Essay: Law in aviation

In chapter three, the basic concept of law in aviation constitutes this chapter. The meaning of law, in inclination to the legal framework for safety in civil aviation industry is the focus of this chapter. The safety laws, standards, rules, regulation applicable to the aviation sector are subset of this chapter. The fundamentals of aviation regulations and the regulatory structures are not exempted. Majorly and finally,, this chapter explored the Chicago Convention Articles, Annexes and Appendixes that centres on aviation safety.
The laws in place to ensure safety and where the rules and regulations come into play are featured. Other areas that this chapter addresses includes the major aviation safety related legislations; (the mission, mode of operation, strength, weaknesses and relationship between agencies of) the international and national bodies or agencies in charge of aviation safety, and finally, the importance of the role of law in ensuring safety in aviation
• Regulations establish specific rules that the public must follow in order to comply with the requirements of the law.
• Once the regulation is in effect, it is our job to help the public comply with it.
3 Legal framework for safety in Civil Aviation
3.1 Safety Laws, Standards, Rules And Regulations Applicable To Aviation
Laws are actually rules and guidelines that are set up or made by government official to govern behavior. It sets out standards, procedures and principles that must be respected and not to be broken. Breaking them subjects the accused to be prosecuted in the court of law. Under aviation, laws are framed as aviation law.
It is normally acceptable that there is a need for rules and regulations in any industrial sector to ensure that the management, workers, consumers and all other stakeholders are aware of the expectations of the organization. On this ground, those who oversee the affairs of such industry must put up a framework that would direct and be guidance to all stakeholders in every quarter. It is likewise important that everyone involved in such industry need to have a comprehensive knowledge of their position in this sector and the potential expectations. An order that will effectively sustain the industry from incidents and accidents is important.
Regulations can be used to define two things; a process of monitoring and enforcing legislations and a written instrument containing rules that have law on them. In consequence, rules and regulations are needed that would touch every area such as resourcing of personnel, the working standard of every personnel, personnel training, safety standards and so on. Equally, there is a need for procedures to provide a framework, which allows for notions of organizational justice and reciprocity.
Sometimes, some of the rules and regulations set up in an industry may be clichéd and irrelevant but it can be effective in protecting and enhancing the safety of everyone involved in the activities of the industry. Going against them could mean a serious incident or accident, which will amount to a serious offence. Under aviation sector, regulations are wrapped in the forms of certification, personnel licencing, airworthiness of aircraft, aircraft accident and incident investigation, safety management and so on. The most significant reason behind embracing any rules and regulations is for personal safety and safety of customers and co-workers. This has been confirmed important in a sector such as the aviation sector where aircrafts with passengers and good are always at the mercy of aviation personnel. Neglecting the safety rules and regulations in this sector could result in incidents or accidents with serious injuries, loss of lives and properties. As said earlier, going against these set of rules and regulation could result to a very serious offence that attracts severe punishments depending on the State of concern.
It is a thing to note that the international rules and regulations for civilian aviation extend throughout the world and are promoted by the UN organization for civil aviation, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The regional regulatory bodies of civil aviation are the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) which acts as an umbrella organization for all EU member states’ civil aviation authorities; Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) which covers United States a lot of other countries such as Egypt, Nigeria, Tunisia, Ukraine, Bahamas etc.
The aviation industry is what it is today not in spite of, but rather because of, the law that regulates it. A world of aviation in the absence of laws that regulate it is a total calamity. In the aviation sector, laws, standards, rules and regulations constitute the legal foundation for the mission of facilitating safety and protecting the public. There are a number of federal, state, and local laws; international regulations and standards that pertain to the aviation activities that affect safety. What are the basis for aviation regulation activities, Why they are made, who they affect, how the bodies in-charge of aviation safety carry out their regulatory roles (mode of operation, relationship between agencies) and the importance will be reviewed briefly in this chapter.
3.2 Fundamentals of Aviation Regulations
The aviation industry is what it is today not in spite of, but rather because of, the law that regulates it. A world of aviation in the absence of laws that regulate it is a total calamity. There are some very imperative and latent basics that form the required foundation of regulations in the aviation which is the protractor for a sound safety.
