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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 2097.PDF
ULL LIST OF READER SERVICES ADVERTISER CONTACTS - P60 EDITORIAL +44 (20) 8652 3842 Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5AS, UK Fax +44 (20) 8652 3840 email fligtt.intern3tionamrbl.co.uk Editor Murdo Morrison »44 (20) 8652 4395 murdo.morrison@rbi.co.uk Editorial Assistant Andrew Costerton +44 (20) 8652 3835 mdrew.costertonMi.co.uk News Editor Andrew Doyle +44 (20) 8652 3096 andrew.doyie0rbl.co.uk Commercial Aviation Editor Max Kingsley-Jones +44 (20) 8652 3825 max.klngsley.jones@rbl.co.uk Defence Aviation Editor Stewart Penney +44 (20) 8652 3834 stemrt.penney@rbi.co.uk Operations/Safety Editor David Learmount •44 (20) 8652 3845 david.learmount@rbi.co.uk Business Editor Alexander Campbell +44 (20) 8652 3990 alexander.campbell@rbi.co.uk Business & General Aviation Editor Kate Sarsfield +44 (20) 8652 3885 kate.sarsfield@rbi.co.uk Senior Reporter Justin Wastnage +44 (20) 8652 3S63Justin.wastnage@rbi.co.uk Technical Reporter Michael Phelan +44 (20) 8652 3843 michaei.phelan@rbl.co.uk Spaceflight Correspondent Tim Furniss +44 (1237) 471960 tim@spaceport.co.uk Senior Technical Artist Giuseppe Picarella •44 (20) 8652 B054joe.picarella@rbl.co.uk Editorial Artist Tim Brown +44 (20) 8652 8043 tim.brown@rbl.co.uk EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST European Editor Christina Mackenzie +33 (1) 64 23 68 89 christina.mackenzie@rbi.co.uk Israel Correspondent Arie Egozi +972 (3) 9413132 AMERICAS Washington DC Office Fax +1 (703) 836 8344 Americas Editor Graham Warwick +1 (703) 836 3448 graham.warwick@rbi.co.uk East Coast Editor Stephen Trimble +1 (703) 836 3084 stephen.trimble@rbi.co.uk West Coast Editor Guy Norris •1(949)252 8971 Fax+1 (949) 252 8972 guy.norrls@rbi.co.uk Brazil Correspondent Jackson Flores Jr +55 212439-6062 Fax +55 212349-6090 fubar@uoi.com.br Canada Correspondent Brian Dunn ASIA/PACIFIC Singapore Office Fax +65 6769 7575 Regional Managing Editor Nicholas lonides +65 6780 4311 nicholas.ionides@rbi.co.uk Deputy Asia Editor Brendan Sobie +65 6780 4309 brendan.sobie@rbl.co.uk Regional Reporter Leithen Francis +65 6780 4314 leithen.francis@rbi.co.uk Australia Civil Aviation Correspondent Emma Kelly +61 (8) 9454 4987 emmajkelly@bigpond.com Australia Military Aviation Correspondent Peter La Franchi +61419246 620 Fax+61 (2) 62312795 nulka@ozemait.com.au EDITORIAL PRODUCTION Group Production Editor Graeme Osborn +44 (20) 8652 3828 Group Art Editor James Mason +44 (20) 8652 4994 Chief Sub-Editor Chris Thornton +44 (20) 8652 4997 Deputy Production Editor Jackie Thompson +44 (20) 8652 3850 Sub Editor Megan Turner +44 (20) 8652 3848 Photographer Mark Wagner +44 (20) 8944 5225 WWW.FLIGHTINTERNATI0NAL.COM Webmaster Sheena Buchanan +44 (20) 8652 4432 SUBSCRIPTIONS +44 (1444) 445454 rbi.subscriptions@rbi.co.uk THE FLIGHT COLLECTION kim.hearn@rbi.co.uk © and Database Rights 2003 Reed Business Information Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of the publishers / m\ I Air Transport Intelligence (ATI), Flight International's sister online service at www.ratl.com, contains the full text of Flight International'and Airline Business since 1996. Full text of the magazines can also be found online with Lexis-Nexis, Dialogue, FT Profile, IAC and Reuters. Editor Kieran Daly +44 (20) 6652 3837 Reed Business Information COMMENT Raising the game The European Aviation Safety Agency's launch this week makes many in the industry nervous. But they can influence it if they really want to At the end of last week the European Union finally got a centralised aviation safety agency, EASA, just as the USA has one Federal Aviation Administration rather than 50 separate state bodies. Nobody will notice for a while - it will not change the lives of any part of the industry overnight because the transition, via the Joint Aviation Authorities, has been evolutionary. EASA gained its parliamentary mandate last year and was given 12 months to become oper ational. Everyone affected by the laws that will now be enforced centrally has known for years that the changes were on their way. Most have been working according to the Joint Aviation Requirements (JAR) - on