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Keith Manch
Tēnā koutou,

It would be remiss of me to start this column without acknowledging the realities of the Alert Level 4 lockdown we once again have found ourselves in.

Just days after the Government began outlining an approach for how we can reconnect with the world, many of us found ourselves once again homebound with the only trips out of the house for most of us being daily walks or rare trips to the supermarket. And of course there are people continuing to work in essential roles in the aviation sector , such as those helping to keep vital air freight links running, working to maintain EMS operations, and indeed some of our own teams, including our frontline Avsec officers.

I know that these lockdowns and the broader effects of COVID-19 continue to hit the aviation community harder than most, with these periods of ongoing uncertainty being just as hard to navigate as they were last time around.

Our teams at the CAA appreciate that while we are locked down and at a higher alert level it can be difficult for operators and participants to meet upcoming regulatory deadlines for things like certification, licensing and medicals.

That’s why this week we’ve reinstated the regulatory relief measures our teams first put in place during lockdown last March. This package includes a range of initiatives related to certification and licensing which will help prevent certificates and licensing which would have otherwise have been renewed at this time from lapsing due to the constraints of Alert Level 4 (and Level 3 when we move down the levels).

Please see our website for more information about the regulatory relief package.

Setting our path for coming years

Since the last CAA Briefing went out in March there have been a number of important milestones at the Civil Aviation Authority.

In June we welcomed David Harrison to our leadership team as our new Deputy Chief Executive Aviation Safety. David has previously served as our Principal Aviation Examiner, Licensing and Standards Manager, and most recently as Certification Manager. Make sure to read David’s initial observations from his time in the role so far in the item below.

Over the past couple of months we’ve also released two of our key accountability documents – our Statement of Intent (covering 2021-2026) and our Statement of Performance expectations (which covers what we’ll achieve in the 2021/22 year).

Although from afar documents like these can seem a bit dense, they play an important role in setting the direction and objectives of public sector organisations like the CAA. And to be fair, these documents do use a bit of public sector language, but there’s a good reason for that -  it helps the Government compare apples with apples when they’re looking at the planning and reporting documents from various agencies.

So what’s the main change in these new documents? Firstly we’ve put our values at the heart of these documents. As an organisation we’re working to be truly values-based, so it’s important our values feature prominently in our accountability documents. These values are:
  • Collaboration
  • Professionalism
  • Transparency
  • Integrity
  • Respect
Another key change is the inclusion of three new ‘pathways’ (areas we’re focusing on) which will help us deliver our vision of a safe and secure aviation system. These pathways are:
  • Leadership and Influence;
  • Active Regulatory Stewardship;
  • Professional Regulatory Practice.
So what does that all mean?

Well with Leadership and Influence it’s all about our teams working to influence positive safety and security behaviours in the civil aviation system. This pathway also includes the work we do to ensure NZ is keeping up with its international aviation safety and security obligations, and that we’re doing our bit to help out across New Zealand’s transport sector.

Our Active Regulatory Stewardship pathway focuses on our teams at the CAA taking an active, ongoing role in helping to shape New Zealand’s aviation regulatory system. It means we acknowledge that the system needs to be continually monitored and upgraded to ensure it remains fit for purpose. Examples of this include:
  • Supporting the Minister of Transport’s policy and rules programme;
  • Helping with the development and planning for the implementation of the new Civil Aviation Bill (you can read more about the main features of the Bill below);
  • Working to enable the development and use of new aviation technologies.
Finally, the Professional Regulatory Practice is all about getting the basics right – making sure as the regulator we’re maintaining appropriate standards as we allow people and organisations to enter the aviation system. This area also includes making sure we’re effectively investigating accidents and occurrences (and sharing safety lessons as they come to light and providing for people to be held to account for their actions where appropriate) and that our Aviation Security Service teams are keeping passengers secure through their airport screening services.

It may seem a bit academic, but fundamentally this all supports our push to operate as an intelligence led and risk based modern regulator, where our teams are supported to make well informed decisions in the interests of aviation safety and security, while keeping our participants and stakeholders well informed and engaged in the process so that they can meet their duties and responsibilities.

Ngā mihi
Keith Manch, Director of Civil Aviation and Chief Executive

Early reflections from our new DCE Aviation Safety

David Harrison joined our leadership team as Deputy Chief Executive - Aviation Safety in June. Three months into the role, David reflects on the priorities for the Aviation Safety group.

This role, and indeed the work of our Aviation Safety group is all about safety. It’s about ensuring that the industry operates to the various rules and regulations that apply to it.

Aviation is an interesting industry because as the regulator our teams at the CAA control the entry of people into the system, monitor their performance during their time in the system, and then we control their exit.

Because we have more contact with our participants than many regulators do (as we issued almost them all of them with licenses, medicals and various certificates) there’s a different dynamic in the aviation industry.

