[Peetwo]

Non-compliance with ICAO Annex 14 - Part II.

Still amazes me that the significance of an independent academic paper, like the CofFEE report, is seemingly just ignored by the pollywaffles and bureaucracy involved in the oversight and administration of aviation safety in this country - UDB!     

However for now back to the CofFEE report, ref pg 37:

"...ICAO requires that where a Member State’s regulations and practices vary from a Standard

outlined in the Annex, notification of these differences must be made. Australia publishes all
differences in GEN 1.7 of the national Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP). In the
current version of this publication published in April 2018, there are 462 differences listed for
Annex 14 Volume 1..."

From my last count 462 differences for Annex 14 Vol 1 amounts to approximately 10% of the total notified differences to the ICAO SARPs. It should be remembered that those 462 NDs also include the OLS and RESA requirements around certified airports.

For example under OLS SARPs paras 4.4.1 & 4.4.2... 

4.4 Other objects

4.4.1 Recommendation.— Objects which do not project through the approach surface but which would nevertheless
adversely affect the optimum siting or performance of visual or non-visual aids should, as far as practicable, be removed.

4.4.2 Recommendation.— Anything which may, in the opinion of the appropriate authority after aeronautical study,
endanger aeroplanes on the movement area or in the air within the limits of the inner horizontal and conical surfaces should be
regarded as an obstacle and should be removed in so far as practicable.

...these are the NDs: ref - http://www.airservicesaustralia.com/aip/..._Vol_1.pdf

4.4.1 - ...The effect of these objects must be assessed, particularly if they are within the ILS critical or sensitive areas.

4.4.2 - ...Australia does not have any legal authority outside of the aerodrome boundary...

That of course brings us back to the DFO accident at Essendon but first another relevant reference from page 36 of the CofFEE report:

...Australia agreed to a second safety oversight audit in 2012, which was carried out in 2017. As

part of this, Australia participated in an ICAO Coordinated Validation Mission (ICVM). The
ICVM is one of the activities prescribed under the CMA framework. This involved a team of
experts visiting Australia and working with Australian regulators and operators to measure and
improve compliance with ICAO Standards. Much of the work was on improving Australia’s
response to USOAP F&Rs from previous audits...

   
Which brought this 2008 finding to our attention:    




And then this follow up in the March 2018 ICAO ICVM audit report:



This inevitably brings me back to to evidence given at Budget Estimates nearly two years ago:

Senator XENOPHON: I will ask this of you, Mr Carmody. I do not understand this. Has CASA actually got a view as to what buildings, and what height of buildings or structures, should be near an airport?

Mr Carmody : We certainly do. If I may, we are at cross-purposes here in terms of public safety zones at the end of runways versus buildings on and around airports. We have a very specific view on buildings and on penetrations through the obstacle limitation surface of buildings around airports. We have a very clear view and we are involved in that process. But with the debate on the public safety zone, which is routinely at the end of the runway, I think we are actually talking at cross-purposes in terms of the debate at the moment. We are actively involved if you use Essendon as an example, and the buildings that are onsite at Essendon—or any other airport; Canberra airport, for that matter.

Senator XENOPHON: So you do not have a view?

Mr Carmody : We always have a view. 

Senator XENOPHON: So do you think that building, the DFO at Essendon, with its proximity to the end of the runway, would meet your criteria for fulfilling CASA's views as to the safety criteria for a building of that size, of that height, in that proximity to the runway?

Mr Carmody : Currently, my understanding is that it would. There was a building there prior to the DFO building. Prior to the DFO building process in, I think, 2004 or thereabouts there were buildings that preceded that on the same location.

Senator XENOPHON: You are quite comfortable, if there were going to be another airport plan, that you would not have an issue with a building with that proximity to the runway?

Mr Carmody : On that runway, in that location, I understand it fits within the template. Mr Tiede would be able to correct me if I am incorrect.

Senator XENOPHON: And you set the template? Is that your template?

Mr Tiede : CASA's interest is in the safety-of-air-navigation piece of this.
P2 - Under that logic if it is on the ground and no higher than the 1:7 OLS gradient and outside the airport perimeter fence, which technically the DFO is then CASA doesn't give a rat's - UDB!   ..There are obstacle limitation surfaces, in very broad description, around an airport, starting from the runway out to 15 kilometres, like an upside-down wedding cake. The take-off climb surface extends off the runway in a straight ahead thing for 15 kilometres, climbing at a slope that is dependent on the specification of the runway. So this, in significant part, overlies the public safety zone, third-party protection apparatus that is talked about. The DFO complex fits under the obstacle limitation surfaces, and so it meets the regulatory—

Senator XENOPHON: Do those obstacle limitation surfaces need to be reviewed in light of the DFO accident?

Mr Tiede : The obstacle limitation surfaces are drawn from some quite detailed ICAO specifications—International Civil Aviation Organization specifications—that are very detailed and very longstanding. We model our regulations on that information. ICAO is in a process of reviewing the OLS. The issue with that, of course, is that any outcomes are some time downstream. CASA participates in that work of ICAO as a member of the working group that is looking at this.

Senator XENOPHON: But you are not bound by ICAO? Or are you saying you are bound by ICAO in terms of recommendations for buildings in proximity to airports?

Mr Tiede : These are standards of ICAO that, yes, we have incorporated into our laws. We follow the ICAO specifications in their Annex 14, their aerodromes annex. We transfer.

Mr Carmody : We routinely follow their standards and recommended practices, unless we notify a difference. In this particular case, too, with Essendon, I might add that part of this discussion would depend upon the results of the investigation, at the end of the day.

Senator XENOPHON: So if the ATSB says, 'We need to review public safety zones—

Mr Carmody : I would be very interested if they came out with something like that. At the moment, the investigation is afoot, I understand. I do not know what the cause of the accident was. I know what the consequences were. But I think that that is part of the picture.

Senator XENOPHON: There is always the cause, but would the outcome have been different if that building were not in the way?

Mr Carmody : And that is correct. - 

Senator XENOPHON: And it also is those on the ground, in that building. 

Hmm...and what have we done in the nearly two years since, in terms of mitigating the risk of a far more lethal crash potentially with far more casualties at the Essendon DFO complex?  - SFA that's what...   

MTF...P2