which EASA's regula tions are based - for years, but today standardisation rather than nationally inter preted harmonisation is the name of the game. The theoretical advantages are easy to understand. European aviation industries now Everyone affected by the laws has known for years that changes were on their way all have to conform to the same standards, first in airworthiness, certification and maintenance and, within the next five years, the same opera tional standards. So that elusive goal - the level playing field - is being delivered. EU states with unenforced or undemanding regulations now have to raise their standards to the com mon level or be penalised. The results should be improved quality and better safety, which is what the consumer should see. So why is EASA not being hailed as a major achievement? It has been a difficult task creat ing the new body. It entailed winning political consensus for such an agency among member states, then designating its delicate relation ship as an apolitical bridge between European Commission law-drafters/law-wielders and those with the technical expertise in the indus try that can make - and keep - its laws relevant. But Europeans' natural scepticism - rightly - will not free them to praise a system until it has proved itself in operation, and EASA is an unknown quantity as yet. Perhaps the greatest fear is that it will it lack transparency and be more bureaucratic and unaccountable in practice than the systems it replaces. The transparency fear is almost certainly over- hyped, because it can hardly be said that the multiple-agency system was either simple or transparent. But the national aviation authori ties - which will continue to play their role as oversight agencies - were known quantities and they had evolved with their local industries. There is also the fear that the voices of the small or niche players in the industry will not be heard in Hoofddorp, the Netherlands, where EASA has its temporary headquarters. An example of why this concern exists is the recent experience of the helicopter industry working with the JAA to draw up JAR OPS 3, the opera tional standards for rotary wing operations. This is now in its third major amendment even though it is the most recent set of JAR OPS to become effective. How can an agency be so far out of kilter with the industry it regulates? The answer is different according to where in the helicopter industry one poses the question. One allegation is that the JAA just took its JAR OPS for fixed wing operations and inserted "helicopter" wherever the word "aircraft" appeared, which is probably a little harsh. There is certainly a belief that the offshore heli copter industry had a high level of influence on the early versions of JAR OPS 3, leaving other categories of helicopter operator unheard. But if that is so, why did it happen and how? A senior official in Europe's helicopter associa tions points out that offshore operators are the largest, and can spare people to represent them, whereas small air taxi operators, for example, cannot spare the people or the time to work with the JAA to develop their new regula tions. Perhaps that is nearer the truth. Meanwhile, Eurocontrol, an agency that will advise the EASA on air traffic management (ATM) regulations, recently saw its ambition to enforce reduced vertical separation minima carried out despite pleas from smaller airlines and the business jet community that it cost too much to equip older aircraft. It is now planning to do the same for controller/pilot datalink com munications using VHF Datalink mode 2 on the grounds that Europe's ATM system will not be able to match capacity to demand unless it is mandated soon. The sectors of the industry that do not have loud voices should rightly be watchful. But basi cally, EASA is the only sensible way to proceed, and it embodies a traditional rulemak ing consultation process. So those that have, in the past, not been good at taking part in rule making are going to have to band together to make sure they are heard. SEE HEADLINES P5, AIR TRANSPORT P10, HELITECH P26 www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 30 SEPTEMBER - 6 OCTOBER 2003 3
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