From the Director of Civil Aviation, Keith Manch
Welcome to our first CAA Briefing for 2024. We’re just two months in and the year is off to a flying start (pun intended!).
The level of activity across all of our functions touching ‘traditional’ aviation sectors, emerging aviation technology and in passenger travel, continues to stretch our ability to respond in a timely way, from certification to security screening. We appreciate your patience and note that in certification matters, early engagement with us is one of the best ways to smooth the path.
Against this background, there are two big ticket items in focus this year with the funding review and preparing for the new Civil Aviation Act to come into effect in early 2025. Both will involve engagement across the industry in various ways including with the wide range of industry representative groups and with key groups such as the Aviation Community Advisory Group and the Security Stewardship Group.
In addition to the day-to-day work and these two big ticket items, our focuses this year are on continuing to increase our levels of industry engagement; advancing our work in developing our new technology platform, which enables our various regulatory functions and our new online portal My Aviation; and enhancing the way we gather, analyse and use information to ensure we are focused on things that matter most from a safety and security perspective and so we get the balance right between compliance requirements and safety and security outcomes.
Several of the items in this Briefing reflect those focuses, including the update on the Work Together, Stay Apart safety campaign; the invitation to meet some of our people at Warbirds over Wanaka; and the reference to new guidance on reporting bird incidents. This new guidance for bird-strike reporting follows discussion with industry about updating our reporting requirements for near-miss bird incidents at uncertified airfields, and agricultural, remote, and private airstrips. While there are no plans to change Part 12, we are seeking to respond in a way that reduces any unnecessary regulatory burden.
I recently had the privilege of visiting Singapore for the Changi Aviation summit, alongside our Deputy Chief Executive of System Practice and Design. During this event we signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) which opens new avenues for the exchange of technical knowledge and safety information and builds upon the foundations of the partnership laid in 2007. The intent of this is to provide for more efficient and effective regulatory recognition between New Zealand and Europe, and reduce the regulatory burden, while maintaining appropriate safety levels in areas.
I look forward to a busy year ahead and meeting personally with as many people in our aviation community as I can.
Keith Manch
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Civil Aviation Act 2023 implementation update
Progress continues towards 5 April 2025 when the Civil Aviation Act 2023 comes into effect. Our implementation website page is regularly updated, and two aspects of the work are highlighted below.
Drug and Alcohol Management Plans (DAMPs)
The Act requires DAMP operators to have drug and alcohol management plans, including random drug testing for employees undertaking safety sensitive work, approved and in place by 5 April 2027. An Advisory Circular and draft rules will be published for formal consultation in March-April this year. Further information is on the CAA website: Drug and alcohol management.
Rules realignment - tell us how you use the rules web pages
All 50 Rule Parts are being rewritten to align with the 2023 Act. Most of the changes are minor, to ensure that the wording is in line with the new Act and to improve clarity and intent. The draft rules will be available for the sector to see before they are finalised, later this year.
As a result of the changes, CAA’s website Civil Aviation Rules pages will undergo a lot of changes and this provides an opportunity for us to revise how those pages function.
We'd like to hear how you use those pages so we can make sure they suit the needs of everyone accessing that information. Please take a couple of minutes to complete an anonymous survey to help us determine how we develop them.
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Show your commitment to the Work Together, Stay Apart safety campaign
Since launching our Work Together, Stay Apart safety campaign in June 2023 we’ve been encouraged by a positive response that shows there are many in the sector clearly committed to increasing safety at unattended aerodromes. To acknowledge that commitment we’ve established a statement of commitment for individuals and organisations across the general aviation sector to sign.
By signing the Statement of Commitment you’ll set an example for your peers in the aviation community. We’ll maintain a public list of signatories. Learn more here: Statement of Commitment.
Coming up in 2024 for Work Together, Stay Apart
- Two new Good Aviation Practice (GAP) videos about the lookout and complex circuits
- Seminar series addressing complex circuits
- Aerodrome users’ seminar series to discuss part 91 responsibilities
- A new GAP booklet called How to be an aerodrome manager at a non-certificated aerodrome
Visit our website for updates and event details: aviation.govt.nz/WTSA
In case you missed it…
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Tāwhaki runway opens
The Tāwhaki National Aerospace Centre near Christchurch continues to develop towards operational capability.
In January 2024 we issued a conditional determination on the establishment of an aerodrome at Kaitōrete Spit under Civil Aviation Rule Part 157 (Notice of Construction, Alteration, Activation, and Deactivation of Aerodromes) for Tāwhaki aerodrome. This is a major milestone for Tāwhaki and the result of intense engagement with the Authority under the Emerging Technologies Programme, as part of the range of activity that our Emerging Technology Unit and various teams in the Aviation Safety Group and the Aviation Security and Infrastructure Group are doing.
Tāwhaki is a developing area of aviation infrastructure and we remind participants to regularly check NOTAMs, AIP Supplements and Chart updates to ensure they are aware of any implications to their operations in the area.
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My Aviation - open for Part 65 licenses (Air Traffic Controllers)
Our new web portal MyAviation can now be used to apply for air traffic controller licences. Already introduced for pilots and LAMEs, this is part of how we are improving our online services.
The portal will guide you through the process with prompts about what documents you need to provide and by sending you notifications to help track the status of your application through the process. You'll also be able to view what licences you hold and access documents you've previously uploaded.
You'll need to register to get your MyAviation account set up. The registration process requires two factor authentication. We recommend signing up from your desktop with your smartphone nearby. To get started and for more information, visit our online services page.
