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Covering Letter

The Honourable David Collenette
Minister of Transport
Government of Canada
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada

June 12, 1997

Dear Minister:

I have the honour to submit the report of the APEC Group of Experts on Aviation Safety and Assistance.

At their first meeting, held in Washington in 1995, the APEC Transportation Ministers agreed that action was required to assess aviation safety in the Asia Pacific region and to make recommendations for assistance.

Canada's Transportation Minister of the day, The Honourable Douglas Young, agreed to take the lead on this challenge. Subsequently, a Group of Experts on Aviation Safety and Assistance (GEASA) was formed with Canada's Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) as Chairman.

This report summarizes the findings and recommendations of GEASA in response to Ministers' direction to give this matter priority attention.

In summary, GEASA has identified the need for improvement of civil aviation safety in the Asia Pacific region and, having regard to the extremely rapid growth of air transportation in the region, has concern regarding the capacity to provide for systems and infrastructure needed to mitigate the inherent safety risks of such growth. This report presents the safety issues and recommendations for resolution.

GEASA concluded that there are five significant safety issues in need of attention. These are:
1. Lack of adequate civil aviation safety oversight;
2. Lack of harmonization of civil aviation safety rules;
3. Potential for air traffic conflict;
4. Insufficient incident reporting systems; and
5. Availability of appropriate skills in industry.

GEASA recommends:

Recommendation 1

Ministers support the development, in each economy, of a Civil Aviation Safety Authority operating under clear principles for independence from the airline operator and where feasible from other operations.

Recommendation 2

Ministers may wish to consider the following:

2.1 Reaffirm their commitment to ICAO Assembly Resolution A29-13, Improvement of Safety Oversight, and to implementation of the operations and airworthiness standards contained in Annexes 6 and 8 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation.

2.2 Endorse the ICAO initiatives for aviation safety oversight which are currently underway or under development in the Asia-Pacific region such as the ICAO safety assessment mechanism and the Co-operative Development of Operational Safety and Continuing Airworthiness Project (COSCAP).

2.3 Encourage the more vigorous implementation of these initiatives within ICAO to ensure that these activities are successfully implemented, and encourage economies and other donor organizations to contribute resources to ensure the viability of these initiatives.

2.4 The need to further assess the possibility of providing additional multilateral, bilateral and private sector resources to economies, and a mechanism for advice to Civil Aviation Authorities on Ministers' decisions and for administering these resources which would complement ICAO initiatives in the region; recognizing also that it is in the interest of aviation safety within APEC member economies to extend these resources to non-APEC member economies in the Asia-Pacific region.

Recommendation 3

Ministers endorse the need to establish a Civil Aviation Safety Academy approach to the enhancement of safety inspector training to be provided through existing or new facilities and to a curriculum that is developed to facilitate common application of safety standards.

Recommendation 4

Ministers issue a declaration requesting that their respective Civil Aviation Authorities pursue the harmonization of civil aviation safety regulations, standards, procedures and associated processes employed in the manufacture, maintenance and operation of the civil aviation system having regard to the ICAO COSCAP initiative.

Recommendation 5

Ministers encourage the development of a Regional Air Navigation Agreement recognizing the requirement for an orderly implementation of Airborne Collision Avoidance Systems (ACAS) and accompanying Altitude Reporting Transponder systems in accordance with the provisions of Annex 6 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation.

Recommendation 6

Ministers encourage accelerated implementation of mandatory ACAS installation where feasible.

Recommendation 7

Ministers strongly encourage all APEC economies , which have not already done so, to ratify Article 83 bis of the Convention on International Civil Aviation relating to the transfer of States' functions and duties in the case of international lease, charter and interchange of aircraft.

Recommendation 8

Mandatory Incident Reporting: Ministers encourage the International Civil Aviation Organization to develop standards with respect to the incidents to be reported and the format for reporting, such that international data base comparisons are facilitated; and

Recommendation 9

Confidential Incident Reporting: Ministers endorse the need for each economy to establish a confidential incident reporting system administered independently from the regulatory authority or to make use of an existing system.

GEASA observes:

Observation 1:

It will be necessary for industry to expand its program of training nationals of APEC developing economies to provide adequate skills for the manufacture, maintenance and operation of all elements of their civil aviation systems, and for basic education to include technical-based curriculum to prepare students for higher education and technician training for the increasing technological environment in the APEC economies.

The Group of Experts worked diligently with dedication to propose recommendations designed to protect and promote safety in all elements of the civil aviation systems of all of the APEC member economies.

Submitted, for your consideration, on behalf of the Group of Experts on Aviation Safety and Assistance.

D. Spruston
Chairman
APEC
Group of Experts on Aviation Safety and Assistance

Date modified:
2010-06-22