CAA Revising Maintenance Legislation

The proposed CAA review of regulations affecting aircraft maintenance is the first such review to reach the stage of being unveiled to the industry. It envisages the introduction of a completely revised system of maintenance legislation to progressively replace the directives contained in former ANOs 100. 5; 100. 53-56 inclusive; and 104. 0-5 inclusive. That is, all former Air Navigation Orders, now outdated, relating to the maintenance of different categories of aircraft and the issuing of various Certificates of Approval.

The CAA points out that the obsolescent status of these orders was originally recognised as long ago as 1985, when the then Department of Aviation circulated a Regulatory Proposal to the industry envisaging a substantial number of measures for updating existing ANOs. As a result of the industry response to this and subsequent circulars, a new maintenance order ‘package’ consisting of 21 proposed replacement ANOs was developed. However, with the creation of the CAA and the consequent need for “a more responsive and flexible legislative framework to meet the challenge of economic deregulation”, the intended changes were scrapped in favour of a completely revised approach to aircraft maintenance regulation.

Fundamental to the new administrative structure is a two tier legislative system under which the former ANO concept will be eliminated, and mandatory requirements will be specified only in the CivilAviationAct and in CivilAviation Regulations (formerly the Air Navigation Act and Air Navigation Regulations). New regulations which encompass what was previously contained in the ANO system (though not in such detail) are at present being developed. These will take into account both current ICAO practice and the earlier Australian industry response, thus incorporating a maintenance philosophy providing the flexibility now seen to be desirable – a goal not possible under the former, more rigid Departmental system. According to the CAA, the new regulations will also reflect:

• Internationally accepted attitudes to aircraft maintenance;

• Increased reliance on manufacturer’s systems;

• Increased self-regulation within the industry;

• Increased flexibility for the maintenance of GA aircraft;

• A reduction in regulatory constraints to the minimum necessary for safety, and the elimination of unnecessary, conservative and ambiguous requirements.

The CAA claims its further objective is to simplify both the understanding of its maintenance requirements and the obligations of aircraft operators in meeting them. At the same time it is seeking to eliminate unnecessary processes, together with any unjustifiable additional Australian standards previously imposed over and above accepted international practice. Under the new provisions, the industry will be required to accept greater responsibility for safety standards by its own assessment of manufacturer’s service documentation.

Overall, it isapparent that though the proposed changes will not greatly affect current maintenance practice for transport category aircraft and the upper echelon of aircraft in the under 2,700kg category, they will provide a more liberal and practical climate for the maintenance of small GA and privately operated aircraft. Under the revised regulatory system, aircraft on the Australian register will be classified into two categories, Type A and Type B, each category specifying different maintenance inspection requirements:

• Type A will include all transport and turbine powered aircraft, togetherwith other types authorised byAir Operators Certificates for commercial use. Exceptions to the latter case will apply to aircraft with less than nine seats and those used only for flying training;

• Type B will embrace all other aircraft on the register, with the exception of manned balloons.

As at present, Type A aircraft will be maintained by a CAA approved organisation to an approved system of maintenance, the requirements remaining basically unchanged from those under the former ANO system.

In the case of Type B aircraft however, the previous requirement fora three-yearly major inspection will no longer apply, the revised regulations allowing owners to chose from three different maintenance options:

• An owner’s schedule of maintenance, approved by the CAA;

• The manufacturer’s maintenance instructions;

• A 100-hourly or annual inspection check list which includes the requirements set out in an updated equivalent of the former ANO 100. 5. 1, Appendix IV, ‘Periodic Inspection Schedule’, to be identified in the new regulations as the ‘CAA Maintenance Schedule’.

It is understood that maintenance organisations carrying out work on Type B aircraft will not have to be approved by the CAA. Owners will also be permitted to ‘stagger’ major items on the maintenance schedule, thus spreading costs more evenly over inspection periods. Whichever of the three options is chosen by an aircraft owner, however, its schedule will be required to reflect the mandatory component lifing, replacement times and structural inspections contained in the manufacturer’s maintenance instructions.

In place of the former ANOs spelling out the ramifications of Air Navigation Regulations, the CAA is developing a Civil Aviation Advisory Publication to provide guidance in the interpretation of the new maintenance regulations. But as this will take time, the introduction of the new regulations will be supported bya series of Airworthiness Advisory Circulars, the drafting of which has already begun.

A revised aircraft logbook is also being developed for use with the new system. This will be a loose leaf document with sections for airframe, engines and major components, and will replace the separate logbooks previously kept for airframes, engines and propellers.

Overall, it is expected that the proposed changes will be welcomed by the industry. Under the old airworthiness system there was a tendency to impose standards somewhat arbitrarily, regardless of comparable overseas practice, the thinking justifying such action going something like: ‘Australia has the best civil aviation standards in the world. Therefore the Department knows best’. Now, if the CAA is good at its word, life will be easier for both approved maintenance organisations and owner-operators. Certainly we have come a long way from the days when every aircraft required a major inspection annually for the issue of its CofA and was out of service for several weeks in every year!

Airworthiness staff within the CAA point out the changes have come about partly because of the frustration they have experienced in carrying out their primary task of industry surveillance – much time has been taken up handling paper work resulting from the endless concession applications generated by the archaic ANO system. Some industry talk on the other hand attributes the changes to the ‘new broom’ approach touched off by the appointment of Mr Dick Smith as Chairman of the CAA.

Do we perceive a chink in the old Departmental armour here? It will be interesting to see in what other areas reason prevails over the former doctrine of infallibility.