(1) Effective Legislation:
A succinct explanation of the federal legislative and regulatory procedures may be useful here. Legislative activity gives birth to ‘Law’. Lawmakers or representatives to achieve a desired result, for example usually propose legislation. The lawmakers often know laws by their file numbers, for example, W.xyz or H.O.xyz. Supporters of proposed legislation make themselves available to the public for comments. Once a law is passed, its Public Law number is known. It is clearly stated and structured with the intent to accomplish the statutory objectives, which is inline with the aims of the State.
(2) Competent agencies for regulation:
There is a requisite for an effective and operational regulatory authority, and it is fundamental that legitimately prepared, resourced and dedicated experts are given the authoritative instruments by which they can put in place the statutory goals with which they have been endowed.
(3) A Culture of Compliance within the Aviation Sector
There is a need for support and understanding from those who these regulations are meant for. It is the duty of the competent agencies to effect its statutory objectives while it’s the duty of those who are regulated to cooperatively allow the collective aims of the regulatory bodies to be accomplished.
The competency of regulatory agencies and the compliance of the regulated in the aviation industry is just as important as oxygen to humans. It has a short-term and long-term benefit. At the mention of the objectives to be achieved collectively, the public or air transport users have higher tendencies of going through a risk-free transport system. It’s an industry that needs not a self-regulatory method but international regulatory instruments where responsibility for determining and enforcing standards will not be left in the hands of operators but in the hands of internationally recognised regimes.
3.3 Regulatory Structure
A number of sources constitute the platform for the creation of systems to regulate and oversee the affairs of the aviation industry. The aviation regulatory system is unique by global standards and the international aviation law that has developed is inextricably linked and founded upon the underlying regulatory structure. The sources of international aviation regulations and the institutions that establishes it includes
(1) International conventions
(2) Treaties
(3) Customs and customary laws
(4) Court decisions
(5) Legal instruments
(6) General laws
(7) States domestic laws
Out of all these sources and institutions, the most widely recognised and important ones are conventions and treaties. When sovereign States enters into an agreement with another State, upon the ratification of the agreement into the national laws of the States involved, it becomes a Convention. These agreements can be bilateral which involves just two States or multilateral which involves at least three States. In the chapter two of this study, bilateral agreements and the States of examples were discussed.
Conventions can also come in the form of the acceptance of States to partake in the discussion of issues of international significance, which has been sponsored by an international body. In regards to the legislative system and national procedures of the States in attendance, a State becomes a party to the Convention and Optional Protocol by signing and ratifying either instrument or by acceding to them. By signing the Convention or Optional Protocol, States or regional integration organizations indicate their intention to take steps to be bound by the treaty at a later date and it also creates an obligation, in the period between signing and ratification or consent to be bound, to refrain from acts that would defeat the object and purpose of the treaty. The international body of interest here is ICAO which creates safety and technical regulations for the aviation sector to keep the sky safe.
3.4 Safety Standards and Technical regulations in Civil Aviation
The aviation industry is subject to strict regulations, standards and legislation. One of the main tools, which have made the aviation industry to experience development, is the regulation, which cover standard and technical issue. In the historical evolution of ICAO, it can be fathomed, through its regulations, that this special agency of the United Nations has been a vehicle for the cooperation and coordination of the civil aviation with the priority of upholding the ethics and values of the Chicago Convention.
ICAO’s safety standards, which all world’s nation have infused into their national laws to make the sky safe have so much created a sense of responsibility and accountability to States. In just a day, millions of air transport users fly transcontinentally while behind this impeccable system, there are also millions of aviation employees keeping everything safe and reliable. The employees are found in various areas such as the manufacturing of aircrafts and parts, maintenance and checking of all aircraft spare parts couple with other services. This complex web in the aviation industry has been made very easy to forestall any incident and accident through the existence of universally accepted standards known as Standards and Recommended Practices, or SARPs. SARPs cover all technical and operational aspects of international civil aviation, such as safety, personnel licensing, operation of aircraft, aerodromes, air traffic services, accident investigation and the environment. ICAO is the body saddled with the responsibility of designing and upgrading SARPs. It is the Council (36-States), a component of ICAO that approves and integrates the SARPs as Annexes to the Convention on International Civil Aviation. In all the technical areas, the Air Navigation Commission (ANC) assists the Council.
