August issue of GA magazine is out In the August issue you can read about all about the IAOPA World Assembly, the new IAOPA lobbyist in Bruxelles, some states opposing the PPL instructor license, learn more about aerobatics and much more. Enjoy the August 2010 Issue Online

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EASA issues complete Part M manual

EASA has recently published a complete Part M manual both as a printed handbook and as a PDF. The handbook contains a consolidated version of the applicable Part M regulation and the associated AMCs. AOPA strongly welcomes this initiative by EASA. AOPA has for several years pointed to the fact that publication of EU regulation is almost impossible for the aviation end user to keep track with, since new regulation is published as fragmended ammendments and not in a consolidated version, like the JAR system used to provide. Also the new publication combines both the hard law and the associated acceptable means of compliance (AMCs). It does not make the regulation any less complex and it does not solve many of the problems that AOPA sees in Part M, but at least it makes the regulation more accessible and that in itself is also a step forward. AOPA looks forward to seeing similar publications published for other areas of EASA regulation. Download the Part M Manual by clicking here

EASA consultation on OPS ended

Consultation on EASA's OPS-NPA closed on the last day of July, and IAOPA has made almost 50 critical observations on the proposals. The response document has been collated by Jacob Pedersen of AOPA-Denmark, who sat on the OPS.001 Working Group which supposedly wrote the document. Jacob has often pointed out that despite this, new proposals kept creeping in of which OPS.001 had no knowledge. Among the most important responses is the fact that the document is so badly written that it is almost impossible to follow. To find the answer on a single regulation, the pilot of a non-commercial complex aircraft must look up nine different places in the document. The document is written to satisfy lawyers, not to explain the rules, and EASA's online tool is no substitute for clear regulation. In addition, regulations should always be proportional, and those which require one-man operators of small aircraft to hire consultants to audit their operations should be abandoned. Regulations which would require non-commercial operators to carry greater fuel reserves than commercial flights should also be revisited. Other fundamental problems IAOPA has highlighted include the requirement to carry oxygen above 10,000 feet, which would force pilots in the mountains to fly dangerously low in areas where they have operated safely for years; the proposals that VFR aircraft should carry certain equipment and conform to restricted minima when there is no demonstrated safety gain; the new regulations' repudiation of the concept of 'VFR on top' would be a dangerous retrograde step; accelerate-stop distances as set out in the proposals are meaningless for single-engine aircraft for which the concept of a 'V1' speed is meaningless; PLBs should be an acceptable alternative to ELTs; and the proposal that helicopters should be forbidden from flying beyond autorotational distance from land without having floats fitted is nonsense in the absence of any safety case for it. The full list of IAOPA observations on the OPS NPA can be read in the following three documents. Comments on NPA 2009-02a - introduction Comments on NPA 2009-02b - general requirements Comments on NPA 2009-02c - organizational requirements

EU Parliament adopts GA friendly resolution The European Parliament has given general aviation its biggest boost in modern times with the adoption of a resolution which guides the EC and member states to adopt a raft of principles which would preserve, foster and promote GA across Europe. Resolution 2008/2134(INI) sets out the importance of keeping legislation in proportion, recognising the differences between CAT and GA in setting fees and charges, ensuring that GA has access to airports and airspace and accepting that GA has a vital role to play in Europe's transport infrastructure. The resolution, adopted by a huge margin - 524 votes in favour, 74 against and six abstentions - now forms the basis of the European Commission's approach to general aviation. The Commission is in turn the boss of EASA, which will find it very difficult to ignore the new landscape for GA. In addition, national AOPAs can now use it in negotiations with their own CAAs to ensure that GA is treated fairly. The full document can be seen by clicking on this link. It includes 35 clauses, each of which represents a major breakthrough for GA, addressing nearly every major issue impacting on general aviation today; access to airfields and airspace, proportionality in regulation and charges and appropriate technology requirements. It calls on the EC to recognise the important role that GA plays in the training of professional pilots. The resolution had its genesis in a meeting four years ago between European Aviation Commissioner Daniel Calleja di Crespo and a three-man IAOPA delegation at which the need for action on European legislation affecting GA was discussed. MEPs like Timothy Kirkhope from the UK and Arunas Degutis from Lithuania, both pilots, have been active in canvassing support. IAOPA is having the document translated into every European language and distributed to authorities across the continent.

Mandatory Mode S Carriage leads to breakdown

As of April 4'th 2009 the Dutch Authorities has banned alle VFR flights in a large area around Schiphol airport and mandated that the transponder be turned OFF(!) when flying into the neighboring Lelystad airport. The stated reason is that the large number of Mode S echoes from VFR traffic has caused the radar screens of Schiphol apprach to be cluttered with targets causing a break-down for ATC. The break-down comes just a few days after Mode S transponder was mandated for all VFR flights in Dutsch airspace. This could be one of the worst examples we have seen so far of how new equipment is mandated without thinking through the consequences. Aircraft owners have first been forced to spend fortunes equipping their aircraft with expensive Mode S transponders, and now are banned out of the airspace because the ground equipment cannot handle the load. IAOPA for years have arguing that the requirement for mode S for all VFR traffic would lead to cluttering of radar screens. This is now a proven fact - but unfortunately the cost for this excercise has been enormous. Hopefully this is an important lesson learned for aviation authorities in other countries and for Eurocontrol who is proposing to mandate Mode S for VFR traffic all over Europe. The link to the dutch AIP can be found here

