Explanatory Statement
Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998
Revocation of exemption
Legislation
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.
Validation flights for terminal instrument flight procedures
Under subregulation 173.095 (1) of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998 (CASR 1998), a certified designer must ensure that each terminal instrument flight procedure (TIFP) designed under the designer’s procedure design certificate (PDC) is validated by a CASA pilot in accordance with any applicable standards set out in the Manual of Standards Part 173 — Standards Applicable to Instrument Flight Procedure Design (the MOS).
Under paragraph (a) of the definition of CASA pilot in subregulation 173.095 (2) of CASR 1998, a CASA pilot means a pilot who is an officer of CASA. Under paragraph (b) of the definition, the CASA pilot must be someone who meets the standards in the MOS for carrying out a validation flight check (VFC).
Under paragraph 6.1.2.4 of the MOS, CASA must arrange for a CASA officer, who is a qualified validation pilot, to conduct the flight validation. Under paragraph 7.1.5.3 of the MOS, the type of aircraft to be used for the flight validation of a TIFP is to be approved by the CASA validation pilot. Under paragraph 6.1.2.5 of the MOS, the certified designer must provide an aircraft of a type approved by the CASA officer conducting the flight validation.
Exemption from CASR 1998
Under subregulation 11.160 (1) of CASR 1998, CASA may grant an exemption from compliance with a provision of CASR 1998. Under regulation 11.160 (3), CASA may grant an exemption of its own initiative. Under subregulation 11.170 (3), in deciding whether to grant an exemption, CASA must regard as paramount the preservation of an acceptable level of safety. Under subregulation 11.205 (1), CASA may impose conditions on an exemption if this is necessary in the interests of the safety of air navigation. Under regulation 11.210, it is an offence to fail to comply with a condition of an exemption.
Under regulation 11.225 of CASR 1998, an exemption must be published on the World Wide Web. Under subregulation 11.230 (1), an exemption ceases on the day specified within it (but no longer than 2 years after its commencement), or if no day is specified, 2 years after commencement.
Hart Aviation Services Pty Ltd
Hart Aviation Services Pty Ltd (Hart Aviation), based in Melbourne, was granted an exemption from the requirements to have its TIFP validated by a CASA pilot because CASA does not have readily available sufficient CASA officers with appropriate flying qualifications to carry out required TIFP VFCs. Hart Aviation design certificate has been withdrawn so the exemption has been revoked.
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. Regulation 11.215 of CASR 1998 declares an exemption of this kind to be a disallowable instrument. The revocation of the exemption is, therefore, a legislative instrument and it is subject to tabling and disallowance in the Parliament under sections 38 and 42 of the LIA.
Consultation
Consultation under section 17 of the LIA has not been undertaken in this case. The instrument revokes an exemption granted to Hart Aviation because its certificate has been withdrawn.
The instrument commences on the day after it is registered.
The exemption has been made by a delegate of CASA in accordance with subregulation 7 (1) of CAR 1988.
[Instrument number CASA EX10/09]