Our participants have a lot more to do with the CAA than participants in a range of other industries, and although at time that can lead to some challenges, on the whole this extra contact gives both the aviation sector and our teams at the CAA a unique opportunity to work through safety and security issues as they arise.

We also face unique challenges associated with the rapid development of technology in the aviation context and the emergence of New Zealand as a highly desirable location for companies to test emerging aerospace technologies, particularly in the Canterbury region.

Our teams are working closely with the Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment at how New Zealand’s laws, regulations and policies in the medium term will be able to best support the safe integration of technologies such as remotely piloted or autonomous aircraft into our airspace and civil aviation system more broadly.

But in the short term there is already strong demand on our certification teams to support the current development and testing of new technologies, generally through the Part 102 rules which are highly flexible as long as operators can demonstrate core safety outcomes will be met. We are receiving increasingly complex certification requests, including those relating to space operations, the development of autonomous vehicles, and the testing of unmanned aerial vehicles beyond visual line of sight.

It’s a challenging but exciting time for our teams working in this area, and we’ll have more to share on this front in coming months as we continue to certificate a range of different technologies and concepts of operation.

Tremendous progress on Safety Management System certification

For me the biggest priority in the role so far has been supporting our teams to complete the initial round of SMS certification. During the first lockdown last year we granted an extension to operators who had yet to complete their SMS certification, and in light of the current lockdown we will be granting one further extension for those operators who we have not yet conducted a site visit to in relation to their SMS.

Over the past few months the general aviation sector and our CAA Aviation Safety teams have made great progress on completing the last remaining SMS certifications. Our teams are now working through the final 22 certifications, and although 22 still sounds like a fair few organisations, this is out of about 400 aviation organisations in New Zealand which will have each had their Safety Management System certified.

Although the ongoing responsibility for SMS certification will sit with our Organisation Certification unit, the workload for this initial SMS certification has been spread across the organisation. Without the help of other operational units and a range of experienced staff from across the CAA, we would have a considerably larger number of certifications still to complete.

The progress made with SMS certification over the past few months is a prime example of our CAA teams living our values, particularly collaboration, professionalism and respect.

Without our teams collaborating and working across siloes, we would have struggled to be on track to complete all SMS certifications by the ‘end date’ for initial certification of 1 February 2022.

And the way our people have gone about these SMS certifications has been a real credit to the CAA and its introduction has been a huge learning process for the CAA and the industry.  So, it’s been encouraging to hear positive feedback from operators about their experiences with our teams as they’ve been through the certification process, with our inspectors’ professionalism and respectful approach helping make the process run smoothly.

As we approach the last lap of this particular Olympian task, thanks again to everyone across the industry (and our teams at the CAA) who have been involved with the development and implementation of SMS in New Zealand. It hasn’t always been easy, but these systems will make a meaningful difference to aviation safety in New Zealand for years to come.


 

Survey on advisory circulars - starting 1 September 2021


We’re keen to get your feedback on the presentation and style of advisory circulars (ACs).
 
From Wednesday 1 September 2021 we’re launching a short survey, which gives you the chance to provide your views on how useful ACs are to you. When you go to the page for a specific AC, you’ll be prompted to complete a survey with three questions and two fields for your comments. This survey is voluntary, but we hope you’ll take the time to complete it, as it will help us make ACs easier to use. It should only take five minutes to complete.
 
Your ratings and comments will give us a better understanding of how clear ACs are to read, whether the format works for you, and whether you’re able to get the information you need from them.
 
We’re not seeking feedback on the content of ACs in this survey. However, if you notice incorrect content, email web@caa.govt.nz, noting the number of the AC and the error.
 
Read advisory circulars under the ‘rules’ section on the website.
 
 

New AIP website now live

Regular visitors to the AIP New Zealand site will have noticed quite a change in the look and feel of the site in the last couple of months.

Our Information and Technology team partnered with Aeropath (part of Airways) on a project to update the Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP) website.

One of the concerns being addressed with the update was that under the old site, Google would continue to show old charts which caused a potential flight safety risk.

With the changes we’ve made to the site this will no longer be an issue as Google will no longer be able to display outdated charts.

Other changes included moving to a more modern and secure Silverstripe content management system (like our aviation.govt.nz website), an updated look and feel, new search functionality and the addition of a mobile friendly version.
 

It’s certainly a significant step forward when you look at the old version of the AIP:



ADS-B Grant Scheme hits $3 million paid out

The government backed, CAA led, ADS-B Grant Scheme has now paid out over $3m to claimants who have equipped their aircraft with ADS-B. A total of 1056 claims have now been approved.

The scheme continues to grow, with 1431 applications and 1091 claims having been received by the end of July. However with almost 1700 aircraft in total equipped with ADS-B, more applications are expected in the coming months.

For further information check out the ADS-B website, including the Grant Scheme page, or contact ADS-B Grant Scheme Technical Advisor Tom Gormley.
 


Vector archive now available


 You can now read all Vector issues from 1998 to 2020 in our online Vector magazine archive.



Click here to see the Vector archive.



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