First phase of European Air Traffic Control Project SESAR ends successfully

Hardly any of the insiders of the European air traffic control had believed that it would finish successfully: SESAR, the European commission’s project to develop a masterplan for a uniform air traffic control system in Europe. Too many other projects with the same goal had failed because of various resistances, but SESAR supplied in May 2008 after nearly 3 years just-in-time all working papers, called “Deliverables". Thus the definition phase of SESAR has ended, now the implementation phase will follow up to the year 2025. The European General Aviation was represented in SESAR by IAOPA. Altogether IAOPA had to invest 28 man/months into the work on the project, which were paid however by the European commission and Eurocontrol, a new fact for such projects. For the work on this project IAOPA could win the Danish consulting company SCANAVIA under the leadership of Val Eggers, former president of both the Danish civil aviation authority and AOPA Denmark. What did SESAR give General Aviation? GA is surely also negatively affected by the completely fragmented planning and controlling of air traffic control in Europe. Equipment programs (as for instance mode S) are not clearly coordinated in order to create benefits and to increase system performance. Therefore IAOPA is very pleased that SESAR will make a substantial contribution to overcoming these shortcomings and that SESAR also considered the needs of General Aviation in its „Concept Of Operations". These are above all: Continued access to all air space, as well as The supply of traffic and weather information to increase flight safety. Information which is so far only available for large airplanes. But there are some problems SESAR could not solve. In the definition phase clarity could not be reached in regard to two central points: Consensus on one " Common Technical Vision" , which describes the avionics standards the airspace users must equip with and how the probably negative cost/benefit ratio for General Aviation can be overcome. It is positive in any case that these problems were clearly pointed out and that now solutions are looked for: One idea would be that the beneficiaries financially compensate the disadvantaged. One thing was clearly pointed out: One size just doesn´t fit all! What is good for Airbusses or Boeings doesn’t fit for a Cessnas or Diamonds. IAOPA is looking forward to continue the critical dialogue with all groups involved in the SESAR Joint Undertaking. Details concerning the SESAR project you find here: www.sesar-consortium.aero.

In Memoriam Ernst Hauff

One of AOPA Belgiums longstanding Board members, delegate to the IAOPA (EUR) Regional Meetings and IAOPA World Assemblies and experienced pilot with home bases in Belgium and Switzerland has passed away on 22nd July 2008: Ernst Georg Heinrich Hauff, born on 1st April 1933, joined the Eurocontrol Agency in September 1964, spent his entire career at the Headquarters and retired in September 1996. Ernst, a passionate private pilot who hardly missed Annual Meetings, World Assemblies or Regional Meetings, was a very active and successful representative defending the interests of General Aviation. His brilliant technical advice was respected; his interventions on the national or the European level were effective and his keen humour always opened the door for many long evenings in the bright light of General Aviation. The values he preserved, his openness and his desire for adventures are encouraging qualities showing us the way to think far beyond the horizon where he took off for the last leg.

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EASA extension of scope finally adopted The new 'Constitution' for aviation in Europe is now a reality. The regulation that was published March 19'th is called Regulation (EC) No 216/2008 and will have significant consequences for everybody involved in European aviation. The regulation extends the scope of EASA to also cover third country aircraft, operational rules and flight crew licensing. It contains several important definitions such as commercial operation, and complex motor-powered aircraft. Further it introduces a sub-ICAO leisure pilot license for aircraft up to 2000 kg for which the medical may be issued by a general medical practitioner. On the operational side the regulation (annex IV) specifies the essential requirements for operational rules that will be part of any pilots curriculum together with a set of implementing rules which are yet to be published by EASA. Operationally the biggest change for non commercial aviation will be for operators of non-commercial aircraft which fall under the definition of a complex aircraft. Such non commercial operators - even one man operations - in the future must have a management system with internal reporting procedures, a safety programme, an operations manual and a fatigue management system. The non commercial operator is not required to hold an air operators certificate (AOC) but must submit a declaration in which he specifies how he complies with the regulation. A complex aeroplane in this context is any turbojet aircraft or any turboprop aircraft with more than one engine, any aircraft that requires more than one pilot, is certified for more than 19 seats or has a maximum take-off mass exceeding 5700 kg. For example a King Air, an Eclipse VLJ or a Diamond D-Jet will all be complex whereas most of the single engine turboprops such as the TBM 850 or the Pilatus PC-12 will be non-complex. A very unfortunate implication of this definition as pointed out by IAOPA from the beginning of the process, is that corporate operators might be compelled to switch from twin-engine turboprops like the King Air to single engine equivalents like the TBM 850. By doing away with one engine they can get a larger and faster aircraft and avoid all the new bureacratic hazzle associated with operating a complex aircraft. This does not appear to do anything good for safety! Another challenging part of the regulation is the definition of commercial operation which implies that trial lessons and flight training contrary to now will fall in the commercial category. That clearly will have a very significant impact on flying schools that will have to satisfy a whole new set of requirements and of course must rewrite all their manuals and documentation. A lot depends on the actual implementing rules that will specify the requirements in detail. The essential regulation requires that the implementing rules take into account 'the scale and scope of the operation' and IAOPA is represented in the EASA working groups for OPS and FCL rules comitted to making sure that the small non-commercial operator is not forgotten in the big commercial game. EASA's implementing rules are expected to go into consultation already within a few months and the whole package will enter into force no later than April 8'th 2012. Read the full text of Regulation (EC) No 216/2008