The Air Navigation (Overseas Territories) Order 2007

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order supersedes the Air Navigation (Overseas Territories) Order 2001 (SI 2001 No. 2128), as amended (SI 2003 No. 433, SI 2004 No. 2038, SI 2005 No. 2763 and SI 2006 No. 1911).

Structure, format and terminology

1.—(1) This Order is based principally on the Air Navigation Order 2005 (SI 2005 No. 1970), as amended (SI 2007 No. 274), but with modifications to reflect the fact that the circumstances of the Overseas Territories are different in many respects from those of the United Kingdom. The structure of the Order (including formatting), and the sequence of articles within the Order, have also been changed but without affecting the substance of most of the provisions contained in the articles.

(2) A new article has been included that deals with the validity of documents issued by the Governor to provide that the same shall be in writing; shall be subject to such conditions as the Governor thinks fit and shall be valid for such period as shall be specified thereon. In the individual articles where such a provision was included that provision has been removed as the new validity article applies to all documents.

(3) The main differences between this Order and the Air Navigation Order are, first, that some of the provisions of the Air Navigation Order that reflect obligations of the United Kingdom as a member of the European Union and as a member of the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) are not reproduced in this Order. Secondly, this Order contains the Rules of the Air (Schedule 8), some elements of the Air Navigation (General) Regulations (Schedule 9) and the Air Navigation (Dangerous Goods) Regulations (Schedule 10) instead of these being prescribed by the Secretary of State as in the United Kingdom.

(4) Finally, the Order now adopts the term “commercial air transport” in place of the term “public transport” throughout and the term “pilot-in-command” in place of the term “commander” so as to bring the terminology in line with that adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and by most countries around the world.

(5) The Table of Comparison specifies the corresponding article numbers of the Air Navigation (Overseas Territories) Order 2001, as amended.

Role of the Governor and Governor’s functions

2.—(1) The Order reflects the role of the Governor of a Territory and his ability to give instructions (in accordance with the provisions of section 57 of the Civil Aviation Act 1949); to make rules and regulations; and to publish his requirements (article 152) for the fulfilment of the purposes and provisions of the Order and also in order that he should be satisfied in the exercise of certain of his functions under the Order.

(2) Consequently, many of the provisions of the previous Order that are considered to be largely of a procedural or administrative nature, or which define the means of compliance with an obligation under the Order, have been removed from the Order itself and are relocated in the Overseas Territories Aviation Requirements (OTARs) published by the Governor under article 152 (previously 135) of the Order. However, the individual OTAR Parts are not referenced in the Order as that would necessitate a reference to a specific edition and would mean that any changes to that edition would trigger the need for an amendment to the Order to reference the new revised edition of the OTAR Part.

Differences between the Territories and the United Kingdom

3.—(1) This Order adopts certain amendments that have been made to the Annexes to the Convention on International Civil Aviation signed at Chicago on 7^th December 1944 (the Chicago Convention) that have not yet been implemented in the United Kingdom, largely due to the fact that many of such amendments will be implemented through European Union legislation and the Rules of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in due course.

(2) This Order also reflects the fact that certain activities undertaken in the United Kingdom are not undertaken in the Overseas Territories, such as aircraft manufacturing and certification.

Principal changes

In addition to some drafting amendments, largely to reflect the provisions of Statutory Instrument Practice – 4^th edition (November 2006), the following principal changes are made.

4.  Registration of aircraft

(1) The list of qualifying persons who may register an aircraft in the Territory has been amended to delete reference to citizens of the Republic of Ireland and firms carrying on business in Scotland, both of which were principally a legacy of the connection with previous United Kingdom Air Navigation Orders (article 4(3)).

(2) Certain administrative provisions of the previous Order relating to the particulars required in relation to the registration and marking of an aircraft have been deleted and are replaced by Requirements of the Governor published under article 152 (articles 4(7) and 5(2) and Part B of Schedule 2 and Part A of Schedule 3).