In a technical standard, the safety aspects of international civil aviation are adopted in part by the principal provisions of the Chicago Convention and in part by the SARPs, which are 18 Annexes to the Chicago Convention, that continuously undergo amendments, and developments so as to keep its effectiveness inline with all regulatory requirements.
For the regulation and upholding of safety, three principal provisions of the Chicago Convention are of relevance. They are Article 12, 31 and 32. For the effectiveness and high operative nature of ICAO fashioned out in the Articles, the Chicago Convention empowers the ICAO to create technical SARPs. The technical specifications are divided into two categories, which are two types, which are ‘Standards’ and ‘Recommended Practices’, and in clear terms, its called SARPs.
Before a detail discussion on the three Articles and 18 Annexes, some terms would be defined and they are:
Standard: they are used to establish the technical details, which allow the law to concentrate on long-term policy objectives. A Standard is defined as any specification for physical characteristics, configuration, material, performance, personnel or procedure, the uniform application of which is recognized as necessary for the safety or regularity of international air navigation. The contracting States will adjust as per the Convention; in the occasion of difficulty in the possibility of agreement, notice to the Council is obligatory under Article 38 of the Convention.
Recommended Practice: any specification for physical characteristics, configuration, material, performance, personnel or procedure, the uniform application of which is recognized as desirable in the interest of safety, regularity or efficiency of international air navigation, and to which Contracting States will endeavour to conform in accordance with the Convention.
3.5 Chicago Convention
Popularly known as Convention on International Civil Aviation, as described in previous chapters as, founded the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a specialized agency of the United Nations charged with coordinating and regulating international air travel. The Convention establishes rules of airspace, aircraft registration and safety, and details the rights of the signatories in relation to air travel; it also exempts air fuels from tax. The Convention was signed by 52 states on 7 December 1944 and came into effect on 4 April 1947. It is not surprising that Chicago Convention understands the sovereignty of States in their respective territories; however, it has been a source of States’ domestic aviation law. It has served as a minimum standard for aviation safety yardstick. States have the whole right to completely adopt it or go outside some part of the Convention which must be done with due notification.
This Convention constitutes of 96 Articles and 18 Annexes, which made provisions for freedoms of States to operate air transport systems, the adoption of International SARPs used in regulating air navigation, system of air navigation facilities. Also, as part of the reason for the Chicago Convention, managing of potential sources of risk is regarded as one of its purpose, which includes good quality of aircraft and the crew flying them. Every State are compelled to take full responsibility of their skies and making sure that their foreign partners comply with all standards before admitting them to fly into their territory. The normative effect of that demand for assurance were seen in Article 11 of the 1919 Paris Convention which mandated that “every aircraft engaged in international aviation… be provided with a certificate of airworthiness… by the State whose nationality it possesses” this requirement was backed up by Article 12, which requires that “…” and by Article 13. Which also required that “…” for the safety of aircrafts and ensuring that the operators are competent. Hence, Articles 11, 12 and 13 declared that a State’s obligation for safety issues which is a fundamental framework for the Chicago Convention through Articles 31, 32, 33. As it has been noted previously that ICAO determines its safety yardsticks via issuance of SARPs, which are embedded in Chicago Convention Annexes, almost all of the Annexes touched safety concerns but the ones that unswervingly applies to Safety in the aviation includes Annex 1 which gives provision for personnel licensing, Article 2 which states the guidelines for the rules of air, Annex 6 which makes provision for the aircraft operation standards. Annex 8, Annex 13 and Annex 18, which respectively deals with airworthiness of aircraft, aircraft accident and incident investigation and the safe transportation of good that are dangerous by air.
Meanwhile, as a matter of scope of this study, which has to do with safety, just the Articles that directly concern safety shall be dealt with and the annexes to them shall not be excluded.
As a matter of fact, upon the signing and ratification of this Convention and its Annexes, a sovereign State becomes a party to it. This is also applicable to regional organizations such as EU. When a regional integration organization signs and formally confirms or accedes to a Convention and its Annexes, it becomes a party. In consequence, to the signing, it means such sovereignty States or nations in the region of the integrated organization have indicated their intention to take steps to be bound by the treaty at a later date, in other words, there is the willingness to undertake the legal obligations under the instruments. All said and done, sovereign States have the whole responsibility to amend their current national laws or introduce very new laws so as to put the Convention into existence.
