Recommendation

CASA will address this issue and will commence a review of the
legislation. In the course of that review, CASA will consider
whether there is a need to mandate the use of simulators in
connection with certain flight crew training requirements in the
air transport sector, and other sectors where this may be
appropriate.



This work will commence immediately.  It will involve
consultation with industry and may come to involve a risk
assessment, a cost-benefit analysis, and the preparation of a
regulatory impact statement.  As this is likely to be a
protracted process, CASA is not in a position to specify a specific
completion date at this time.

CASA released a Discussion Paper (DP) in December 2009 on the
subject of mandatory flight simulator training. The DP put forward
a range of options to canvas the views of industry participants.
Responses to this DP closed in February 2010. Numerous responses
were received from a variety of organisations and individuals
including airlines, pilots and flight simulator training providers.
These responses are currently being reviewed and policy proposals
are being developed.

The subject of mandatory flight simulator training is a high
priority for CASA and as such it is expected that a Notice of
Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) will be published in the 2nd quarter of
2010. This NPRM will put forward CASA's proposed policy on this
issue which will in part be derived from the comments received on
the DP. Depending on the results of an assessment of business
compliance costs, the proposal may be subject to a formal
Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) which may prolong the rule making
process.

On 26 October 2010, CASA issued Notice of Proposed Rule Making -
NPRM 1007OS 'Mandatory Flight Simulator Training - Proposed
amendments to Civil Aviation Orders (CAOs) 40.0 and 82.0' for
industry comment by 21 January 2011.

On 8 July 2011, CASA advised that:

The Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) published in October
2010 proposed that pilots must be trained in certain abnormal
aircraft manoeuvres in simulators, if available, rather than in
aircraft. In general terms, for aircraft certificated for 20 or
more passengers, or weighing more than 8618 kg, the NPRM proposed
that pilot training be provided in simulators, if available in
Australia or in a recognised country overseas. For multi-engine
aircraft certificated for between 10 and 19 passenger seats, the
training would have to be conducted in a simulator, if available in
Australia. If a simulator was not available in Australia but was
available overseas, the operator's check pilots would have to
travel overseas for the training.

CASA has assessed the comments received to NPRM 10070S and has
developed a revised proposal taking into account some of the
identified issues. A cost and impact assessment of this proposal is
currently being undertaken. It is anticipated that the revised
proposal, with a cost assessment, will be provided to the joint
CASA/industry Standards Consultative Committee for further
consultation.

On 21 May 2012, CASA published a notice of final ruling making
that set out comments made by the aviation industry on the 2010
proposals, as well as the final rules. CASA advised that the
changes to the simulator-based training requirements will come into
effect on 1 April 2013 and encouraged air operators to prepare
early for the new rules.

In June 2012, CASA announced that the new requirements for the
conduct of a range of pilot training and checking exercises in
simulators would reduce the risk of aircraft training accidents,
improve pilot training and lower aircraft wear and tear. CASA
reached this conclusion after analysing the impact of changes to
the Civil Aviation Orders in relation to mandatory simulator
training.