5.  Airworthiness of aircraft

(1) A provision has been introduced enabling, for example, the manufacturer of an aircraft to make the application to the Governor for the issue of a Type Acceptance Certificate in addition to or instead of the proposed operator of the aircraft (article 6(2)).

(2) A change has been made in respect of the requirement for a certificate of airworthiness to be in force to delete the reference to the “A” and “B” Conditions contained in Part A of Schedule 3 of the previous Order (which has been deleted) and the substitution of a reference to a permit to fly under article 9 which will be required for such flights in future (article 7(2)(d)).

(3) In respect of Certificates of Airworthiness the major changes are:

(a) the adoption of a Standard Category in place of the previous five categories, in line with the practice adopted in the United Kingdom and Europe (article 8 and deletion of old article 9(2));

(b) the removal from the certificate of a reference to a performance group and reliance in future on the flight manual, associated documents and specified performance requirements accepted by the Governor in accordance with international standards (article 8(4) compared with old article 9(4) and articles 41, 72(1) and (2) and 73(1) and (2)) and inclusion of a proviso that an aircraft certificated for use under Visual Flight Rules is not, thereby, prohibited from flying in accordance with the visual reference provisions of the Rules of the Air;

(c) the introduction of a requirement for an aircraft to be issued with a certificate of release to service before a certificate of airworthiness can be issued for the first time in the Territory (article 8(1)(c));

(d) the insertion of a provision allowing an approved person or organisation to approve the manner of the performance of overhaul, repair or other work and the material to be used on behalf of the Governor (article 8(5)(a)).

(4) In respect of permits to fly, the article has been revised to allow the Governor to issue a permit to fly to an aircraft that qualifies for, or has had, a certificate of airworthiness in the circumstances that were previously covered by the “A” and “B” Conditions contained in Part A of Schedule 3 (article 9(2) and see 4 above).

(5) Article 10, previously entitled “Certificate of maintenance review” (CMR), has been substantially revised. The CMR was a peculiarity of the United Kingdom system and the term was not adopted internationally and its use has been discontinued. The article deals with arrangements for the continued airworthiness of an aircraft. The new article has been re-titled “Continuing airworthiness” and reflects best international practice and terms employed internationally and practice that is broadly already adopted in the Territories. The article now provides for the following:

(a) adoption of a “maintenance programme” in place of a “maintenance schedule” under the management of a person or organisation approved by the Governor in accordance with a “maintenance control manual” (article 10(1)(a));

(b) introduction of a requirement for all airworthiness directives or equivalent issued by the State that is responsible for the aircraft certification standard to be complied with (article 10(1)(b));

(c) introduction of a requirement for completion of all inspections required under the Order (article 10(1)(c));

(d) introduction of a requirement for the flight manual or equivalent document, containing the limitations on performance and information on operational requirements relating to the aircraft, to be carried on the aircraft for the benefit of the flight crew (article 10(1)(d));

(e) introduction of requirements for the appointment by the owner or operator of an aircraft of an accountable person or technical coordinator who will be responsible for making sure that maintenance of an aircraft is undertaken in accordance with the maintenance programme and the control manual (article 10 paragraphs (4) and (5));

(f) introduction of a requirement for technical assessments required by the manufacturer or the Governor to be undertaken and reports thereof delivered to the Governor (article 10(6)(e)).

(6) Article 11 relating to technical records combines old article 11 (technical log) with old article 17 (aircraft, engine and propeller log books) into a single article and deletes the references to Schedule 6, which is repealed and replaced by the relevant OTAR provisions. The article also now requires a technical log to be kept in respect of all aircraft not just those in the public transport or aerial work category (article 11 paragraphs (2) and (10)).

(7) Article 12, that was previously entitled “inspection, overhaul, repair, replacement and modification” has been re-titled “certificate of release to service” but includes most of the provisions that were in the old article 12. The changes that have been made are as follows:

(a) deletion of paragraph (3) that permits an aircraft to fly to a place at which a certificate can be issued in circumstances in which it cannot be issued at the place where the work is performed as this would now be covered by a permit to fly under article 9;

(b) introduction of a provision authorising a certificate to be issued by a person approved by an organisation that has itself been approved by the Governor (article 12(7)(d)).

