Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority has released for public comment a notice of proposed rule making for the use of night vision goggles in helicopter operations.
The move follows a number of helicopter accidents at night in the country during search and rescue and emergency medical services operations and comes after a number of years of work by the regulatory authority and the Helicopter Association of Australasia to develop suitable legislation and standards for Australia.
The authority has worked closely with other international regulators on developing the requirements, including Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the USA.
Ahead of implementation of any new regulations, CASA proposes to run a 12-month trial of the rules to ensure that they suit the operational requirements of civil operators in Australia as there have been no civil helicopter NVG operations in the country, says the authority.
Industry has until 16 July to respond to the NPRM, which will affect operators involved in night-time search and rescue, law enforcement, aerial firefighting, emergency medical services and marine pilot transfer.
The development of the regulations follows helicopter industry demand and overseas developments in the use of NVG for civil helicopter operations, says CASA. Some countries have been using NVG for civilian operations for some time, says CASA, pointing to the USA for example, while new-generation helicopters are factory-equipped compatible for NVG. The requirements could be extended to similar fixed-wing operations in the future, it adds.
The authority proposes two options. Its preferred option is developing NVG legislation jointly with the Helicopter Association and industry and test the legislation for 12 months, after which either extend the trial or transfer the legislation into Civil Aviation Safety Regulations Part 133, which will cover rotorcraft operations, but is still under development.
The second option is to develop the NVG legislation with the Helicopter Association as a standalone project and then implement the rules into Part 133.
Source: Flight International
