The Civil Aviation Safety Authority is believed to be battling with the question of requiring medical certificates for private operations in controlled airspace (CTA).
CASA has maintained for several years that pilots operating in CTA would always need Class 1 or Class 2 medical certificates, but the requirement has been brought under scrutiny by the projects to permit PPLs to fly on self-declared medical standards (Class 5) and to grant Recreational Aviation Australia's (RAAus) pilots access to CTA.
In the June 2023 CASA Briefing newsletter, Director of Aviation Safety and CEO Pip Spence said the Class 5 medicals project was due by the end of the year, but they were putting a priority on it and as such could bring it forward. As it stands, CASA is expected to release further consultation papers on CASR Part 67 (medicals) within weeks.
The concept of permitting RAAus pilots into CTA should have been completed by now, but it would appear to have been lumped in with the CASR Part 103 project, which is also due at the end of 2023 according to the GA Workplan timeline.
The converging timelines mean that CASA needs to make a decision on the need for pilots to have medical certificates to operate in CTA soon. If the requirement stays for PPLs, removing it for RPC holders would create contrary policy that would be hard to reconcile. If the medicals requirement is also applied to RPCs, it could nobble the concept of allowing them into CTA given that most RAAus pilots fly without medicals.
When questioned about the potential restrictions that could apply to RPCs operating in CTA, a CASA spokesperson outlined several things that were under consideration.
"We’re still developing policy in this area, but a Class 2 medical certificate is required for pilots operating in controlled airspace under current arrangements and we are looking at this requirement as part of our medical review," the spokesperson said.
"Other controls are still to be considered, but could include things like pilot training/competency, aircraft equipment and aircraft performance."
RAAus CEO Matt Bouttell told Australian Flying that he believed his members would be able to fly in CTA without needing the Class 2 medical that is currently required of PPLs.
"As far as the medical is concerned, RAAus has been operating safely with our self-declared system for 40 years, so much so that CASA is looking at emulating this," he said.
"The Part 67 Self-declared medical Technical Working Group is currently working through self-declared medicals. On this basis I am confident that RAAus pilots will have access to CTA without the need for a Class 2 pilot medical."
If Bouttell and RAAus get their wish, it will be very hard to see how CASA could continue to demand that PPLs still require a medical in CTA.
The Pilot Medical Declaration (PMD) used in the UK and BasicMed in the USA both have restrictions on operations without medical certificates, but neither of them bar operations in CTA.
In March this year, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released a review report into BasicMed after three years of operation. The report showed "no difference in accident risk between flights conducted by pilots operating under BasicMed and flights conducted by pilots holding third-class [Class 2 in Australia] medical certificates."
The report also found that BasicMed had no impact on the slow decline in general aviation in the USA, which was touted as one of the major benefits of self-declared medicals.