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Meet us at Warbirds Over Wanaka
Warbirds Over Wanaka is fast approaching at Easter and we’re excited to announce that we’ll have a team present, thanks to the NZ Aviation Federation who are hosting us in their marquee.
If you’re attending the airshow, please pop by to chat with us at any time.
We’re also pleased to invite licensed & certificated participants, and those who work for certificated organisations, whether commercial or recreational, for breakfast on us at the show. RSVP is essential!
Learn more and sign up here: Join us for breakfast at Warbirds Over Wanaka
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Advisory Circulars: have you read the latest?
Since the beginning of 2021 69% of the 166 published ACs have been either updated or revoked. That’s updates to a total of 106 ACs, some more than once! And revocation of eight obsolete ACs to remove out-dated information from our website.
You can find all current Advisory Circulars here
In the October to December quarter alone, we updated 37 ACs, including most of the Part 61 series (nine of them) and all 23 in the Part 66 series. In the current quarter to date, we have updated 15 ACs, including the 14 Part 66 series ACs. This means all of the Part 65 (air traffic controllers) and Part 66 (LAMEs) ACs and all relevant Part 61 (pilots) ACs have been updated to reflect the move to online applications and to fix errors. All but one of the 14 Part 61 series ACs have been updated.
The current state is a huge change from 2020, when most of the ACs had not been updated for some time, in some cases decades! It’s an achievement that’s thanks to a concerted effort from CAA subject matter experts and feedback from the sector. We thank everyone who has given their time to this process – it’s clear that a lot of thought goes into the feedback we receive which is greatly appreciated.
We've recently been developing three new ACs on drug and alcohol management plans, passenger safety briefings and aerodrome security, respectively. We hope to bring them to the sector for consultation in 2024 and look forward to your feedback.
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Significant changes to AC109-1, RACAs – Certification
Our Security Regulation Unit have been working with the Guidance team on a significantly updated revision of AC109-1 Regulated Air Cargo Agent – Certification. This has benefited greatly from input and feedback by participants. Revision five provides enhanced guidance on effective oversight of known customers in New Zealand's air cargo and mail secure supply chain, to further strengthen New Zealand’s security supply chain. It also provides additional tools and materials to support compliance with this rule part by supplying a security programme template that RACAs can use for the validation/revalidation and ongoing monitoring of known customers.
Advice on strengthening relationships between RACAs and known customers aligns with a recent CAA update to our widely available education materials on enhancing security culture – see the next item for more information.
CAA hopes that RACAs share this information with their known customers and use the updated AC to review and make updates as required. We extend our thanks to those participants and individuals who took the time to provide feedback to enhance this AC.
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Enhancing your organisation’s security culture
A positive security culture underlies everything we do to keep aviation safe and secure, and security is everyone's responsibility.
We’ve recently released a security culture guide with practical tools to help your organisation enhance security culture. The guide covers eight key components where positive influence and action can help enhance your organisations security culture:
- Security leadership
- Positive work environment
- Security training
- Understanding your threat and risk environment
- Staff vigilance
- Reporting systems and incident response
- Information security
- Measuring your effectiveness
Visit our website to view the interactive guide or download it as a PDF:
Enhancing your organisation's security culture
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Our expectations for operators carrying dangerous goods
Over the past two years we’ve invested significant effort and resources into assisting industry with the carriage of dangerous goods, particularly for Part 135 and 137 operators. The impact of these efforts depends on industry to take up the information and training provided, and to be proactive in compliance.
For many operators an amendment to the exposition is required and many opt to wait until their next 5-year renewal to do so. This compromises safety and our expectation is that operators be proactive in amending their exposition at the earliest opportunity. Accordingly, our inspectors will take a close look at dangerous goods procedures contained in expositions when conducting other certification tasks, and operators are expected to have up-to-date, compliant dangerous goods manuals that are relevant to their organisation.
Compliance with Part 92 is a significant step towards your responsibilities under the HSWA and the HSNO regulations: not complying with Part 92 (and the ICAO Technical Instructions) is most likely a breach of all three regulatory requirements. Your exposition must be up-to-date and a continual process of improvement applied. Our dangerous goods experts are available to assist you with drafting a dangerous goods manual tailored to your organisation, as the starting point to an exposition amendment.
All personnel involved in the handling of dangerous goods must have a current dangerous goods certificate issued in accordance with Part 92. The CAA training courses whilst popular often have space for more participants. You can find upcoming dates on our website:
Dangerous goods course
If you would like some assistance please contact dg@caa.govt.nz.
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Guidance for reporting bird incidents
Some of you have asked us to change the requirements of reporting near-miss bird incidents, as outlined in Part 12. While there are no plans to change Part 12, we have provided guidance to clarify what we require from you, when you report a bird incident.
The guidance explains that pilots have discretion in reporting near-miss bird incidents. It applies to flight operations at uncertified airfields, agricultural, remote, and private airstrips.
The need to report bird strikes remains unchanged, as does the requirement to report on near-miss bird incidents at controlled airfields and those with active or passive bird control measures.
Visit our website to read the full guidance:
Reporting bird incidents
Also refer to our Good Aviation Practice booklet:
GAP booklet: Bird hazards [PDF, 774KB]
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The latest in safety education
Our safety education team has been busy as always! See below recent updates for educational publications. Order our educational resources here:
Order publications
Recent revisions:
Vector magazine:
Read recent Vector articles online:
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