Article 12 — which is labeled as —Rules of the air —, the Chicago Convention states that “Each contracting State undertakes to adopt measures to insure that every aircraft flying over or manoeuvring within its territory and that every aircraft carrying its nationality mark, wherever such aircraft may be, shall comply with the rules and regulations relating to the flight and manoeuvre of aircraft there in force.” This is the very first part of this Article. Annex 2 to the Convention detailed it that theses rules shall apply to aircraft bearing the nationality and registration marks of a Contracting State. These rules do not exempt Remotely Pilot Aircraft Systems (RPAS), which is the official ICAO term for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and drones.
The second facet says “Each contracting State undertakes to keep its own regulations in these respects uniform, to the greatest possible extent, with those established from time to time under this Convention.” The third is that “over the high seas, the rules in force shall be those established under this Convention. Each contracting State undertakes to insure the prosecution of all persons violating the regulations applicable. All these three facets are connection directly to the activity of the Council in fulfilling the Chicago Convention giving respect to the rules of the air. Article 12 will not be activated without the understanding of Annex 2 (Rules of the Air). According to Annex 2, there are two categories of rules of air that aircraft must comply to and they are: visual flight rules (VFR) and instrument flight rules (IFR). The explanatory note to article 2.2 of Annex 2 clearly expresses that pilot of an aircraft may elect to fly in accordance with flight rules in visual meteorological conditions. The category of rules, in clear terms, is determined by the weather condition; one of the two rules would have to be opted for by the pilot. For a pilot to VFR, he must avoid flying through cloud so as to have a clear view in the sky and keep a safe distance from incoming aircrafts so as to avoid collision. Flying under VFR allows a pilot to choose any flight pathway and counties like Spain, for safety reasons, do not permit VFR while Germany allows. On the other hand, in a situation where Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC) cannot be sustained, such that the weather is so cloudy and visibility is opaque, IFR would have to be employed. Most countries allow this rule for Established waypoints and airways have to be used and the altitude for the flight is determined by things like minimum airway altitude, minimum radar vectoring altitude (MRVA) and traffic situation.
In chapter 3.1 of Annex 2, negligence or recklessness in the operation of aircraft must be avoided to protect lives and property. It also echoed that congested areas or a dense area where people are inhabited must not be flown over by aircrafts. This may only happen at a stipulated height, which lies in the hands of the aviation authority of such area with high preference to undue hazard to property and lives on ground. Unmanned free balloons shall be operated in such a manner as to minimize hazards to persons, property or other aircraft and in accordance with the conditions specified in Appendix 4.
In the Appendix 4, heavy unmanned balloons have to operate in accordance to the same provision for aircrafts in areas that has to do with height over congested areas of settlement. Part of the equipment requirements in this Appendix is that all unmanned balloons must be equipped with at least two payload flight termination devices or system. From the look of things, RPAS also use these devises or systems and from the pattern of operations of RPAS, according to Annex 2, pilots are obliged to make sure collision is averted. Note to Annex 2 explains that it is important that vigilance for the purpose of detecting potential collisions be not relaxed on board an aircraft in flight, regardless of the type of flight or the class of airspace in which the aircraft is operating, and while operating on the movement area of an aerodrome. Thus, it can be established that pilot using any of the two categories of flight rules must do everything possible to have a view of its pathway and avoid any collision.
The Chicago Convention that expressly addresses the standardization of operation of aircraft in international air transport is Annex 6 to the Convention of International Civil Aviation. This Annex promotes effective safety methods in the aviation industry. To actually avoid incidents and accidents, standard operation of aircraft is very imperative. Under chapter 3 of Annex 2, it states that An operator shall ensure that all pilots and other members of the flight crew are familiar with the laws, regulations and procedures, pertinent to the performance of their duties, prescribed for the areas to be traversed, the aerodromes to be used, the air navigation facilities relating thereto and the performance duties in the operation of the airplane. Also, operators must properly instruct them of their functions and duties and the connection of these duties to safe operations as a whole. This ensures and confers operational control responsibility of maintaining safety and understanding of human-machine interactions. For example, when there is a loss of communication, knowing the procedures to communication and sleeping receiver would be of help. It is believed that ATC’s inability to contact an aircraft experiencing a radio failure could lead to that aircraft’s interception by military aircraft and causing air disasters. In addition, familiarisation ensures pilots to know how to make distress calls or send urgent messages with clarity in aviation vocabs.
