Explanatory Statement
Civil Aviation Regulations 1988
Exemption — Surveillance Australia Pty Ltd operations into Lord Howe Island
Legislation
Under subsection 98 (1) of the Civil Aviation Act 1988 (the Act), the Governor-General may make regulations for the Act and in the interests of the safety of air navigation.
Under regulation 308 of the Civil Aviation Regulations 1988 (CAR 1988), 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 (3) of CAR 1988 provides that CASA can impose conditions necessary in the interests of safety.
Subregulation 235 (2) of CAR 1988 provides that CASA may, for the purposes of ensuring the safety of air navigation, give directions setting out how to determine the maximum take‑off and landing weights of an aircraft. These are given by paragraph 4.1 of Civil Aviation Order 20.7.1B (CAO 20.7.1B) which provides for the determination of take-off weight limitations, paragraph 5.1 which provides for the determination of landing weight limitations and paragraph 11.1 which provides for the landing distance required.
Amendments of CAO 20.7.1B allows the runway end safety area (RESA) at the Lord Howe Island aerodrome to be taken into account when calculating the length of runway available for take‑off.
A RESA is an area symmetrical about the extended runway centre-line, primarily intended to reduce the risk of damage to an aeroplane undershooting or overrunning the runway. Generally, a RESA cannot be taken in account in the length of runway available for take-offs. Its bearing strength is often less than the bearing strength of the runway.
At Lord Howe Island, the RESAs are constructed to an equivalent standard to the runway. It is, therefore, acceptable for the departure end RESA to be used for take-offs, and is a safety enhancement that provides for more runway length than would otherwise be available.
The exemption allows the RESA to be used for this purpose. It also contains particulars of the relevant runway 10/28 and requirements to ensure the safety of operations under the exemption.
Legislative Instruments Act
The exemption is a legislative instrument for section 5 of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 (the LIA). It is subject to tabling and disallowance in the Parliament under sections 38 and 42 of that Act.
Consultation
Consultation under section 17 of the LIA has not been undertaken in this case. The instrument only renews a previous exemption issued to the operator (CASA EX45/09) which expired at the end of May 2011.
The instrument commences on 1 June 2011. It stops having effect at the end of May 2013.
The exemption has been made by a delegate of CASA under subregulation 7 (1) of CAR 1988.
[Instrument number CASA EX56/11]