November 2005

IAOPA European 113th Regional Meeting Held

The 113th IAOPA European Regional Meeting was held in Barcelona, Spain, 1 Oct 2005, and was hosted by AOPA-Spain. The meeting was held in conjunction with a four-day event, Barcelona Aeronautics Week, which included professional presentations, static displays, an air show, and awards presentations.

Klaus Zeh and Martin Robinson co-chaired the meeting, which drew 14 affiliates and 30 people. Reports were received regarding IAOPA Europe's consultative role in the development of Eurocontrol's SESAME project, progress toward a European PPL instrument rating, emerging security rules in various countries, and an update on IAOPA Europe's website. Regarding the latter, the new site is up and operating at www.iaopa-eur.org-take a look.

Major discussions were held regarding the division of work between European affiliates and the IAOPA Europe staff. Ways and means of structuring these task divisions were moved forward with a cooperative sharing agreement being settled on. Individual affiliates will support the overall organization when possible while working with their State authorities and members.

The next regional meeting is tentatively scheduled for 1 April 2006 in Brussels, to be held in conjunction with the annual IAOPA-Eurocontrol Aviation Day Seminar on 31 March. 

Secretariat Comments on FCLTP Proposals

Frank Hofmann, IAOPA representative to ICAO, has participated in working group meetings of their Flight Crew Licensing and Training Panel for more than a year. While the panel considered all licensing and training standards and recommended practices in ICAO Annex 1, emphasis was placed on new categories of pilot licenses, threat and error management, and pilot training organizations.

Mr. Hofmann's interventions saved private pilots from uniform proficiency standards, interjecting the concept of risk assessments to determine proper levels of proficiency. Further, more realistic competency standards were realized as consequence alternatives proposed by IAOPA's representative.

Recent formal proposals coming from the panel's work offered a new form of pilot license designed for ab initio airline training. The Multi-Crew pilot license relies heavily on simulator training to put a new pilot into the right seat of an airliner as rapidly as possible. IAOPA commented that this pilot should be required to meet basic CPL standards when reverting to a single-pilot environment.

Threat and error management training will now be required for all levels of pilot licenses, however training materials are only available for airline environments. IAOPA requested that specific materials be developed for general aviation.  

AOPA-Panama Signs SAR Agreement with Government

AOPA-Panama has announced a recent agreement regarding the role of its members in search and rescue operations in the Republic of Panama. The President of AOPA Panama, Mr. Alfredo Fonseca-Mora, and the Director General of the Panamanian Civil Aviation Authority (AAC), Mr. Tomas Paredes, signed a document on October 19th formalizing and defining the role of the AOPA-Panama resources into the national SAR program of Panama. The AOPA-Panama member pilots and their aircraft have participated in many SAR operations in the past but always in an informal manner. This agreement is also the first government recognition of AOPA-Panama, which was formerly known as the Aeroclub of Panama.  

ICAO Continues to Consider ELT Standards

Recent meetings regarding the ICAO ELT requirements may yield a need to carry 406/121.5 MHz units in all aircraft and all locations when flying internationally.

IAOPA has introduced proposals that will extend the validity of exiting 121.5 MHz units until 2009 when SAR satellites will discontinue processing these signals. Further, we proposed that ELTs only be required when flying over water or in areas where SAR is considered difficult. Moreover, we have noted that risk assessments and cost-benefit analyses be performed to justify carriage of this expensive equipment, which has demonstrated to be less than reliable in performance in the past.  

AOPA-Japan Members Visit Seoul Airshow

On 20 October, six aircraft piloted by AOPA-Japan members visited Seoul, Korea, for three days. They were invited to attend and participate in the Seoul Airshow. This event is strongly supported by AOPA-Korea.

In November, members of AOPA-Japan will also fly to the Philippines and Malaysia to show solidarity with AOPAs in those countries and to further general aviation activities in Asia." 

IAOPA Europe Opposes VFR Charges

European proposals to impose enroute charges on general aviation VFR operations has been opposed by IAOPA Europe's Deputy Vice President Martin Robinson. "IAOPA does not believe that it is possible for member States or Eurocontrol to apply the principle of a route charge system to VFR flights as they generally do not travel in straight lines due to numerous prohibited airspace areas in which they are not permitted to operate. The more than ?110 million that general aviation pays in avgas taxes could easily be used to offset any useful or mandatory services to be used by our constituents. With Eurocontrol collecting over ? 5.7 billion each year there is a need for the whole industry to question how, under SESAME, this figure will be reduced in real terms.""  

Foreign Registered Aircraft Based in UK Prompts Proposal

The UK Department for Transport recently released a consultation document to determine "whether steps should be taken to ensure, so far as possible, that private aircraft based in the UK are subject to UK and any relevant European regulatory requirements and supervision by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)." The action proposed involves creating a UK regulation "...to prevent foreign registered aircraft from being based in the UK by limiting the time (e.g., to 90 days) such aircraft may spend in the UK in any 12 months."

Safety concerns associated with aircraft not complying with ICAO standards or attempting to circumvent UK air regulations, were cited as primary factors in this proposal.

IAOPA responded to the consultation stating that they believe the proposal in its current form is unwarranted and unjustified. The stated safety concerns have little basis in fact. IAOPA recommends that the UK Department for Transport reevaluate its goals and methods to achieve a more realistic and meaningful outcome.

Specifically, IAOPA recommended that the UK Department for Transport:

1. Reconsider the effect of the proposed action, based on the stated goals.
2. Perform a risk analysis for FRA basing in the UK that will put the issue into perspective.
3. Reevaluate the ability of, and difficulty for, foreign registered owner/operators to register their aircraft in the UK and obtain needed JAR FCL pilot licenses and ratings. This should include a full cost-benefit analysis based on anticipated costs and fees computed over time.

IAOPA Policy Manual Revision

Please send comments to John Sheehan regarding the draft prior to 22 November 2005. Be specific in identifying the statement upon which you wish to comment and provide proposed language to replace the draft comment."   

IAOPA World Assembly Toronto, Canada, 18-24 June 2006

The International Council of Aircraft Owner and Pilot Associations represents the interests of more than 470,000 pilots and aircraft owners in 62 countries. Formed in 1962, IAOPA is dedicated to promoting the peaceful uses of general aviation and aerial work worldwide.

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