Julian Moxon/PARIS
THE EUROPEAN Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) has distanced itself from North America and Australian authorities over allowing single-engine turbine-powered aircraft to be operated commercially under instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) and at night.
JAA operations-committee director Richard Yates says that the authority is unlikely to permit either passenger or cargo operations before April 1998, when the JAR OPS 1 rules covering commercial air transportation in Europe take effect.
Pressure from operators in the USA and Australia has resulted in a change of attitude within the certification authorities of those countries (Flight International, 3-9 May, P5). They are now likely to follow the Canadian authorities in allowing single-engine instrument-flight-rule (IFR) operations, with an amendment to the existing rules expected within 18 months (single-engine IFR cargo operations are permitted in the USA).
The draft version of JAR OPS 1, which was circulated a year ago, prohibits IMC and night single-engine cargo and passenger operations. Talks with the US Federal Aviation Administration in June 1994, however, led to an agreement to work together on the issue, with the hope that the development of new procedures could be harmonised.
"For several reasons, we found that we could not agree on a common time-scale," says Yates, pointing out that pressure from operators in the USA (particularly Alaska) and Australia is far more intense than it is in Europe, although admitting that it is "slowly building" there. The two authorities have now agreed to proceed independently.
Swiss manufacturer Pilatus Aircraft is "extremely disappointed" about the "major step back" taken by the JAA. The company says, that it has a potential customer which wants to operate PC-XII cargo services "between one JAA country and another", and was "looking at how to achieve certification". It stresses that it is "...still willing to work with the JAA".
Yates says that part of the problem stems from the multi-national nature of the JAA, which makes quick decision-making virtually impossible. He denies, however, that there are any internal differences of opinion between the member authorities.
Source: Flight International