When a pilot is faced with distress conditions such as fire, mechanical failure, or structural damage, which may endanger the safety of the airplane or persons, he is required to declare emergency and requesting for assistance. A pilot is not meant to wait till a condition develops into an urgency condition before requesting for help. The pilot can convey safety related information if a change of flight plan is very necessary while aboard. It is important that pilots try all their best not to violate local regulations or procedures. While doing so, they must write a report, which must contain the reason why there was violation within the stipulated date to do so.
Operation of flights is a key factor to be considered by operators before embarking on flight. Chapter 4 of Annex 6 made it well defined that for the safe operation of airplanes and protection of passengers, every facility that would be required for flight must be effective and adequately in good conditions. If any inadequacy of operation facility is noticed while aboard, the law says that immediate report must be made to the authority responsible for this, perhaps, guidelines may be given to manage the situation.
For the safety of passengers onboard, seat beats, emergency exits, life jackets, oxygen dispensing equipment, and other emergency equipment shall be shown, and explanation of how to use them (at appropriate circumstances) must be well illustrated. The operator shall as well ensure that, during takeoff and landing and whenever considered necessary by reason of turbulence or any emergency occurring during flight, all passengers on board an aeroplane shall be secured in their seats by means of the seat belts or harnesses provided.
Before the commencement of flight, according to Annex 4, a satisfactory report must have been given by the Pilot-in-Command (PIC) that the aeroplane is worthy to fly. Instruments such as airspeed indicator, altimeter, magnetic direction indicator, tachometer for each engine, oil pressure gauge for each engine using pressure system, temperature gauge for each liquid-cooled engine, oil temperature gauge for each air-cooled engine must have been mounted suitably for the flight. Also, a maintenance information about the basic details of the maintenance carried out, the date it was done, a means of identification of the maintenance organization and the identification of the person signing the release. All goods in the cargo must be properly arranged safely coupled with it doesn’t alter the center of gravity of the aircraft and doesn’t exceed the required mass to carry. Incase of circumstance unforeseen, PIC just have to plan a take-off alternate aerodrome according to what Annex 6 stated.
Pilots have had to make emergency landings because they were running low on fuel according to the Civil Aviation Authority. One of the reasons why it is important to carry a sufficient amount of usable fuel to complete a planned journey is because of unexpected circumstances. According to Annex 6, a calculation must be carried out as to the total possible volume of fuel to be consumed before takeoff (taxi fuel); a volume of fuel to be consumed from takeoff point to destination point putting in consideration unexpected event (trip fuel); contingency fuel which is shall not be below 5% of the total of the trip fuel (this contingency fuel is to compensate for any unexpected events while in the sky); destination alternate fuel which is available should there be a need to alter destinated aerodrome; the final reserve, additional and discretionary fuel. A distress fuel emergency condition message must be declared by broadcasting “MAYDAY FUEL” when the calculated fuel that was predicted for safe landing cannot be sufficient again.
Although, accidents associated with refueling operations are rare, Annex 6 made it expressly known that an aircraft must not be refueled with passengers boarding, onboard, disembarking except its carried out by qualified professionals and effective procedures such as the evacuation of all occupants as fast as possible, minimizing the possibility of ignition, keeping the environment where passengers would be to be cleared of equipment and obstacles, easy access of fire fighters to the environment where the refueling is taking place and generally complying with the requirements of relevant authorities.
The human body system cannot do without oxygen. As the altitude increases, the consequent decrease in pressure reduces the amount of oxygen the human body can absorb when breathing and to enable flight at high altitudes either the aircraft cabin has to be pressurised, to replicate the pressure at a lower altitude, or the occupants of the aircraft have to be given supplemental oxygen. In the provision of Annex 6 of the ICAO SARPs, it was said that passengers must be made acquainted, by the operators, with the location and use of the equipment for dispensing oxygen if there is the need. It also clearly affirmed that until all the oxygen storage equipment for dispensing in the personnel compartment are all in place in an aircraft planned to be operated at flight altitudes at which the atmospheric pressure is less than 700 hPa, it shall not take off.
