CIVIL AVIATION ACT 1988
CIVIL AVIATION REGULATIONS 1988
CIVIL AVIATION ORDERS
SECTION 95.33
EUROCOPTER EC665 TIGER ARMED RECONNAISSANCE HELICOPTER — FLIGHT TESTING PUBLICATIONS
Section 98 of the Civil Aviation Act 1988 (the Act) empowers the Governor-General to make regulations for the purposes of the Act and in the interests of the safety of air navigation.
Regulation 200.010 of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998 (CASR 1998) provides that a military aircraft undergoing production flight testing or acceptance flight testing (flight testing) is exempt from the Civil Aviation Regulations 1988 (CAR 1988) and CASR 1998 if the conditions set out in the relevant section of Part 95 of the Civil Aviation Orders (CAOs) are complied with.
Military aircraft are defined in regulation 2 of CAR 1988 as aircraft of any part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), including any aircraft that is being constructed for the ADF.
The Department of Defence has entered into a contract for the purchase of Eurocopter EC 665 Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopters. Australian Aerospace Limited (AAL) has project management responsibility for the flight testing of these aircraft. If the flight testing is successful, the ADF will put the aircraft into service. In accordance with CAR 1988, therefore, the aircraft are military aircraft to which regulation 200.010 of CASR 1998 may apply.
In accordance with regulation 200.010, section 95.33 was made to set out the conditions with which the aircraft must comply to be exempt from CAR 1988 and CASR 1998 while undergoing flight testing.
In particular, flight testing must be conducted in accordance with particular ADF and AAL flight manuals and other technical publications and limitations referred to in the CAO.
Section 95.33 was originally made on 12 September 2004 in Civil Aviation Amendment Order (No. 6) 2004, gazetted on 22 September 2004.
On 28 October 2004, AAL notified CASA that AAL’s further consultations with the Department of Defence made it necessary for AAL to modify the list of technical publications in accordance with which flight testing was to be conducted.
CASA has therefore amended paragraphs 3.5 and 3.6 of section 95.33 to include the modified list of technical publications for flight testing of the aircraft.
The Office of Regulation Review advised that no Regulation Impact Statement was required for this CAO Amendment as it was not likely to have a substantial direct or indirect effect on business.
The CAO has been made by the Director of Aviation Safety, on behalf of CASA, in accordance with subsection 84A (2) of the Act.
[Civil Aviation Amendment Order (No. 10) 2004]