FLIGHT OPERATIONS

OFFICER (FOO)
REFRESHER TRAINING
CIVIL AIR LAW
&
REGULATIONS
 INTRODUCTION
As the Second World War drew to a close it became very obvious that
aviation was going to play a major part in the post war economies of all
nations but only if the usual barriers to growth could somehow be overcome.
United States convened a Conference in Chicago in November of 1944.
Delegates from 52 nations attended with the declared purpose to:
“foster the future development of international civil aviation, to help
create and preserve friendship and understanding amongst the peoples of
the world, so as to prevent its abuse becoming a threat to the general
security”.
 FRAMEWORK
The outcome of the convention was a document known as the
Convention on International Civil Aviation - commonly referred to as
the “1944 Chicago Convention”.
The document comprised 96 articles which laid the foundation for
modern international aviation and gave authority to establish ICAO:
the International Civil Aviation Organization.
The Document is supported by 18 annexes which detail Standards
and Recommended Practices covering all aspects of aviation.
The Convention also produced two other agreements:
 The International Air Services Transit Agreement
 The International Air Transport Agreement
 The Articles of the Chicago Convention
The 96 articles of the Chicago Convention Establish the following:
 Establish the privileges and restrictions of all Contracting States.
 Provide for the adoption of International Standards and
 Recommended Practices regulating air navigation
 Recommend the installation of navigation facilities by Contracting
States.
 Suggest the facilitation of air transport by the reduction of
customs and immigration formalities.
Article 43 Of the 96 articles stemming from the original convention
authorized the formation of an international body called ICAO.
 Some countries adopt these law completely, others notify variations to it.
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
A specialized agency of the United Nations that develop the
principles and techniques of international air navigation and
fosters the planning and development of international air
transport to ensure safe and orderly growth.
ICAO headquarters located in the Quartier International of
Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
 Standards and Recommended Practices
Most of the detail of international air law is contained in the
eighteen annexes to the Convention.
These contain Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs).
There is a distinction in the name:
 Standards: all member states are expected to incorporate
Standards into their aviation law.
 Recommended Practices: procedures which States are
recommended to adopt.
Deviations from SARPs must be notified to ICAO who publish the
deviation in a supplement to the relevant annex. Deviations are often
notified in the form of an Aeronautical information publication (AIP).
Where ATC regulations differ from SARPs the producers of flight guides
often notify the differences in their publications.
 Procedures for Air Navigation Services (PANS)
ICAO produces more detailed guidance known as the Procedures
for Air Navigation Services (PANS).
Although these don’t carry quite the same status as the SARPs but it seen as the
definitive worldwide standard operating procedures.
Procedures for Air Navigation Services are divided into three sections:
 PANS-ABC: ICAO abbreviations and codes
 PANS-OPS: Aircraft Operations
• Vol 1- Flight Procedures
• Vol 2- Construction of Visual and Instrument Procedures
 PANS-ATM: Rules of the Air and procedures for establishing Air
Traffic Services.
PANS have a lower status than SARPs so member states do not have to
notify ICAO if they do not accept the recommendation.
 Regional Supplementary Procedures and Other Manuals
Regional Supplementary Procedures (SUPPS)
augment the PANS and
modify the SOPs contained
in PANS to cater for the
Specific requirements of
various regions in the world.
 Annexes to the Convention on
International Civil Aviation (ICAO)
Chicago Convention is composed of 19 annexes containing the basic
standards and recommended practices (SARPs) of the International Civil
Aviation.
Annex 1: Personnel Licensing
Annex 2: Rules of the Air
Annex 3: Meteorological Service for International Air Navigation
Annex 4: Aeronautical Charts
Annex 5: Units of Measurement to be Used in Air and Ground
Operations
Annex 6: Operation of Aircraft
Annex 7: Aircraft Nationality and Registration Marks
Annex 8: Airworthiness of Aircraft
Annex 9: Facilitation
Annex 10: Aeronautical Telecommunications
Annex 11: Air Traffic Services
Annex 12: Search and Rescue
Annex 13: Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation
Annex 14: Aerodromes
Annex 15: Aeronautical Information Services
Annex 16: Environmental Protection
Annex 17: Security
Annex 18: The Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air
Annex 19: Safety Management
 The International Air Services Transit Agreement
The Chicago Conference also set up two supplementary agreements:
 The International Air Services Transit Agreement
 The International Air Transport Agreement.
The International Air Services Transit Agreement allows aircraft of
any signatory power to fly over or to land for technical reasons in the
territory of any other signatory, these are known as the first and second
freedoms of the air respectively.
 First Freedom: The right of aircraft from State A to overfly State B
without landing.
 Second Freedom: The right of aircraft from State A to land in
State B for technical reasons.
These two freedoms are collectively known as the Technical Freedoms.
The Technical Freedom
 The International Air Transport Agreement
The International Air Transport Agreement allowing the carriage of traffic
between the State of registration of the aircraft and any other signatory
State. The third freedom allows passengers and freight from the home
state to be set down in the state of arrival, the fourth freedom allows
passengers and freight to be picked up for transport to the home state
and the fifth freedom allows passengers to be picked up or set down from
states other than the home state.
Third Freedom: The right of aircraft from State A to accept paying
traffic from State A and put it down in State B.
Fourth Freedom: The right of aircraft from State A to pick up
paying traffic in State B and put it down in State A.
Fifth Freedom: The right of aircraft from State A to take paying
traffic from State B to State C.
These freedoms are collectively known as the commercial freedoms.
Commercial Reasons.
 Cabotage
Cabotage is the transport of passengers and goods by
State A within State B.
It’s a very sensitive subject and many states forbid it.
Unless specifically permitted to do so.
An aircraft of State A operating on domestic routes within
State B is committing an offence known as unlawful
cabotage.
 Summary of the Five Freedoms
 It’s important that you understand these five freedoms. They are the
basis for almost all your rights to operate non-scheduled flights over
and in another state’s sovereign airspace.
 Be aware that these “freedoms” are not actually rights. For a start they
only apply to states who have signed up to the two agreements which
cover them. And not all states will grant all five freedoms. Details of
which freedoms are granted by which states can be usually be found in
flight guides and other national publications.
 The other essential point to understand is that the five freedoms relate
only to non-scheduled flights. For example one-off charter flights
which aren’t repeated regularly are covered, but a regular air service
between, for example, capital cities, is not.
 Scheduled services have to be agreed between the states concerned
usually as some form of bi-lateral agreement. There is certainly no
obligation under the Chicago convention for states to accept scheduled
service into or over their territory.
 Another contentious issue is Cabotage because Cabotage is certainly
not a right and nor is it one of the five freedoms. You can only operate
services within another state if you have specific permission from that
state to do so.
 European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC)
Its purpose is to drive the formulation of aviation policy for all EU
member states and some additional countries, notably Turkey and
Iceland.
Its ultimate aim is to develop a safe, sustainable and efficient European
air transport system.
ECAC was founded in 1955 and works under the authority of the Council
For Europe.
 Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA)
The Joint Aviation Authorities is an associated body of European Civil
Aviation Conference (ECAC).