(8) The article dealing with the licensing of maintenance engineers remains largely unchanged except for the deletion from paragraph (2) of the reference to certificates of maintenance review (see item (7) above) (article 13(2)).

(9) In relation to the approval of maintenance organisations, the definition of maintenance has been moved to the interpretation article 156 (article 14).

6.  Aircraft crew and visibility requirements for helicopters

(1) The substantive provisions relating to the composition of a crew of an aircraft and requirement for a licence remain unchanged. The term “with the surface in sight” is defined and is used in place of “in sight of the surface” and the term “or is flying by night with visual ground reference” has been deleted as follows, with consequential amendments to the equipment requirements contained in Schedule 4:

(a) article 20 paragraphs (7) and (8)(d);

(b) article 156 (interpretation);

(c) a minimum scale of equipment is required for flights conducted under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) by day, when the surface is in sight (Schedule 4, paragraph 5, subparagraphs 15(a) and (15)(b));

(d) the holder of a private pilot’s licence is required to hold an instrument rating for flight under IFR in any airspace except when flying by visual reference at night (Schedule 6 Section 2, privileges of private pilot’s licence (helicopters);

(e) all helicopter pilots are required to hold an instrument rating to fly under IFR by reference to instruments (Schedule 6, Section 2, privileges of commercial pilot’s licence (helicopters and gyroplanes) and privileges of airline transport pilot’s licence (helicopters)).

(2) The provisions of Article 21 – members of flight crew, requirement for licence – have been simplified but no substantive changes have been made.

(3) Schedule 6, referred to in article 22, has been amended to delete references to Basic Commercial Pilot’s Licence, both in respect of aeroplanes and helicopters, as such as a class of licence is no longer issued. Additionally, those parts of the schedule (previously Schedule 8) that detailed the various ratings (Part B) and test requirements (Part C) have been removed and relocated in the relevant Parts of the OTARs and articles 23(4) and 24 have been amended in consequence to refer to the Governor’s requirements.

(4) The medical requirements for licence holders have been amended to include a provision for the validation of a medical certificate issued outside a Territory (article 25).

(5) Article 27 – validation of licences – has been amended to include the provision on deeming a licence valid, that was previously included in article 21(4).

7.  Operation of aircraft

(1) A new article 41 has been introduced to impose obligations upon the operator of an aircraft to comply with the aircraft flight manual; the Rules of the Air (in Schedule 8) and any supplementary Rules made by the Governor (under article 37); any operating instructions given by the Governor; and any instructions given by the Governor with regard to instruments and equipment to be installed in or carried on the aircraft. This new article applies to all aircraft registered in any Territory (article 41).

(2) In connection with aerodrome operating minima the reference in paragraph (7) has been amended to substitute “designated” in place of “standard” in relation to instrument approach procedures and the term “designated” has been defined in paragraph (11) (article 42).

(3) With regard to pre-flight action by the pilot-in-command, the provisions have been changed to make them applicable to all aircraft not just to those registered in a Territory (article 45).

(4) A new article has been added requiring that the pilot-in-command of an aircraft shall be satisfied before take-off that the aircraft has on board all such equipment as may be necessary to facilitate the survival of the passengers having regard to the circumstances of the flight (article 47).

(5) The provisions relating to the use of oxygen on an aircraft, that is flying for non-commercial air transport purposes, have been amended to require the pilot-in-command of an aircraft to demonstrate the use of oxygen equipment carried on board to all passengers and to require its use by passengers and crew when appropriate (article 48).

(6) New and more capable secondary surveillance radar equipment known as Mode S and airborne collision avoidance systems to be used in conjunction therewith must be carried by specified categories of aircraft when flying within busy airspace around major airports and along major airways (article 16 and article 55 and Schedule 5, Scale E2 and E3 and Scale J).

(7) The provisions relating to the use of flight recording systems have been changed so as to require the system to be in operation from the time when the engine is started rather than from the beginning of the take-off run and until the engine is shut down rather than until landing (article 56).

