NVIS Technical Working Group
CASA have been planning for upcoming industry engagement on Night Vision Imaging Systems (NVIS). Part of this will be via the establishment of an NVIS Technical Working Group (TWG). The AFAP will contribute to this TWG and be represented by Helicopter Portfolio chair Matt Neilsen in the meetings.
Part 138 Airwork CASA Consultation
CASA recently consulted on a policy proposal to allow Part 138 aerial work certificate holders to carry firefighting personnel to and from a location in the vicinity of a fireground in rotorcraft. The issue is that many of these operators do not meet pax carriage regulatory requirements and can’t do so without adhering to other CASR Part regulations. CASA sought to include extra obligations within the Part 138 reg suite to allow carriage for these types of personnel.
The AFAP largely supported the proposal but outlined concerns where an equivalent level of safety wasn’t being met by some aspects of the proposal. For example, we disagreed with the proposed alleviation for some operators from the SMS requirement, i.e. “to defer implementing an SMS if an exemption applies to their operation”. Operators without an SMS should be encouraged to adopt an SMS to gain these privileges and see it as a genuine risk mitigation for these passenger carrying privileges.
A summary of consultation and next steps if available here:
Proposed amendments to Part 138 MOS - Carriage of personnel involved in firefighting activities.
Part 133 Plain English Guide (PEG)
CASA have published a plain language version of the
PEG for CASR Part 133. You may be interested to utilise this resource but be aware, this version of Part 133 is not legally binding or enforceable and you should instead refer to the CASR version for more determinative applications.