“The JAA’s original purpose was to implement common standards for

safety, regulation and operational procedures.”

It used to represent the Civil Aviation Authorities of all EU member states

but this function has now largely been taken over by the European
Aviation Safety Authority (EASA).
The JAA published a number of regulatory documents called Joint
Aviation Regulations - or JARs for short.
The JAA documents of most relevance to pilots operation under the JAA
regime are:
 JAR 145: Specifies the requirements for the Approved Maintenance
Organizations (AMOs) that issue JAA Certificates Of Airworthiness.
 JAR-FCL: (Flight Crew Licensing) details the requirements for
qualifying for licenses and the privileges associated with each
license. A pilot’s license gained in accordance with the JAR-FCL
regulation will be acceptable to all JAA member states.
 JAR-FTL: (Flight Time Limitations) have not yet been finalized.
When accepted by member states JAR-FTL will lay down the
requirements for flight time limitations
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)
EASA is an organ of the EU and carries the full weight of legislative
authority with it.
The national authorities of EU states have ceased to have any
competence for creating regulations.
They instead have become agencies of EASA charged only with
ensuring compliance with EASA regulations.
Some functions, such as aircraft certification, previously carried out
by the JAA, have already been transferred to EASA.
 EASA Regulations
EASA is steadily assuming responsibility for certain areas of regulation.
The first role it took from the JAA was the Certification of Aircraft.
Consequently, two documents which were originally JAA regulations have
now been renamed and re-branded as EASA regulations.
 CS 23 &25: are the new names for what used to be JARs 23 and 25.
CS stands for Certification Specification.
These two documents cover the regulations applying to small and large
aircraft respectively. These are pan-European standards so an aircraft
certified under either of these specifications is automatically acceptable
to all European member states.
EASA also has responsibility for Commercial Aircraft Operations.
The rules are covered in:
 EU-OPS: this document specifies the rules and regulations governing
commercial air transportation.
 EuroControl
EuroControl is an International Organization originally established to
oversee and execute air traffic control in the upper airspace regions of
Member States.
It’s Air Traffic Control Centre (ATCC) is located in Maastricht, Netherlands.
However, since 1986 this role has expanded to include Air Traffic Flow
Management (ATFM). This additional function is carried out by the
European Central Flow Management Unit (CFMU).
THE END