- Steve Creedy
- From: [FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']The Australian [/FONT]
- September 17, 2010 12:00AM
THE Civil Aviation Safety Authority hopes to have rules drafted by the end of the year to tighten coverage of training providers.
The 2007 Melbourne Jetstar incident and a QantasLink hard landing in Darwin drew attention to the fact that there are no CASA regulations or orders covering third-party training providers and this made the chain of responsibility unclear. Under the new rules, air operators will have an obligation to ensure training and checking of pilots is conducted in accordance with the operator's approved standards.
"In short, the operator of an aircraft will have the responsibility to make sure their crews operate their aircraft to the procedures specified in their operations manual, regardless of who is conducting the training and checking," a CASA spokesman said.
"Currently there are detailed requirements for the training and checking of pilots engaged by holders of air operators certificates set out in the civil aviation regulations and orders.
"Until the new regulations are introduced, CASA is ensuring air operators who engage pilots who have undertaken third-party training are aware of the need to ensure training is in accordance with their operations manual.
"It should be noted that regular public transport operators are required to have an active safety management system that should identify any issues that could arise from third-party pilot training."
CASA expects the rules to be ready by year's end.
This is well overdue; the background music is "Believe it if you like" supplied by 'Sometimes' for your general edification and amusement.
.