More so, as stated in Annex 6, a flight to be operated at flight altitudes at which the atmospheric pressure in personnel compartments will be less than 700 hPa shall not be commenced unless sufficient stored breathing oxygen is carried to supply: a) all crew members and 10 per cent of the passengers for any period in excess of 30 minutes that the pressure in compartments occupied by them will be between 700 hPa and 620 hPa ; and b) the crew and passengers for any period that the atmospheric pressure in compartments occupied by them will be less than 620 hPa
Besides, a flight to be operated with a pressurized aeroplane shall not be take off until a sufficient quantity of stored breathing oxygen is carried to supply all the crew members and passengers, as is appropriate to the circumstances of the flight being undertaken, in the event of loss of pressurization, for any period that the atmospheric pressure in any compartment occupied by them would be less than 700 hPa. In addition, when an aeroplane is operated at flight altitudes at which the atmospheric pressure is less than 376 hPa, or which, if operated at flight altitudes at which the atmospheric pressure is more than 376 hPa and cannot descend safely within four minutes to a flight altitude at which the atmospheric pressure is equal to 620 hPa, there shall be no less than a 10-minute supply for the occupants of the passenger compartment.
Another safety standards, which Annex 6 addressed, includes available and sufficient medical supplies (which are first aid kits), portable fire extinguisher, berth, seat belt, communication gadgets and spare electrical fuses and so on.
Proper aircraft maintenance is essential for keeping aircraft and aircraft parts in optimal condition, and ensuring the safety of pilots, crew, and passengers. Regularly scheduled plane maintenance and inspections seems to be a major area the chapter 8 of Annex 6 gives an insight to. It saddled operator with responsibility of maintaining each aeroplane in an airworthy condition inline with programmes for maintenance. It also compelled operators to keep all flight operational and emergency equipment serviceable before any flight. However, validity of the airworthiness certificate must be taken as a priority for each aeroplane. To repair or replace parts of aeroplanes, such action must be in compliance with requirements of airworthiness, which is satisfactory to the State of Registry.
On the part of States, safety in civil aviation lies in the hands of the State, and in regards to this, they must form safety programmes to this effect.
Annex 6 made provision for the qualification procedures for the operation of aeroplanes. It states that an operator shall not assign a pilot-in-command or a co-pilot to operate at the flight controls of a type or variant of a type of aeroplane during take-off and landing unless that pilot has operated the flight controls during at least three take-offs and landings within the preceding 90 days on the same type of aeroplane or in a flight simulator approved for the purpose.
It also provided that before an operator would assign a pilot to be a pilot-in-command of an aircraft on a route for which the pilot is not qualified to fly, such pilot must have displayed (in the route to be flown and aerodrome to be used) the adequate skills and knowledge of the terrain and minimum safe altitudes, seasonal meteorological conditions, communication and air traffic facilities, services, search and rescue procedures, and navigational facilities and procedures. Without getting it twisted, a pilot must have shown an adequate ability to execute emergency procedures on each type of aircraft
In an aeroplane, cabin crew are part of the personnel on board for the safety and welfare of passengers. They are also known as flight stewards or flight attendants. If there were no services of food or drink during a flight, there would still have to be a minimum presence of cabin crew for safety, which is a legal requirement.
Chapter 12 of the Annex 6 stipulated that for each aircraft assigned for flight, the seating capacity of the aircraft shall determine the number of cabin crew members to be present. In event of emergencies, they are there to calm passengers and ensure they follow safety instructions. At take off and landing point when the aircraft passenger door is opened, they must always be there to make coordinate the entry and exit of passengers into and from the aircraft safely.
Before the flight take off, they engage in a brief meeting with the PIC and after this, they inspect the aircraft, ensuring the safety equipment is in place and working properly and in a situation that a piece of equipment, such as a fire extinguisher, is found unserviceable, the cabin crew member must replace the item prior to takeoff.
They too need some level of safety. This Annex 6 covered this aspect. It states that each cabin crewmember shall be seated with seat belt or, when provided, safety harness fastened during takeoff and landing and whenever the pilot-in-command so directs.
