General Aviation Unit delivers first quarter engagement

The UK Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) General Aviation (GA) Unit has continued to follow its remit of regulating only when necessary and deliver on top-level principles for better GA regulation.

Michael Macdonald, Co-Head of the CAA’s General Aviation & RPAS Unit said:

“Over the past few years, we have been focused on delivering a number of GA Change Programme projects. It has been great to see these progressing well over the past few months, in particular the GA Licensing & Training Simplification project and the Pilot Medical Declaration review project. This past quarter has seen a number of initiatives come to fruition, including introduction of Safety Standards Acknowledgement and Consent Class 5 that allows paid-for recreational flights in ex-military fast jet aeroplanes, and completion of the British Gliding Association delegation project.“

Achievements over the first quarter in 2023 include:

• Following an eight-week consultation last summer, CAP1395 has been amended to include a new class of Safety Standards Acknowledgement Consent (SSAC) activity under the existing SSAC policy to allow paid-for recreational flights in ex-military fast jet aeroplanes. The CAA website has more details: Safety Standards Acknowledgement and Consent
• We have published an update on our Pilot Medical Declaration review. This follows the consultation we ran on PMDs last autumn. UK Civil Aviation Authority launches consultation on Pilot Medical Declarations review | Civil Aviation Authority (caa.co.uk)
• Following public consultation in December 2022 and January 2023, amendments to CAP 403 (Flying Displays and Special Events: Safety and Administrative Requirements and Guidance Edition 20) and CAP 1724 (Flying Display Pilot Authorisation and Evaluation: Requirements and Guidance Edition 5) were published

The team engaged with our GA stakeholders and pilots, either in person or virtually:

• Our ‘Community in Spotlight’ series continues. Members of the GA management team had a virtual meeting with CHIRP in February to talk about their role of improving aviation safety and Just Culture.

• The latest General Aviation Partnership meeting was held in February. Meeting notes: CAP232005  and Meeting presentation: CAP232005A are available to view.
• The Pre-Season Display Symposium at the Defence Academy Shrivenham, open to all in the Flying Display Community was held in March.
• Earlier this year, we completed the UK Flying Display Directors’ (FDD) course at the Defence Academy Shrivenham, where 3 new civilian FDDs and 5 new military FDDs were accredited; revalidated 10 civilian FDDs; and also had 4 international participants from Hungary and Malta.
• In March 2023 we delivered a Flying Display Regulatory Briefing and discussion event in Budapest to the Hungarian National Aviation Authority and delegates from Wizz Air

GA community resources and materials shared to support the UK GA flying community to operate safely include:

• Go, or no go? our latest Clued Up article on rejected takeoffs was published in January. This was supported by our podcast on the CAA’s Safety Files podcast series, where we spoke with AAIB Senior Inspector Emma Truswell about this incident and the findings from their investigation.

• As part of the CAA website’s Just Culture webpages we shared our latest Occurrence Report looking at a real-life airworthiness occurrence case study. Just Culture is an essential element of a broader safety culture, promoting continuous learning and encouraging pilots to openly share essential safety related information.
• The latest publication of the new Safety Sense Leaflets: Radiotelephony was shared. Correct radiotelephony is essential for the safe operation of aircraft in a busy air traffic environment. This forms part of the popular General Aviation (GA) Safety Sense Leaflets series which the CAA is currently updating.
• In our latest General Aviation podcast we speak with Lucy Wootton, Chief Inspector at the Light Aircraft Association who explains how to prepare for getting back into the air and we hear from Jo Aston, the CAA’s Met Technical Officer who shares her experience as a specialist aviation meteorologist.
• In support of GA making a return to flying after the winter break and to provide an aide memoire we released, Return to flying -pre-flight checklist animation. We also teamed up with the Light Aircraft Association's (LAA) Lucy Wootton, to give some hints and tips to a pre flight inspection after a winter lay-up.

Astral Aviation Consulting (AAC), a third-party supplier, is providing support on GA Safety promotions. Activities over this past quarter include:

• Workshop: Single pilot crew resource management
• Workshop: Radiotelephony

Registration is now open for the next workshop on Skill Fade. 

Astral continues to share useful GA safety information on its website, Facebook page, and Instagram.

NOTES TO EDITOR

• The UK Civil Aviation Authority is the UK’s aviation regulator. We work so that the aviation industry meets the highest safety standards and consumers have choice, value for money, are protected and treated fairly when they fly.
• Further information and resources for the GA community are available on our website at General aviation | Civil Aviation Authority (caa.co.uk)
• You can contact the CAA’s GA team at ga@caa.co.uk