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IAOPA-Europe
e-newsletter, March 2007
Welcome to the monthly e-news of
IAOPA-Europe, which goes out to 23,000 AOPA members
across the continent of Europe.
This
e-news is made possible by our lead sponsor AERO
Friedrichshafen, Europe's most important general
aviation exhibition, to be held from April 19 to April
22. Get it in your diary now! (See below)
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AOPA Hellas to stage 24th
IAOPA World Assembly
Athens
is to host representatives of general aviation from 66
countries around the world at the IAOPA World Assembly in June
2008.
The International Council of AOPA has
decided to assign the organisation of the next World Assembly
to AOPA Hellas following a lobbying campaign that began at the
115th European Regional Meeting in Warsaw in September 2006.
AOPA Hellas submitted its candidacy to that meeting in a
proposal that was backed by influential sponsors like Air BP,
Aegean Airlines and SETE, the Association of Greek Tourist
Enterprises. It was also supported by the Greek government,
with the Transport Ministry helping officially with the
organisation and the Minister for Greek Tourism Development
Fani Petralia submitting a letter of support. AOPA Hellas also
received the unanimous support of all European AOPAs at that
meeting.
The choice of Greece was confirmed by IAOPA
president Phil Boyer in a letter to AOPA Hellas president
Yiouli Kalafati. In it, he wrote: "I am pleased to inform you
that AOPA Hellas has submitted the winning bid to host the
2008 IAOPA World Assembly in Athens, Greece. Our choice was
made more difficult this time because of the three high
quality proposals submitted, all from Mediterranean states.
However, the decision was based on your proposal's
comprehensiveness, extensive government and sponsor support,
cost controls and overall quality. Plus, I must also say that
your personal enthusiasm, drive and commitment to general
aviation in your country has always impressed me greatly."
Yiouli
said after hearing of the decision: "This event should be
recognised as one of significant importance that will result
in great benefits to general aviation in Greece.
"There
were four basic reasons that the Board of Directors of AOPA
Hellas decided to seek the 2008 World Assembly:
•
To induce the Greek authorities to recognise the value and
contributions of general aviation to transport. •
To utilise the time period between now and June 2008 as a
unique opportunity to introduce general aviation to the Greek
public. • To work with the
Greek authorities for legislative changes that promote general
aviation and provide the necessary financial support. •
To promote the image of Greek airports to other European
countries by making them a friendlier and more affordable
destination for private aviators, which will result in
significant benefits to air tourism and the general economy."
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AOPA Hellas wins on handling
charges
As of 23rd February 2007, following pressure by
AOPA Hellas and individual pilots in Greece, Olympic Airways
Services S.A. (OA), the main handling services provider in the
country, has decided to change policy and charges for airport
ground handling services specifically for general aviation in Greece.
OA
are the sole handling services provider at all regional
airports in Greece since they serve their parent company
Olympic Airlines. The country's five largest airports also
have other handling companies who are even more expensive than
OA.
The situation before the change was as follows.
Handling was compulsory by order of the Greek CAA (HCAA) even
at smaller remote island airports. The charges were O105 for
LGAV, O90 for LGTS and LGIR, O65 for other airports and O53,
O45 and O33 with AOPA Hellas discount. An 18% VAT surcharge
was added to that, and there was a further surcharge for
weekends and night stops.
These charges have been
replaced with a universal charge by OA of O15 +VAT at ALL
Greek airports for ALL GA aircraft, national or international.
The only service that must be provided is marshalling, the
minimum requirement by HCAA. Furthermore, HCAA specifies that
OA services are to be provided only when a) requested by the
pilot or b) where local airport authorities dictate it is
obligatory for the safety of ground operations. This
essentially means that only four or five big airports will
still require acceptance of handling, but yet again this will
be at a much lower charge than before.
Additionally OA
have committed to provide handling services FREE to all GA
flights related to the IAOPA World Assembly 2008 in Greece.
AOPA Hellas is grateful to OA for the WA2008 support.
AOPA
Hellas welcomes the big change in handling operations and
charges and is grateful to OA for finally understanding the
needs of GA in Greece. For years, AOPA Hellas has been
opposing unreasonable requirements and charges for GA which
served only to discourage private and training flight
activities, including international GA tourism in the country.
AOPA Hellas will still fight for a total abolition of handling
charges for light aircraft on private and training flights.
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If you are buying,
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Where is the EC going wrong?
The
European Commission is holding a one-day conference in
relation to its recently produced paper on GA in the Community
on March 8th, writes Martin Robinson. Comments need to be sent
to the commission by no later than 1st April 2007. See www.iaopa-eur.org.
