Safety Standards Acknowledgement and Consent (SSAC) Class 5: Experience flight in an ex-military jet aeroplane

It is vital that CAP 1395 Safety Standards Acknowledgment and Consent (SSAC) remains up-to-date and relevant, and that the CAA’s guidance material in this area remains proportionate, clear and unambiguous.

We asked for feedback from the regulated community on proposed amendments to CAP 1395 ahead of implementation of an additional class of SSAC (Class 5: Experience flight in an ex-military jet aeroplane).

We compiled a draft of CAP 1395 Edition 4 and consulted on it over 4 working weeks from 11 July 2022 until 05 September 2022.

A total of 65 unique comments to the draft CAP from 22 respondents were received.

55 clearly conveyed some sort of change, 7 suggested no changes and 3 were unclear or just agreeing to this additional class. Of these, 44 comments were textual in nature, suggesting revised wording or highlighting minor drafting points. Many of these comments were duplicated between respondents; and the other 11 comments were more substantive, with 6 comments calling for some sort of change of the underlying policy.

Of the 44 textual comments 15 were accepted (34%). Most of these comprised of suggested rewording of content for clarification. A further 10 comments were suggested where changes had already been made and 3 comments were noted as unclear / unspecific.

Of the remaining 16 we elected not to implement, most called for revision to text that had been carefully drafted in cooperation and consultation with other groups. Others asked for further expansion on material that is covered adequately either in this document or elsewhere. Some suggested the introduction of content that was thought not necessary and outside the scope of this CAP.

Of the 11 substantive comments, 4 will be implemented with 7 elected not to implement due to the suggestion already covered elsewhere or those suggestions requiring a fundamental policy change, which was not part of the consultation.

Now we have produced our consultation response document we are now drafting a final version of CAP 1395 incorporating the various textual and substantive comments received as part of this consultation exercise. We plan to complete and publish the revised and updated CAP 1395 in Spring 2023.