All Weather Operations and Fuel/Energy Planning and Management

Overview

While the UK was still part of the EU the CAA worked very closely with both ICAO and EASA on developing a performance and risk-based set of regulations that would:

• Facilitate the use of new technological advances enhancing situational awareness;
• Facilitate the operation of helicopters in low visibility conditions; 
• Enhance all aspects of initial and recurrent pilot training;
• Harmonise the UK legislative framework relating to flight operations, flight crew licensing and aerodromes with ICAO amendments to Annexes 6 and 14, in particular amendment 44 to Annex 6 Part I, Amendment 37 of Annex 6 Part II, Amendment 23 of Annex 6 Part III and ICAO Doc 9365; 
• Introduce changes to fuel/energy planning and management as a result of new ICAO SARPs to Annex 6 Part I via Amendment 38 to ICAO Doc 9976 Flight Planning and Fuel Management (FPFM) Manual.

Due to delays in implementation within the EU caused by the COVID-19 pandemic these provisions were not part of the legislation retained in UK law at EU Exit.

The CAA is therefore now considering the regulatory requirements necessary to:

• Introduce the concept of ‘fuel schemes’ for Commercial Air Transport (CAT) which will take into consideration the interrelationships of the operators’ fuel planning policy, in-flight fuel management and the selection of aerodromes;
• Amend Annex VII (Part-NCO) and Annex VIII (Part-SPO) to enable a more performance-based approach with regard to the Final Reserve Fuel (FRF) including moving some of the regulatory requirements to AMC and GM;
• Address fuel issues that are specific to helicopter operations;
• Allow for better integration and use of new, advanced technology as well as new operational procedures to support All Weather Operations (AWOs);
• Ensure the availability of aerodrome infrastructure (including meteorological equipment), information and procedures to support AWOs; 
• Allow for the use of enhanced flight vision systems (EFVS) to the maximum extent possible (e.g. EFVS to land); 
• Allow for safe helicopter flights under instrument flight rules (IFR), using point-in-space (PinS) approaches and departures; and 
• Improve the existing mandatory crew training and checking requirements for air operators by addressing initial and recurrent training and checking, the conditions for the operation on more than one aircraft type or variant, the acceptance of previous training and checking by non-commercial operators, and multi-pilot operations of single-pilot certified helicopters.

The purpose of the consultation is to gain feedback from industry and the wider public on the proposed amendments to:

• The Air Operations Regulation (UK Reg (EU) 965/2012) (Air Ops);
• The Aircrew Regulation (UK Reg (EU) 1178/2011) (FCL); and 
• The Aerodromes Regulation (UK Reg (EU) 139/2014) (ADR).

Any changes the CAA proposes to ask the Secretary of State to make to the Regulations following this consultation are anticipated to be laid before Parliament in a Statutory Instrument (SI) on 30 November 2023. The CAA’s proposals for transitional arrangements to give industry time to comply with any new requirements are set out within this consultation. 

The CAA will also develop Acceptable Means of Compliance, Guidance Material and Certification Standards necessary to support the implementation of any changes to the regulatory requirements. It is anticipated that these will be published in draft form as part of another consultation ahead of the SI being laid, with a final version published as close to the laying of the SI as possible.

Previous consultations 

The UK participated in work with EASA to develop AWO rulemaking task (RMT 0379) and Fuel/energy planning and management (RMT 0573). These tasks were subject to consultation through the EASA Notice of Proposed Amendment (NPA) process while the UK was still a member of the EU. The output of this process was Commission Implementing Regulations (EU) 2021/2227 (for Flight Crew Licensing), 2021/2237 and 2021/1296 (for Air Operations) and Commission Delegated Regulation 2022/208 (for Aerodromes). Interested UK stakeholders played a significant part in the development of these tasks. While the UK CAA has not yet directly consulted with UK industry on the proposed changes, respondents to this consultation would have had the opportunity to comment on similar changes while the UK was a member of EASA. 

This consultation

This consultation document relates to the Air Operations, Aircrew and Aerodromes Regulations. 

The proposed changes cover areas including:

• All Weather Operations 
• Fuel/Energy Planning and Management 
• Flight crew licensing and training; and
• Aerodromes infrastructure

Regulations

Regulations (also called Implementing Rules or IRs) contain requirements which must be complied with. The CAA’s statutory role is to consider the required content of the regulations, consult on our proposed changes to the regulations, take consultation responses into account before forming a final view and then communicating that view to the Secretary of State (Department for Transport) in the form of an Opinion. Our Opinions are published. The Secretary of State makes the final decision whether to implement CAA’s proposed changes to the regulations, and on the final wording of the regulations. The proposed wording of the regulations in this consultation may well change if and when the Secretary of State decides to amend the regulations.

Why your views matter

It is important to the CAA that everyone has an opportunity to voice their opinion on matters that could affect them. There is also a legal requirement to consult when creating or amending AMC and GM, due to the legal status of these documents.

We welcome comments from every sector of the community. This includes the general public, government agencies and all sectors of the aviation industry, whether as an aviator, aviation consumer and/or provider of related products and services.

How to respond

This consultation will close on 25 May 2023. We cannot take into account comments received after this date. We will assume that all responses can be published once the consultation has closed. There is an option to request for your name to remain private, but in any event your email address will never be published.

Please submit your comments using the online survey link below. 

What happens next

At the end of the response period, we will review and publish each comment and submission received.

Your feedback will be considered as we refine the AMC and GM and guide the development of the regulatory changes.