(8) A new article has been introduced requiring the pilot-in-command of an aircraft to comply with instructions from the Governor in relation to the provision of assistance to an aircraft in distress (article 59).

(9) Some changes have been made to ensure that the markings of exits from an aircraft and areas of a fuselage suitable for break-in in the event of an emergency comply with current international standards (articles 61 and 62).

8.  Air operator certification and commercial air transport operations

(1) A requirement has been added providing that an air operator certificate can only be issued in a Territory to an organisation that has its principal place of business in that Territory and a definition is provided of “principal place of business” (article 64 paragraphs (2) and (3)).

(2) The contents of an operations manual are now to be found in the relevant OTAR Part(s) and Part A of the old Schedule 10 has been removed (article 66(4)).

(3) The provisions relating to the information and instructions in a training programme (previously training manual) and the records required to be kept in relation to training that were set out in Parts B and C of the previous Schedule 10 have been relocated into the relevant OTAR Parts and the Parts of the Schedule have been removed (articles 68(3) and 70(3) and (4)). The training programme now comprises a part of the operations manual;

(4) Aeroplanes flying for the purpose of commercial air transport are required to comply with the performance requirements specified in the aircraft flight manual, and on the basis of such additional data that shall be acceptable to the Governor, in place of reliance on performance groups specified in the certificate of airworthiness (article 72 and note 5(b) above).

(5) Performance classes 1, 2 and 3 for helicopters, flying for the purpose of commercial air transport, are defined and are used in place of performance groups specified in the certificate of airworthiness as criteria to determine the carriage of equipment and the applicable performance requirements, in accordance with the aircraft flight manual (article 73).

(6) In light of the removal from the Order of the performance provisions of the Air Navigation (General) Regulations (Schedule 14), the prohibition against the operation of commercial air transport flights at night in a single-engine aircraft has been extended to cover Territory registered aircraft (article 74).

(7) The provisions relating to the additional duties of the pilot-in-command on a commercial air transport flight for the carriage of passengers have been restructured and rewritten compared to the previous article 45 but without any material change to the substance thereof (article 77).

9.  Aerial work

Article 58 of the previous Order contained requirements for the issue of an aerial application certificate in respect of certain activities, such as dropping of articles for purposes of agriculture. The scope of the provisions has been expanded to cover all aerial work activities as defined in article 156 and the title of the certificate has been changed to “aerial work certificate” (article 78).

10.  General aviation

New provisions have been introduced to allow for greater regulation of general aviation, including the operation of corporate aircraft, when being undertaken using larger and/or more complex aircraft or employing several aircraft flown by professional pilots (article 83). The introduction of these provisions reflects the adoption by ICAO of amendments to Annex 6 Part II (International General Aviation) that come into effect in November 2007 as well as the nature of the registers of aircraft in certain Territories, principally Bermuda and Cayman Islands. Such operations in future will require an Approval from a Governor and the requirements relating to the issue of such an Approval are set out in OTAR Part 125 (articles 84 and 85).

11.  Aeronautical Telecommunications Service

Under the 2001 Order there were two articles dealing with aeronautical radio stations and their records. In the 2004 Amendment Order these articles were revised in line with the changes being made to the UK Air Navigation Order 2000. The principal effect of the change was to broaden the scope to include all air traffic service equipment, including radio stations, and to provide that any such equipment should be fit for its purpose and installed and checked in an approved manner. The changes now made are to make the provisions applicable to the provision of an aeronautical telecommunications service and to the maintenance of records relating to such service and the equipment used in relation to its provision (articles 101 and 102 and also article 118).

12.  Aerodromes etc.

The scope of the provisions concerning instrument procedures has been expanded to include all instrument flight procedures in use at an aerodrome not just the approach procedures and by the introduction of provisions for the grant of approval to a person to design an instrument procedure and for the grant of approval to a person to provide training and any courses made available (article 106 paragraphs (1), (5) and (6)).

