EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
CIVIL AVIATION ACT 1988
CIVIL AVIATION REGULATIONS 1988
DIRECTIONS UNDER SUBREGULATION 235(2)
EXEMPTION UNDER REGULATION 308
USE OF ADVISORY MATERIAL ON WET OR CONTAMINATED RUNWAYS
Section 98 of the Civil Aviation Act 1988 empowers the Governor-General to make regulations.
Subregulation 235 (2) of the Civil Aviation Regulations 1988 (the Regulations) provides that the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) may give directions setting out the manner of determining a maximum weight for an aircraft, in respect of a proposed flight, that the gross weight of an aircraft must not exceed at take-off or landing.
Subregulation 235 (4) provides that an aircraft must not take off, or attempt to take off, if its gross weight is greater than its maximum take-off weight or a lesser weight determined in accordance with subregulation 235 (2).
Subregulation 235 (6) provides that, except in an emergency, an aircraft must not land if its gross weight exceeds its maximum landing weight or a lesser weight determined in accordance with subregulation 235 (2).
Under subregulation 308 (1) of the Regulations, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) may, among other things, exempt persons from compliance with specified provisions of the Regulations while they are in, on or otherwise associated with the operation of, a specified aircraft or a specified type or category of aircraft. Subregulation 308 (3) provides that such an exemption is subject to the aircraft or persons complying with any conditions specified by CASA as being necessary in the interests of safety. Under subregulation 308 (4) such an exemption is a disallowable instrument for the purposes of section 46A of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.
The instrument contains directions under subregulation 235(2) for determining a maximum weight that an aircraft with a maximum take-off weight of more than 5,700 kg that is employed in regular public transport operations must not exceed while taking off or landing on a contaminated or wet runway. It also contains exemptions necessary to allow the use of particular data for that purpose.
Paragraph 4.1, in subsection 4 of section 20.7.1B of the Civil Aviation Orders, (the Orders) provides that the maximum weight that an aeroplane to which the section applies may not exceed at take-off is the least of the weights determined in accordance with subparagraphs (a) to (d). Under subparagraph (a), one of the weights is a weight calculated by reference to the take-off distance and accelerate-stop distance required. The calculation has to be made in accordance with paragraphs 6.1 and 6.2 in subsection 6.
Paragraph 5.1, in subsection 5 of section 20.7.1B, provides that the maximum weight that such an aeroplane may not exceed at landing is the least of the weights determined in accordance with subparagraphs (a) to (c). Under subparagraph (a), one of the weights is a weight calculated by reference to the landing distance required, having regard, among other things, to the surface conditions at the time of landing. The calculation has to be made in accordance with paragraph 11.1 in subsection 11.
The prescribed methods of calculating the required distances make no allowance for the use of advisory or supplementary material provided by the aircraft manufacturer dealing with aircraft performance on runways contaminated by water, slush, ice or snow. The use of such material is only permitted in relation to private operations, under paragraph 6.4, and private and aerial work operations, under paragraph 11.3, of section 20.7.1B.
As a result, regular public transport operators are unable to use such material even though it may make allowance for the adverse effect on aircraft performance of unsuitable conditions.
The directions set out in Schedule 1 allow regular public transport operators of aircraft with a maximum take-off weight of more than 5,700 kg to use advisory or supplementary data. Schedule 1 applies only to the calculation of accelerate-stop and take-off distances and the landing distance required. They operate by modifying the directions in subsections 4, 5, 6 and 11.
One condition for use of the supplementary data is that it must have been approved by a delegate before its use can take place under the directions. This ensures that inappropriate supplementary data is not referred to.
Under regulation 5A of the Regulations, a “prescribed direction or exemption” that affects the operation of anything in an Order is a disallowable instrument. The instrument is “a prescribed direction or exemption” that affects the operation of subsections 4, 5, 6 and 11 of section 20.7.1B.
EXEMPTIONS UNDER REGULATION 308
The instrument also contains exemptions to allow the use of supplementary material. One exemption allows an operator to use material that is not included in an operations manual, in spite of subregulation 215 (2). A second exemption also exempts a member of the operations personnel of the operator from compliance with subregulation 215 (9) of the Regulations, in order to permit the use of supplementary data under the exemption instead of material contained in the operations manual. A third exemption exempts a pilot of an aircraft from compliance with regulation 138, to permit use of material not in the flight manual. The exemptions only extend to the use of supplementary material that has been approved.
The instrument has been issued by the Director of Aviation Safety on behalf of CASA in accordance with subsection 84A (2) of the Civil Aviation Act 1988.
[Exemption Number: CASA EX21/2002]