IAOPA has a number of concerns over the emerging European
regulatory environment and will be making these concerns known
to the Commission.
In Europe, there are two parts to
the rule making process:
1)
High Level Essential Requirements (ERs); followed by 2)
The Implementing Rules (IRs).
Once the ERs have
effectively become law, the IR is then developed in order to
enact the ERs. At the time of developing the IR, there is a
requirement for a Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) to ensure
that the IRs meet the intent of the ERs, and that there is a
good appreciation of the impact on the community affected by
the change. IAOPA Europe questions whether it is possible to
produce a meaningful impact assessment across 25 member
states, given the variation in GA activities and national
economies. Not all of the states have joined the Euro (the UK
being one). In a Commission document on RIAs its says that
RIAs are not a replacement for political judgement -
unfortunately it seems that it's the civil servants who are
making the political judgement in some cases.
The EASA
Rules on Maintenance for sub-5700kg aircraft are a case in
point. All member states are required to be in compliance with
the new rules by September 2008, which means that by September
this year industry has to begin transitioning. At a recent
conference it was stated that NPA 14 will go out for
consultation soon for completion by this summer. This
consultation is looking at a 'light' maintenance regime for
sub-2000kg aircraft; however, the work is has barely begun!
Another group which is looking at maintenance organisations
for aircraft that include business jets is being chaired by an
individual from the European gliding community! What thought
goes into structuring these committees? As the IAOPA-nominated
persons on that Group, Mr Bill Taylor of UK engineers de
Havilland Support Ltd found himself taking part in the
Pilot/Owners maintenance committee! There is a great deal at
stake here, and it is important that we get it right. It is
also disturbing that while officials from national aviation
authorities have their expenses refunded by EASA, industry
representatives cannot - we have to fund our own attendance.
In
order to make good rules at the European level there needs to
be a greater use of a combination of good data and better
regulation principles when deciding on new legislation that
directly or indirectly affects European general aviation. But
first of all you need the data, a fact that comes through loud
and clear in the Commission document.
Therefore there
is a need for segmented Impact Assessments so the decision
makers can fully understand the impact on the different
aviation communities. To achieve this there must be a policy
that directs this to happen. Political judgement will be
improved as a result of better information. IAOPA asks that
the following principles be applied:
•
Proportionate: Regulators should only intervene when
necessary. Remedies should be appropriate to the risk posed,
and costs identified and minimised •
Accountable: Regulators must be able to justify decisions, and
be subject to public scrutiny. •
Consistent: Government rules and standards must be joined up
and implemented fairly. •
Transparent: Regulators should be open, and keep regulations
simple and user friendly. •
Targeted: Regulation should be focused on the problem, and
minimise side effects. European
officials need to see GA as an opportunity, and tools such as
RIAs if applied properly will help to deliver a more dynamic
GA community in Europe.
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Update on 8.33 MHz.
While
some people seem to think that 8.33 MHz radio spacing is a
fait accompli and that general aviation has accepted vertical
extension down to lower levels, IAOPA-Europe does not accept
any extension below FL195 as the case has not been proven.
IAOPA-Europe's
deputy vice president Martin Robinson attended a meeting of
the 8.33 MHz steering committee at Eurocontrol headquarters in
Brussels, where it was seen that Eurocontrol and ICAO-Europe's
idea of how to solve the problem was to invite GA to join its
frequency management groups "until they understand the real
problem".
Martin says: "They are fully focussed on
the arguments that are presented in the business case, but we
believe those arguments are weak.
"For now, I would
draw you attention to the letter from NATO on 8.33VEX, where
they offer cooperation, but not before 2020, which would make
8.33 below FL195 obsolete. Eurocontrol's reaction to that
letter was to request confirmation by the member states, or
rather to request a commitment for more money from other
sources for the conversion of military aircraft in favour of
commercial aviation. This is exactly the way we want to pursue
for GA too, if there is no better technical and/or
organisational solution."
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Check out these aerodromes!
AOPA
Italy's website http://www.aopa.it
has added a new feature that will be of great interest to all
IAOPA Europe members, writes AOPA-Italy president Massimo
Levy. Under the 'utilities' menu we have uprated the 'Google
maps' page that allows pilots to visualise satellite images of
more than 10.000 aerodromes around the world.
The
satellite images are obtained thanks to an integration of
Google with the airport geographical coordinates taken from
the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (http://www.nga.mil).
Using the scaling tools on the left of the picture you can
change the size of the image and study the smallest details.
