EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Civil Aviation Regulations
Requirement under subregulation 222 (1)
Subsection 98 (1) of the Civil Aviation Act 1988 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations for the purposes of the Act and in the interests of the safety of air navigation.
Regulation 5A of the Civil Aviation Regulations (the Regulations) provides that a direction that has the effect of repealing, amending, or otherwise affecting the operation of, anything in a Civil Aviation Order is a disallowable instrument for the purposes of section 46A of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.
Subregulation 222 (1) of the Regulations provides that a new type of aircraft must not be used to carry passengers in a public transport service unless it has passed proving tests in accordance with the Authority’s requirements.
Subsection 15 of section 20.11 of the Civil Aviation Orders (the Orders) sets out the Authority’s proving test requirements.
A new type of aircraft, the Boeing 747–312 is about to be registered in Australia by Ansett International Limited to be used on Ansett’s international passenger routes.
The proving test requirements were satisfied in relation to the Boeing 747–100 type of aircraft before it came into service in Australia. Subsequent models of the Boeing 747, such as the Boeing 747–312, are derivatives of the original Boeing 747–100 type. For this reason, the Authority thinks that it is not necessary on safety grounds for the new type to undergo the full proving tests. Accordingly, the Authority has set out proving test requirement in relation to the Boeing 747–312 type of aircraft in place of the requirements in subsection
15 of section 20.11 of the Orders.
The required test will ensure that half of the aircraft’s exit doors can be opened within the time that half of the exit doors of the Boeing 747–100 type of aircraft were opened during the original demonstration for certification of that type of aircraft under Part 25 of the Federal Aviation Regulations of the United States of America. The test must be conducted in accordance with the requirements set out in Appendix I of section 20.11 of the Orders, other than those requirements that relate to the evacuation of passengers.