13.  Documents and records

(1) A new article has been introduced to provide that an operator of a Territory registered aircraft engaged in international air navigation will record certain prescribed information in a Journey Log. This provision is intended to satisfy the requirement contained in article 29 of the Convention (article 115).

(2) A new article has been introduced to provide that all certificates, licences and other documents to be issued by the Governor shall comply with certain requirements and be subject to such conditions as the Governor determines. This article consolidates similar provisions previously contained in each article referring to the grant of a specific document (article 121).

14.  Offences and penalties

(1) Previously, a number of offences were to be found scattered throughout the Order. Those various provisions have been brought together in a specific Part of the Order (articles 125 to 133).

(2) The scope of the article detailing penalties has been expanded to include a breach of any instructions given by a Governor in addition to breaches of regulations made by him (article 134).

General

15.  Mandatory occurrence reporting

The provisions relating to mandatory occurrence reporting have been revised to bring them broadly into alignment with those contained in the Air Navigation Order 2005, except that the provisions are applicable to all aircraft and not just to turbine powered aircraft and to aircraft in respect of which a Governor has issued a permit to fly (article 139).

16.  Application of the Order

Consideration has been given to the particular situation pertaining to the British Antarctic Territory. Under the Antarctic Treaty 1959, sovereign claims to the continent are in abeyance. Instead the Antarctic Treaty provides for a framework of international governance of the continent. Having regard to the obligations of the UK under the Antarctic Treaty and the existing regulatory framework under the Antarctic Act 1994, and to the fact that the operations conducted in the Territory are largely of a non-commercial and scientific nature, the Territory has been excluded from the provisions imposed under the Order.

17.  Publication of requirements

The provisions relating to the publication by a Governor of the requirements that he expects an applicant for the grant of a licence, certificate or other document to meet in order that he should be satisfied have been revised to enable a Governor, in a particular case, to accept alternative requirements in the exercise of his discretion (article 152(1)).

18.  Designation by the Governor

The provisions relating to designation by a Governor of his functions under the Order have been revised and tidied up to provide for flexibility in the exercise by a Governor of his discretion. The revised provisions would now permit, for example, a Governor to designate a Regional Aviation Authority, on the advice of ASSI, and the definition of “Governor” in article 156 has been amended accordingly (article 153).

19.  Definitions of commercial air transport (formerly public transport)

Definitions of public transport were previously contained in a series of paragraphs and subparagraphs in article 131. Those various definitions have been separated and each has been incorporated into its own specific article (articles 157 to 163).

20.  Schedules 4/5

Schedule 4 (Equipment of Aircraft) and Schedule 5 (Radio Equipment), which links to articles 15 and 16, have been revised to include a number of outstanding requirements of Annex 6 Part II, as well as more recent amendments to Annex 6, Parts I, II and III and also to align the provisions of the Schedules with those contained in the Air Navigation Order 2005 as amended by the Air Navigation (Amendment) Order 2007. In particular provisions have been included to require the carriage, where appropriate, of an automatic Electronic Locator Transponder (ELT) and also Mode S Secondary Surveillance Radar.

21.  Licences

Schedule 6 (formerly Schedule 8 and Part B of Schedule 10 for pilot’s licences) has been substantially revised to limit its provisions to merely the categories of licences and the privileges attaching thereto. The remaining provisions relating to ratings, training and certificates of experience have been relocated in the respective OTAR Parts. The provisions relating to Air Traffic Controller Licence Ratings that were contained in Schedule 9 have been relocated to the relevant OTAR Part.

22.  Rules of the Air

The Rules of the Air contained in Schedule 8 (formerly Schedule 13) have been revised so as to accord with those in force in the UK following the introduction of the Rules of the Air Regulations 2007.

