reduced taxiway/taxilane separation distances for aerodromes

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Notice of Consultation (1702AS) - Amendment of the Part 139 Manual of Standards for reduced taxiway/taxilane separation distances for aerodromes

 

CASA wishes to advise that Notice of Consultation (1702AS) – Amendment of the Part 139 Manual of Standards for reduced taxiway/taxilane separation distances for aerodromes is now available for comment.

 

The Manual of Standards Part 139 Amendment Instrument 2017 (No. 1) (the MOS amendment) commenced on 25 January 2017. It amended the Part 139 Manual of Standards (Part 139 MOS) to legislate the most recent standards in Annex 14, Aerodromes to the International Convention to Civil Aviation (Edition 7), as published in November 2016.

 

Purpose and scope of the amendment

 

Reflecting these new ICAO standards, the MOS amendment introduced modified, and generally reduced, minimum separation distances for aerodrome taxiways and aircraft parking position taxilanes. These reductions in taxiway minimum separation distances also consequentially reduce taxiway strip widths.

 

Further changes to the Part 139 MOS are pending under the post-implementation review (PIR) of the Part 139 legislation. These further changes will be the subject of future consultation through the NPRM scheduled for CASA Project AS 14/24.

 

Requirement for formal consultation

 

Subpart 11.J1 of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998 (CASR) sets out the requirements for consultation before CASA may issue a MOS or a MOS amendment. Normally, the consultation process must take place before the MOS or amendment is made.

 

It had been thought that the consultation with the Part 139 Aerodromes Working Group satisfied this requirement. Following these consultations, CASA expedited the MOS amendment to provide early implementation of the ICAO Annex 14 changes. The MOS amendment was, therefore, made without further consultation. Its immediate effect was to update aerodrome infrastructure standards for to 2 international aerodrome operators in Australia, which were in the advanced stages of detailed design for new runways. These projects could not otherwise have proceeded in the absence of legislative confirmation that CASA had adopted the amended ICAO Annex 14 changes.

 

The making and commencement of the MOS amendment enabled the relevant aerodrome operators to obtain final design approval and progress to the relevant construction phase for their projects. Additionally, other aerodrome operators have revised scope to redesign existing facilities to enable and facilitate the operation of larger aircraft.

 

After the MOS amendment commenced, there was doubt as to whether CASA's consultation, carried out within the framework of broader consultation on the overall PIR, fully satisfied the specific formal consultation requirements of Subpart 11.J procedures in the CASR.

 

Under regulation 11.295 of CASR, this doubt may be removed by CASA issuing a Notice of Consultation in accordance with subregulation 11.280 (2) of CASR, thereby initiating a further 28 day period of public consultation on the MOS amendment as made.

 

This further period of consultation is to ensure that CASA has fully complied with the formal consultation requirements for the making of a MOS. As such, this additional consultation does not in any way affect the MOS amendment as commenced on 25 January 2017, which continues in force and effect according to its terms.

 

Please forward your response via the CASA online response form by close of business 29 March 2017.