As they have the duty to handle numerous emergencies such as cabin fires or first aid situations and other miscellaneous events, it is important the operators of airlines organise safety-training programmes (approved by the State of the Operator) for them before being assigned as a cabin crewmember.
Annex 8 of SARPs, under Part II, explained the procedures for certification and continuing of airworthiness, which is applicable to aircrafts. Chapter one of Annex 8 is labelled Type Certification (TC) and by definition, aircraft TC is the process of evaluation and approval of aircraft type design data against designated airworthiness standards that culminates in the initial issue of a TC. The design aspects of the appropriate airworthiness requirements, used by a Contracting State for type certification in respect of a class of aircraft or for any change to such type certification, shall be such that compliance with them will ensure compliance with the Standards of Part II of this Annex and, where applicable. Its is very important, in features, that aircraft designs must be safe for operations and when such design features reduce the safety confidence of an aircraft airworthiness, suitable requirements must be put in place by the Contracting States that would give a minimum level of safety. To know if an aircraft is airworthy, after it has been approved that the design is in compliance with the appropriate requirements, it must have been inspected on ground and in air. It is however in the discretion of a Contracting State to withhold a design approval of an aircraft if it seems to have some dangerous characteristics that can minimize safety. Before a Contracting State would issue an approval of design, repair or replacement of parts of an aircraft, according to Annex 8, the aircraft must have complied with the airworthiness standards (which was used for the issuance of TC) satisfactorily. Until there is a satisfactory report indicating that an aircraft has satisfied the requirements of designs, the State of Design must not issue a TC to define the design and to signify approval of the design of the aircraft type.
The chapter 2 of the SARPs 8th Annex addressed the issue of aircraft production and its parts. It simply states that every products of aircraft producer must be airworthy which must be scrutinized by the Contracting State in charge of design approval. The Contracting State has a duty of making sure that the aircraft production company is working according to the airworthiness standard production requirements. In fact, according to the level of emphasis made by Annex 8, every information about the parts and products going out to the aviation market must be properly recorded. Irrespective of the difference in location or place of manufacturer and location or place of design, there shall be an agreement acceptable by both States of the two such that aircraft manufacturer would have the easy access to data for the approved design.
After an airplane has satisfactorily complied with design requirements for airworthiness and approved, it shall be due for an issuance of a Certificate of Airworthiness (CoA) by the Contracting State. It is added in Annex 8 that A Certificate of Airworthiness shall be renewed or shall remain valid, subject to the laws of the State of Registry, provided that the State of Registry shall require that the continuing airworthiness of the aircraft shall be determined by a periodical inspection at appropriate intervals having regard to lapse of time and type of service or, alternatively, by means of a system of inspection, approved by the State, that will produce at least an equivalent result. A different Contracting State other than the Contracting State of CoA issuance has the power to re-consider the previous valid CoA of an aircraft if it complies with the standards proscribed by Annex 8. This is a very good aspect of double-checking the airworthiness of an aircraft should it escape a technical inspection in the former Contracting State. In the course of aviation business, if an aircraft did not consistently keep up to the airworthiness requirements, it shall forfeit such operation eligibility until necessary its worthy again.
Safety has its highest priority in the aviation industry. In as much as all requirements are complied with, it will keep the repute of the industry at high level. The State of Registry of an aircraft has a duty in maintaining safety requirements are complied with. For example, they judge the eligibility of an aircraft for airworthiness approval after it has suffered some damages. There decision counts and its final. If the aircraft suffered damages in the territory of another Contracting State, the appropriate authority of such State shall prevent it from flying with the due consent of the State of Registry. According to the Annex 6 the State of Registry of the aircraft must prevent the aircraft from flying until it is restored. However, if the damage is such that the aircraft can still fly with no risk, the State of Registry will allow such aircraft to resume flying. This is one of the agreements enjoyed by Contract States to keep aircraft airworthy and maintaining safety in the sky.
Another responsibility of Contracting States has to do with continuing airworthiness. The State of Design of an aircraft must communicate with every Contracting States information that may be useful for ascertaining that an aircraft is continuously airworthy which is for the purpose of aviation safety. Coupled with this responsibility is the organisation of programmes for safety in civil aviation.