Explanatory Statement
Civil Aviation Regulations 1988
Exemption — operations by recreational aircraft in Wide Bay Air Show temporary restricted areas
Legislation
Section 98 of the Civil Aviation Act 1988 (the Act) empowers the Governor-General to make regulations for the Act and in the interests of the safety of air navigation.
Subregulation 308 (1) of the Civil Aviation Regulations 1988 (CAR 1988) provides that CASA may exempt aircraft, or persons in, on, or otherwise associated with the operation of, the aircraft, from compliance with specified provisions of CAR 1988. Subregulation 308 (2) provides that before making an exemption, CASA must take into account any relevant considerations relating to the interests of safety. Subregulation 308 (3) provides that CASA may make an exemption subject to any condition specified in the exemption as being necessary in the interests of safety.
This exemption is required because of the decision to declare areas in the vicinity of Bundaberg aerodrome to be temporary restricted areas (TRA) under regulation 6 of the Airspace Regulations 2007. The purpose of this declaration is to enable the operation of certain sport and recreational aircraft in the vicinity of Bundaberg aerodrome during the Wide Bay Airshow to be held in July 2009.
Sport and recreational aircraft operate at, and in the vicinity of, Bundaberg aerodrome and have done so for a long time. This exemption operates to allow some of those aircraft to continue to operate in the TRA, subject to their meeting the conditions specified in Schedule 1. The aircraft to which the exemption applies are aircraft operated in accordance with Civil Aviation Orders (CAO) 95.10, CAO 95.32 and CAO 95.55. These CAOs are, in fact, exemptions from various provisions of CAR 1988 that apply to the aircraft mentioned in them, recognising that because of their construction and performance they could not meet all the requirements of CAR 1988. CAO 95.10 applies to privately-built, single-place ultralight aeroplanes. CAO 95.32 applies to weight shift controlled aeroplanes and powered parachutes. CAO 95.55 applies to a variety of aircraft that have to meet 1 of the different sets of criteria set out in section 1 of that CAO. The aircraft have to be registered with Recreational Aviation Australia Incorporated (RAA) or the Hang Gliding Federation of Australia Incorporated (the HGFA).
All the CAOs provide their exemptions subject to compliance with sets of conditions relating to a variety of matters. In all 3 CAOs, 1 of the conditions, subparagraph 5.1 (e), prohibits flights in active restricted or prohibited areas.
This exemption allows the relevant aircraft to operate in the TRAs in the vicinity of Bundaberg aerodrome subject to compliance with all the other conditions in the CAOs. There are also additional conditions in Schedule 1 that have to be met by the aircraft and are conditions for all other aircraft operations in the restricted area. All the aircraft have to be fitted with a radio capable of two-way communication with Air Traffic Control and Certified Air/Ground Radio Service. The pilot in command must hold a pilot certificate with a radio operator endorsement. He or she must comply with procedures published in NOTAMS and applicable to the Wide Bay Airshow.
Legislative Instruments Act
Subregulation 308 (4) of CAR 1988 declares an exemption to be a disallowable instrument. 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. 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
CASA has consulted with the RAA, the HGFA and the air display organiser. The terms of the exemption have been agreed to and published in the Air Display documents.
The instrument commences on 3 July 2009 and stops having effect at the end of 5 July 2009.
The instrument has been made by a delegate of CASA under subregulation 7 (1) of CAR 1988.
[Instrument number CASA EX52/09]