More than 270 separate proposals to simplify the regulation of UK general aviation have been received by the Civil Aviation Authority since it launched its "Red Tape Challenge" initiative.
The CAA says it intends to action many of the suggestions and investigate how to accommodate others. Only a relatively small proportion were rejected as unfeasible.
CAA chief executive Andrew Haines says he is delighted at the degree of co-operation the agency has received from the GA sector. He wants to dispel the impression, voiced in one particular complaint, that the CAA is "monopolistic and views [the] industry as a source of revenue rather than as a customer".
Applications and form-filling are to be simplified, and as a general principle regulation will be avoided if possible. Where required it will be risk-based and proportionate, says Haines.
The CAA will deregulate sectors such as small microlight airworthiness, delegating as much oversight as possible to industry bodies like the Light Aircraft Association, just as gliding licences are overseen by the British Gliding Association. The CAA will also seek to remove activities like gliding and ballooning from European Aviation Safety Agency oversight.
Haines pledges to remove "gold-plating" from EASA regulations – by which he means the CAA's previous tendency to add detail to basic EASA rules as they are applied in the UK.
The CAA also says it will put pressure on EASA to move away from hours-based qualifications for licences, and to ensure that the requirement to operate a safety management system is proportionately simplified for small operators and training organisations.
The CAA has already secured an EASA concession to allow it to continue to issue the IMC (instrument meteorological conditions) rating until 2019, and possibly indefinitely.
Finally, within the CAA a specialist GA unit is to be formed to improve service to the sector, and for the first time the Authority has set up a formal complaints process with defined turnaround times for responses.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
