Aviation Briefs

Both Boards become a separate entity and the Minister will be able to dismiss them for sustained unsatisfactory performance. Meanwhile, the CEOs of both organisations will be paid at market rates for the first time which may or may not help achieve those targets.

The changes will make it easier for the authorities to raise finance, negotiate contracts and establish joint ventures. They will still be prevented from circumventing their legislation through the use of subsidiaries or partnerships. Assets will have to be revalued every five years which will prevent a repeat of the wayward book entries during the previous cash budgeting regime. The Auditor-General will audit the authorities and report to the Minister and Boards.

The CAA Bill will overcome several ongoing difficulties. The control of the carriage of dangerous goods will be clarified while the offence of endangering life by operating an aircraft recklessly or negligently will be upgraded in significance by inclusion in the Act. The staff are finally being removed from the comfort of the public service while it will become a requirement that the cost to industry of safety measures must be incorporated in the management process. The changes augur well for enhanced responsiveness.

The situation with CAA licence and certificate suspensions will change. At present the twenty eight day suspension allows for investigation of the circumstances. The person can then show cause why the licence should not be varied, suspended or cancelled. The CAA Act presently allows for an appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal during the suspension period. This right will disappear which represents a return to the infamous process operating in the Departmental.

Similarly, the CAA will be protected from claims of economic loss following seizure of aircraft under statutory lien. Most importantly, the FAG will have to pay sales tax from July 1990 while both the FAG and CAA are liable for income tax from July 1991. These are estimated to exceed $30 million per year on current performance. Stamp duties will still be will have to rise given the need for continued reinvestment In aviation infrastructure and stipulated dividends to the Government.

At present the Minister has sixty days to veto any new changes by the two authorities. Once the Bills become law, the Prices Surveillance Authority may examine the proposed charges although the initiation mechanism is not specified. After such a report the Minister then has thirty days to allow or set replacement charges. It certainly gives the Minister more flex1b1hty although the sanction of the Prices Surveillance Authority will insulate the Government from industry criticism.

However, most disturbingly, the changes will exempt the FAG from disclosure of documents relating to the determination of aeronautical charges under the Freedom of Information Act. After the industry consternation in the last few years, this is hardly the formula for improving the client relationship.

Tomorrowland

The ICAO Legal Commission is examining the legal implications of a revolutionary new global navigation and communications system for introduction before the turn of the century. It will extend surveillance over oceans and other areas which cannot be economically covered.

In a simulation study of a large international airport, the new system allowed for a 36% increase in traffic compromise of safety, while the number of conflict situations and aircraft operating costs were actually reduced.

At major airports, voice communications will be VHF and data by SSR Mode S while the Microwave Landing System, now fixed for introduction 1998, will be retained for precision approaches. Elsewhere satellites will relay both voice and data as well as provide the navigation component, including non-precision approaches. Indeed, both the GLONASS and GPS satellite navigation systems will allow global navigation by 1995 with an accuracy of 100 metres laterally and 150 metres vertically. Air Traffic Control (and other traffic) will use pseudo radar displays derived from automatic satellite surveillance of aircraft positions, headings, vertical speeds and meteorological data. Conflict free clearances which accommodate preferred aircraft profiles can be automatically generated by data links which are scheduled to be operational in the mid 1990s. The system will overcome many of the coordination breakdowns inherent in the present system.

The legal ramifications arise because the new design . . radically departs from traditional territorial and air navigation arrangements. Global agreement is required for the system to be viable. National jurisdiction over airspace will be under challenge. The funding and cost sharing formulas for the enormous investment still have to be arranged. Ownership and control of the system will present ongoing division not seen since the debate over international air services after World War II.

Firstly, the International Telecommunication Union needs to reserve sufficient of the satellite frequency spectrum for the system to operate. Already some nations object so a conference in 1992 will thrash out the issue.

Technical specifications require agreement so that compatible data links are available for international flights. The redefinition of Flight Information Regions may require innovative international political and financial arrangements. A conference in 1991 will begin the essential processes of acceptance and cooperation amongst nations. Amongst the options being considered are a new international body to operate the system, bilateral agreements or private contractual arrangements.

An unusual brief for the ICAO Legal Committee is the use of the system for non-safety communications. Presumably the Committee can help pay for the future by finding a formula to allow commercial use of excess capacity in the system.