It is possible to search for airports by country or to make
direct searches by inserting the ICAO identifier or FAA host
ID, the IATA ID or the city or airfield name.
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Avoid rip-off Sardinia
The
administration of the Italian Region of Sardinia has decided
to renew the "luxury tax" on aircraft and boats in transit on
the island between June 1st 2007 and Aug. 30th 2007. As
we did last summer, AOPA-Italy invites all IAOPA pilots not to
go to Sardinia, but to choose another Italian destination.
Opposition to the taxes, and lack of organisation, meant that
last summer those who used Sardinian airports were not asked
to pay the tax as no-one was mandated to take the cash.
Airport handling companies did not do it because a public
authority cannot oblige a private company to do something
without paying a fee for the job, and the Civil Aviation
Authority did not do it because the national government was
against the regional tax.
This does not mean that the
region will forfeit the unpaid taxes, because those who did
not pay last year will be chased by the fiscal authorities for
the money. Massimo Levi says: "Be careful, because history
will repeat itself next summer. Neither the handlers nor the
Civil Aviation Authority will ask for payment, but the name of
the aircraft owner will end up in a file and sooner or later
someone will claim the money with all the 'extras' for late
payment - double the due amount plus the legal interest level.
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Now for the good news
The
Italian Civil Aviation Authority has decreed that the supply
of all kinds of aviation fuels is a must for airport handling
companies. This does not mean that avgas will appear on
Italian airports, overnight, by miracle, but certainly we are
on the right track and handling companies will have to do
something if they want to keep their concessions.
There
has also been progress on the problem of airports which have a
PPR requirement and have rejected GA flights on the grounds of
'lack of parking space'. The Italian CAA has issued a circular
letter to all airports informing them that "no flight,
including GA, can be rejected for disembarking/embarking and
refuelling operations up to a couple of hours."
Many
Italian handling companies do whatever they possible can to
get rid of small aircraft at larger airports. Massimo says:
"Please do not forget this right of yours."
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Spain
plans to help GA
AOPA-Spain is heavily involved in a
government plan to promote general aviation, in a country
which has hitherto had a negative attitude to the industry. After
much prompting, the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce
has ordered the Aeronautical Department of the CDTI (Center
for the Development Tecnologico and Industrial) to come up
with a plan for the promotion of GA. The plan, currently at
the drawing-board stage, will suggest ways of improving the
landscape for aviation in Spain. The CDTI has asked for
AOPA-Spain data on the present situation of the general
aviation sector in Spain, as well as the Association's
opinions on what measures need to be adopted to improve
matters.
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AFIS system for Spain?
The
Spanish DGAC is evaluating the possibility of introducing
Aerodrome Flight Information Service (AFIS) information to
Spanish airfields and has asked AOPA-Spain for its input on
the criteria to follow for its implementation. AOPA-Spain
believes that for aerodromes with fewer than 50,000 movements
per annum, AFIS systems are especially beneficial.
Introduction of AFIS must be accompanied by an education
programme for GA pilots on the disciplines involved.
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AOPA France changes
Please
note that AOPA France has moved from Le Bourget to: 6 rue
Galilee 75116 Paris. Phone (33) 1 47 20 09 11 and Fax
(33) 1 47 20 09 22.
They also have a new website, www.aopa.fr.
Webmail is aopa@aopa.fr, or
if you want to join, email the technical manager direct on acuroy@aopa.fr.
Alain
Curoy is the new technical director of AOPA France. A pilot
for 30 years, he is a vintage aircraft enthusiast.
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Fly-in to France
Every
AOPA member is welcome to join AOPA France for their annual
general assembly on April 28th and 29th. They will be
visiting vineyards in Bordeaux and the Dassault aviation
factory, an en route control centre and more. Their assemblies
are renowned for good food, wine and hospitality. If you'd
like to go along, contact the organisational staff on (33) 1
47 20 09 11, or by fax on 1 47 20 09 22.
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Egypt
Air Rally
Pilots are reminded that AOPA Egypt is
organising the fifth annual Egypt Aero Rally in April,
offering all European pilots an opportunity to fly in this
magnificent country with minimum difficulty and maximum safety
and enjoyment.
The 'Pyramids 2007' rally will
run from April 14th to 24th and full details can be obtained
from AOPA-Egypt chairman Ahmed Maher through their website www.aerorallyes-egypt.com.
The website is written in English, French and German.
It's
an opportunity not to be missed. Good luck!
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SPONSOR'S MESSAGE
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If you have any comments on
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