23.  Air Navigation (General) Regulations

(1) The UK Air Navigation (General) Regulations were previously adopted in the Territories in Schedule 14 to the Order. The regulations covered a number of topics, as follows:

(a) Regulation 2 - passenger weight calculation tables for the purpose of completing the aircraft load sheets (now incorporated in the respective OTAR Parts 121 and 135);

(b) Regulations 3 to 13 and the Annex - aircraft weight and performance provisions – which have been deleted and replaced as indicated in Notes 5(b), 29 and 30 above;

(c) Regulation 14 – noise and vibration caused by aircraft on aerodromes (retained);

(d) Regulation 15 – list of prescribed countries whose licensed maintenance engineers were able to issue a certificate of maintenance review or release to service (as article 13(4) provides for the Governor to issue a certificate validating a licence issued by another State, or the UK or another Territory, the retention of the list, which was not in any event exhaustive, is no longer required);

(e) Regulation 16 – aerodrome facilities required by commercial air transport aircraft for approach to landing and landing (retained);

(f) Regulation 17 – repairs or replacements to an aircraft that a pilot is authorised to carry out (now specified in the relevant OTAR Parts);

(g) Regulation 18 – mandatory occurrence reporting (article 139 (formerly article 117) has been rewritten to align it with that contained in the Air Navigation Order 2005, including the adoption of a general definition of “occurrence” in place of the examples previously provided, and the retention of this regulation is rendered unnecessary);

(h) Regulation 19 – minimum navigation and height keeping performance-capability (retained);

(i) Regulation 20 – prescribed requirements for airborne collision avoidance systems (this provision has been relocated to paragraph 5(1) of Schedule 5.

Of the above regulations only regulations 14, 16 and 19 have been retained in the Schedule.

24.  Air Navigation (Dangerous Goods) Regulations

The UK Air Navigation (Dangerous Goods) Regulations 2002 are applied to the Territories by Schedule 10 (formerly Schedule 15) without any amendment other than in Regulation 1 – interpretation – in which the reference to the ICAO Technical Instructions has been changed to refer to the latest edition of that document, being the 2007-2008 English language edition approved and published by decision of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

25.  Aerodrome manual

Schedule 11 (formerly Schedule 16) has been retained unamended.

26.  List of Territories to which the Order applies

The list of Territories to which the Order applies remains the same as in the 2001 Order except that the British Antarctic Territory has been removed and is dealt with separately.

27.  A full regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen.

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TABLE OF COMPARISON

(This Table is not part of the Order)

The following Table shows, in relation to each article of the Air Navigation (Overseas Territories) Order 2001, as amended, the article of the 2007 Order in which it is reproduced.

2001 Order as amended	2007 Order
1	1
2	2
3	3
4	4
5	5
8A	6
8	7
9	8
9A	9
10	10
11 and 17	11
12	12
13	13
13A	14
14	15
15	16
16	17
18	18
19	19
20	20
21	21
22	22
23	23
24	24
25	25
26	26
27	27
28	28
29	29
30	30
71	31
72	32
73	33
74	34
75	35
77	36
84	37
85	38
86	39
87	40
-	41
40	42
41	43
42	44
43	45
44	46
-	47
45A	48
46	49
47	50
48	51
49	52
50	53
51	54
52	55
53	56
59	57
60	58
-	59
61	60
62	61
62	62
70	63
6	64
7	65
31	66
32	67
33	68
34A	69
34	70
35	71
36	72
36	73
37	74
38	75
39	76
45	77
58	78
54	79
55	80
56	81
57	82
-	83
-	84
-	85
88	86
88A	87
89	88
90	89
91	90
94	91
92	92
93	93
92 (9) (10)	94
95	95
96	96
97	97
98	98
99	99
100	100
104	101
105	102
101	103
102	104
103	105
105A	106
106	107
107	108
108	109
109	110
109A	111
110	112
111	113
112	114
-	115
76	116
78	117
-	118
79	119
80	120
-	121
81	122
82	123
83	124
63	125
64	126
65	127
66	128
67	129
68	130
120	131
121	132
69	133
122	134
113	135
114	136
115	137
116	138
117	139
117A	140
118	141
119	142
123	143
124	144
125	145
126	146
127	147
128	148
129	149
133	150
134	151
135	152
136	153
137	154
138	155
130	156
131	157
131	158
131	159
131	160
131	161
131	162
131	163
132	164