[Peetwo]

The Angels take flight?? -  

Via CASA HQ:

Date: 18 March 2022

We have updated the rules for pilots conducting community service flights (CSF) and introduced a new way to comply.



These changes are in response to feedback from the CSF sector, including engagement with Angel Flight, Little Wings and a recent online public consultation.

The changes are designed to be less onerous for volunteers and give the sector more flexibility to achieve safety outcomes.

CASA 09/19 has been updated by CASA 19/22 Civil Aviation (community service flights – conditions on flight crew licences) amendment instrument 2022.

From 19 March 2022, CSF pilots will be able to choose to meet either:

• the requirements in CSF instrument (as updated)
  
• a CSF organisation’s requirements that have been approved by CASA – we’re currently working with CSF organisations on this option.
  

Summary of key changes:

• The old CSF rules had additional 100-hourly maintenance requirements for aircraft conducting CSF flights. This requirement has been removed and aircraft are subject to the same aircraft maintenance requirements as private flying.
  
• The requirement for a pilot to have completed a landing within the previous 30 days in an aircraft of the type being used for the CSF has been clarified. The original intent that a landing can be done on the same day as the CSF has been incorporated.
  
• The old rules required CSF pilots to hold either a Class 1 or Class 2 medical certificate. This requirement has changed to also allow pilots that hold a medical exemption for a Class 1 or Class 2 medical certificate.
  
• There’s a new condition for commercial pilot licence holders who are not also air transport pilot licence holders. They need 150 hours as pilot in command (PIC) of an aeroplane or helicopter.
  
• Flight notifications need to be in a ‘written’ form, for example, the internet or an electronic form. This is to ensure all required data is captured.
  
• Pilots may be able to comply with approved alternative requirements developed by a CSF organisation instead of the rules in the new instrument. CASA is currently working with CSF organisations on this option.
  

Further information on community service flights is available, including a draft version of the instrument showing the changes.

Plus courtesy Oz Flying, via the Yaffa: 

CASA modifies Community Service Flight Rules

18 March 2022

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority has today amended the contentious regulations covering community service flights (CSF).

The restrictions contained in the original instrument have been the subject of ongoing legal action between CSF organiser Angel Flight and CASA.

Crucially, the new instrument contains scope for pilots to be exempt from the regulations provided they comply with a requirement regime set down by the CSF organisation, a provision that has yet to be finalised.

CASA released the modified rules after a community survey and consultations with Angel Flight and Little Wings. Key changes to the requirements for pilots and aircraft conducting CSFs are:

• removal of an additional 100-hourly maintenance requirement for aircraft conducting CSF flights above that required for private flights
  
• the requirement for a pilot to have completed a landing within the previous 30 days in an aircraft of the type being used for the CSF has been clarified. The original intent that a landing can be done on the same day as the CSF has been incorporated
  
• pilots that hold a medical exemption for a Class 1 or Class 2 medical certificate are now able to conduct CSFs
  
• CPL holders who are not also ATPL holders now need 150 hours as pilot-in-command of an aeroplane or helicopter
  
• flight notifications need to be in a "written" form such as via the internet or an electronic form to ensure all CSF data is captured.
  

The amended instrument now permits CSFs to also carry other passengers that are needed to communicate with the patient, pilot mentors and other pilots observing the flight before conducting their own CSF.

Angel Flight CEO Marjorie Pagani told Australian Flying that the organisation felt the new rules were an improvement over the original, but work still needed to be done.

"We have had extensive negotiations with CASA in respect of the new instrument," she said. "We're not satisfied with all of its terms; however, we are heartened by their acceptance of their being no need for aerial-work category maintenance on private flights, and the somewhat expanded definition of passengers that can be carried."

Pagani said that talks with CASA regarding the exemption had been ongoing over the past few months, but were now nearing fruition.

"Angel Flight continues to negotiate with CASA for an exemption to the instrument and a lot of progress has been made. We expect that to be finalised within the next few days.

"In the interim, pilots flying for Angel Flight should apply the new instrument until the exemption agreement has been finalised."

The full set of amendments is on the CASA website.

And EWH's take on that..  : Ref - http://www.australianflying.com.au/the-l...march-2022

"..Community service flights (CSF) have been at the centre of whirlwind of acrimony over the past few years, so it's encouraging to see the issue sliding towards some level of compromise. With the amended CSF instrument published today, CASA has conceded some points after long negotiation with operators, particularly Angel Flight. It's still not perfect, but contains provision to be much better in that it will soon contain an exemption for pilots who conform to the requirements of the organisation.This is sensible because in most cases the organisations' requirements exceed those of the instrument anyway. Removing the need for airwork-standard maintenance on aircraft used in CSFs should release many more pilots who have been stuck in limbo. The regs worked against pilots who flew more hours in their aircraft every year, which meant the most experienced and current pilots weren't permitted to fly CSFs. They are the very pilots that CASA should have been encouraging to fly for the likes of Angel Flight. Although, as Marjorie Pagani has pointed out, the amendments don't make for perfect regulation, they are a good step towards thawing the relationship between CASA and the CSF community and freeing organisations to get on with the vital job they perform...

...About three weeks ago we put a new story on the Australian Flying website detailing a mystery around why the answer to a question taken on notice about court costs awarded against Angel Flight was not made public. It seems no-one knew and no-one was responsible for the decision. The answer arrived in my inbox a few days ago: it seems the committee didn't publish the letter because it was interim information. Furthermore, some submissions from Angel Flight were also suppressed and not published on the inquiry website. That was also a deliberate decision, I am told. The reasoning behind all of this was that the committee wanted to stop the inquiry becoming a battleground for something that had already been settled in court. But there might have been something else behind it. Both CASA and Angel Flight had been talking again to resolve things in negotiations that led to the above legislative amendments, and no-one, not CASA, not Angel Flight and probably not the senators, wanted to queer the process with acrimony..." 

Hmm...no comment - 

MTF...P2