Within 6 Months

April 20, 2015

EASA Proposal Sets Stage for Performance-based Navigation Ops

A proposal from the European Aviation Safety Agency aims to extend performance-based navigation (PBN) procedures beyond the 24 EU airports previously required. The amendments would require ATC and airport operators to implement PBN SIDs, Stars and routes by December 2018; and PBN approach procedures with vertical guidance for all runways where there are currently only non-precision approaches by January 2024. Aircraft operators wishing to use these routes and procedures will be required to ensure that their aircraft and pilots are approved for PBN operations. Comments are due by April 20 this year.

April 23, 2015

Approvals Required for Extended Ops in WATRS Airspace

Revised OpSpec/MSpec/LOA B045, Extended Overwater Operations Using a Single Long-Range Communication System, will require certain operators to obtain a new approval by April 23 this year. The approval applies to all operators using a single long-range com system in the West Atlantic Route System, Caribbean or Gulf of Mexico. The current template for B045 is combined for Parts 121, 125 and 135, causing “confusion with respect to operational control organizations,” the agency said. “The new templates are tailored to the operational control organization and communication requirements of each part.”

April 24, 2015 NEW

Unmanned Aircraft Regulations Proposed

The FAA published its notice of proposed rulemaking for unmanned aerial systems (UAS). The proposal details the agency’s initiative to regulate the operation of so-called “small” (weighing less than 55 pounds) non-recreational UAS in U.S. domestic airspace and is expected to draw many comments from business supporters of UAS, as well as aviation safety advocates. The rule would limit flights to daylight and visual-line-of-sight operations. It also addresses height restrictions, operator certification, optional use of a visual observer, aircraft registration and marking, and operational limits. Comments are due by April 24.

May 4, 2015 NEW

New Contract Maintenance Requirements

Starting next month, maintenance regulations for Part 121 and 135 on-demand operations for aircraft with 10 or more passenger seats will require operators to develop policies, procedures, methods and instructions for performing contract maintenance that are acceptable to the FAA, and to include them in their maintenance manuals. The rules will also require operators to provide a list to the FAA of all people with whom they contract their maintenance. These changes are needed, said the agency, to correct “deficiencies in maintenance” performed by contract providers and to help “ensure consistency between contract and in-house” maintenance.

May 8, 2015 REVISED

NY Airports Slot NPRM Comment Period Extended

The comment period has been extended one month, until May 8, on a revised slot-management program for limiting operations at Newark, La Guardia and Kennedy airports. Airline interests had asked for a 60-day comment extension, but the FAA felt that a 30-day extension was sufficient.

September 2015  (tentative) NEW

Position Reporting Proposal From ICAO

Member countries of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) recommended the adoption of a tracking standard for aircrew that requires them to report their position at 15-minute intervals. Adoption by the 36-state ICAO Council is expected as early as this fall. Operators would be able to comply with the mandate using existing and planned technologies and procedures, ICAO said. It is considered a first step toward implementation of a more comprehensive three-tiered approach to tracking normal, abnormal and distress conditions.

Within 12 Months

Dec. 31, 2015

Deadline to Meet Stage 3 Noise Levels& Eight months remain to the Dec. 31, 2015 deadline after which jets up to a mtow of 75,000 pounds may no longer operate in the contiguous U.S. unless they meet Stage 3 noise levels. When the rule was published on July 2, 2013, the FAA said the mandate affected 457 U.S. registered owners of 599 principally Stage 2 business jets, though several models can now, or will be able to be, hushkitted or re-engined to meet Stage 3 before the deadline. The rule also applies to non-U.S.-registered aircraft. There are at least 50 countries that have a total of 392 registered airplanes like those banned in the United States, according to the FAA, with nearly 50 percent of these jets registered in Mexico.

Beyond 12 Months

April 24, 2017

Part 135 Rotorcraft Radio Altimeters NEW

Under new Part 135.160, rotorcraft must be equipped with an operable FAA-approved radio altimeter, or an FAA-approved device that incorporates a radio altimeter, after April 24, 2017.  Deviations from this requirement may be authorized for helicopters in which radio altimeters cannot physically be installed in the cockpit. The request for deviation authority is applicable to rotorcraft with a maximum takeoff weight of no more than 2,950 pounds. The radio altimeter mandate is contained in the final rule upgrading private, air-taxi and air-ambulance helicopter operations, published on Feb. 21, 2014.

February 2020 NEW

European Controller-Pilot Datalink Com Delayed

Europe will postpone requiring aircraft operators to equip for controller-pilot datalink communications (CPDLC) for five years, until February 2020, to accommodate technical problems. The European Commission expects the entity managing the Single European Sky ATM Research (Sesar) effort will recommend remedial actions for ground infrastructure issues next year. European Commission figures showed that only 40 percent of operators would have been ready to use CPDLC by the original deadline of Feb. 5, 2015. Also, the EC said that all of the required ground infrastructure could not have been implemented by the original deadline.