Air Navigation Order goes under the microscope

A ‘root and branch’ review of how the UK’s Air Navigation Order (ANO) impacts on general aviation (GA) has begun, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) confirmed today.

The wide-ranging review will look at how a more proportionate and lighter touch regulation for general aviation can be achieved. The review follows a commitment made by the CAA in response to the Government’s Red Tape Challenge last year – which committed the CAA to reforming the regulatory regime for the UK’s GA sector. The first stage of this major project will see the CAA examine all ANO provisions relating to general aviation – from licensing requirements to operations and airworthiness rules – with a view to deregulating or delegating where possible, in order to simplify compliance for GA pilots and organisations. An amended ANO will also speed up the CAA’s ability to introduce reforms already identified.

The initial review is expected to be completed by March 2015, followed by a public consultation on initial concepts and a second consultation in September 2015 on the CAA’s specific recommendations. Any changes to the ANO will have to be approved by the Department for Transport. DfT officials will be working closely with the CAA throughout the review process.

The review will follow the principles already adopted by the CAA in its oversight of general aviation, which include:

• only regulate when necessary, and to do so proportionately;
• deregulate where it can;
• delegate where appropriate;
• not to gold-plate, and quickly and efficiently remove gold-plating that already exists;
• help create a vibrant and dynamic GA sector in the UK.

The CAA has also established an independent GA Challenge Panel, chaired by Julian Scarfe, Vice President of Europe Air Sports, to oversee the ANO review.

Launching the review, Padhraic Kelleher, the CAA’s Head of Intelligence, Strategy and Policy, said: “The Air Navigation Order has developed over many years, but with the large amount of change that has taken place over recent years, we have to ensure that the ANO is suitable from a GA perspective. I am confident that by the end of the review process we will be well on the way to a simpler, more streamlined and, ultimately more successful, General Aviation sector.”

The CAA’s General Aviation Unit, which was formed earlier this year, has already published a work plan outlining a number of proposed reforms . The CAA and AOPA are also jointly engaged in a project to identify and tackle areas where EU regulations have been ‘gold plated’.