AWSA News 17 August 2009

AWSA NEWS 17 August 2009

1. PART 61 EXEMPTIONS
2. DRAFT AIC 61.6 RELEASED - MODIFICATIONS AND REPAIRS

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1. PART 61 EXEMPTIONS

The Commissioner has granted the following blanket exemption to the relevant sub-regulations in Part 61 with immediate effect:

a. There is no longer any limit to the number of attempts at PPL examinations provided they are all passed within a period of 18 months from the first successful attempt. In addition the PPL skills test need only be passed within 36 months of passing the last examination. (The R220 examination fee for 14 attempts at PPL level remains unchanged).

b. The subject Navigation and Plotting is no longer a requirement for the ATPL provided Navigation has been passed at the CPL(IF) level.

c. Letters of discontinuance and denial need no longer be sent to the SACAA when skills tests are discontinued or failed.

d. Letters of recommendation are no longer required to enter, or re-enter, theoretical knowledge examinations.

e. The 3 hour PIC requirement to revalidate a CPL has been replaced by 3 hours PIC or 6 hours co-pilot during the 6 months preceding the revalidation check.

AICs providing full details of these and other exemptions will be published in the near future.

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2. DRAFT AIC 61.6 RELEASED - MODIFICATIONS AND REPAIRS

CAA has issued a draft of a Proposed AIC on the approval of modifications and repairs. This AIC differentiates between repairs and modifications of a minor nature which do not require approval of the Commissioner and other repairs.

Concern has been expressed over the wording of the draft legislation proposed by the SACAA in that there are catch-all paragraphs that can easily be interpreted to make all repairs into major repairs. If the draft stands as presented it could cause issues with documentation, time delay and cost required to do even trivial repairs such as replacing or bridging out a defective wire in a harness.

It is understood that the AIC was released last Wednesday and that comment was required by Friday.

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Compiled by the monitors of AWSA