft in flight except as authorised by CASA and in accordance with any specified conditions.
Regulation 250 of the Regulations prohibits (amongst other things) the carriage of persons on the undercarriage of, or on or in anything attached to, an aircraft except during any flight in respect of which CASA has given permission for persons to be so carried. CASA’s permission may be given subject to specified conditions.
Section 29.11 of the Civil Aviation Orders (CAOs), enacted under those 2 provisions of the Regulations, presently permits helicopters to conduct winching and rappelling operations subject to the conditions specified in that section. Subparagraph 5.2 (a) of that section imposes restrictions on advanced operational training in winching and rappelling operations carried out in confined spaces. Those operations are to be carried out clear of obstructions, and the winching of persons is not permitted.
The 5 AOC holders mentioned in Schedule 1 of this instrument (the approved operators) operate helicopters for the purpose of carrying out rescue operations. During those operations, rescue teams are regularly required to lower a crewman or doctor down to an injured person. This involves skillful coordination between all members of a team, which can only be achieved through training in conditions similar to those obtaining in actual rescue operations. Such training is presently precluded, however, under the restrictions imposed by subparagraph 5.2 (a) of CAO 29.11. Best practice also requires that a member of the rescue team be positioned during a rescue operation on the undercarriage of the helicopter. There is doubt whether this is presently allowed under CAO 29.11.
The purpose of this instrument is to allow persons to be picked up by, and lowered from, helicopters used by the approved operators in the course of training operations, and to allow persons to be carried on the undercarriage of those helicopters in winching and/or rappelling operations and training operations, to the extent that those actions are not permitted under the Order. The instrument also provides that the pick up, or any carriage, of persons under the instrument is subject to compliance with:
• the provisions of section 29.11 (other than subsection 5) of the CAOs; and
• the provisions of the operator’s operations manual relating to training in winching and/or rappelling operations.
This instrument revokes an earlier instrument issued in similar terms. The earlier instrument was revoked because it applied only in respect of the 4 AOC holders carrying out rescue operations at the time it was issued. It was necessary to extend the same authorisation and permission enjoyed by those operators to another AOC operator that had recently entered into a contract for the carriage of similar operations.
As this instrument affects the operation of section 29.11 of the CAOs, it is, under regulation 5A of the Regulations, a disallowable instrument for the purposes of section 46A of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.
This instrument was signed by the Acting Director of Aviation Safety, on behalf of CASA, under section 84A of the Act. It came into effect on gazettal.
[Instrument Number CASA 558/00]