CASA CEO and Director of Aviation Safety today announced measures designed to relieve the burden on operators during the coronavirus crisis.
Charter operators and flying schools are currently experiencing difficulty as tourism demand around the country drops and flying lessons are canceled to comply with social distancing conventions.
Revenue streams have been drying up forcing companies to lay off pilots and ground aircraft, prompting calls for the government and governement agencies to do what they can to support the industry through the crisis.
"In recognition of these difficulties," Carmody said, "we are putting in place various general exemptions for a number of CASA authorisations or permissions, which are designed to proportionally manage safety risks while providing relief."
The new measures include:
- Air Operator's Certificates (AOC) and Part 141/142 certificates will be extended through an administrative process by six months
- pilots and air traffic controllers will be able to exercise the privileges of their licences for six months after any medical certificate expires. Conditions on medical certificates will continue to apply
- pilots who have a current flight review or proficiency check that expires after 1 March 2020 will be able to continue to use all the privileges of their licences for a further three months after it expires. PIlots will need to apply to extend these arrangements beyond the three months
- Operators will have relief from Part 61 proficiency checking and flight review as well as training and checking requirements up to 30 June 2020. CASA is developing further relief measures.
"In addition to the exemptions listed above, we’ll be putting some general exemptions in place to cover dangerous goods, drug and alcohol management procedures and emergency procedures," Carmody said. "Our decisions are designed to make it as easy as possible for you to continue current operational activities while ensuring aviation safety is maintained and operational risks are managed."
CASA is also developing measures aimed at providing support for maintenance organisations.