88 SA Flyer Magazine

hile AOPA South

Africa has had

success in keeping

the CAA’s and other

parties’ excesses

in check, some of these impediments to

the development and survival of GA keep

rearing their heads, refusing to die.

Most of these little monsters have

little or no basis in promoting safety or

private aviation. When mulling over the real

motivations behind them, the old adage

‘follow the money’ comes to mind.

R10,000 FINES

Although there have been some

regulatory changes to Part 185 of the

Regulations, these only seem to entrench

an extremely unconstitutional and

unproductive approach to enforcement.

When Miller wrote about this subject

in August 2013, CAA inspectors on

‘roadshows’ were darkly telling quivering

pilots that “CAA Director Poppy Khoza

has all the powers of a magistrate.” That’s

nonsense. As has been decided in case

after case in South Africa, there is a

clear separation of powers between the

executive, the legislature and the judiciary.

Nevertheless, the CAA persists in trying

to legislate by ignoring the limits on its

power to regulate, and continues to mislead

hapless victims of their enforcement

process that the Director has powers to

adjudicate over what are dened as criminal

offences – without respecting the rights of

accused persons. Essentially, CAA is still

trying to be administrator, parliament and

kangaroo court all in one.

A few determined individuals have

taken matters to the High Court, which

has in turn been critical of CAA’s failure to

follow the correct procedures in attempting

to penalise individuals. The doctrine of

‘just culture’ has also been poured into the

mix and, at this stage, has only served to

confuse matters further. Just culture and

criminal procedure are conceptually similar.

Both only permit punishment of an offender

if he or she has wilfully broken the rules or

been unacceptably negligent.

Most of the enforcement actions that

have crossed AOPA’s desk are trivial or

justiable transgressions, if indeed they are

transgressions at all. Yet, they all start with

demands for payment of R10,000 or more.

None of them would be likely to be enforced

by the courts.

It is essential that anyone receiving an

enforcement notice from CAA obtain advice

from either a practitioner or from AOPA

before making any kind of representation

or payment. Payment of any fee or ne, or

making plaintive representations, will only

be detrimental to your case.

CORPORATE OPERATIONS

We reported in September 2013 that

AOPA Europe was successful in preventing

EASA from passing regulations regarding

aireld limitations for turbine aircraft used

for business purposes. An example was

given of a member of AOPA Germany

who would have been required to y to

his destinations in a single-engine piston

aircraft rather than the Piaggio Avanti he

had been using extensively for many years

without mishap. EASA saw the irrationality

AOPA BRIEFING

Back in 2013, when

the late John Miller

was writing a similar

article, we covered a

number of unworkable

proposals, regulations and

procedures which have

been a thorn in the side

of general aviation for a

considerable length of

time.

THE ZOMBIE

REGULATIONS

Chris Martinus ‒ Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association – South Africa

According to AOPA, the

Director shouldn't have

powers to adjudicate

over what are defined as

criminal offences.

89 SA Flyer Magazine

of that and abandoned the idea of trying to

impose additional constraints upon turbine

aircraft under 5,700 kg that are being used

for non-commercial purposes.

As discussed extensively last month,

CAA slipped Part 93 in front of the new

Minister of Transport for signature during

the 2016 festive season – despite vigorous

opposition from AOPA since 2015. CAA has

subsequently granted some limited blanket

exemptions from signicant portions of Part

93, giving the lie to their contention that

there were good reasons to recommend the

regulation to the Minister in the rst place.

This regulation thus becomes little

more than a cash-cow for the CAA and

consultants who will “help” desperate

corporate operators to obtain short-term

exemptions for a fee.

AIRFIELD CAPTURE

The saga of CAA’s attempts to force

licensing and registration of private airelds

has been going on for over ten years.

It now enters another round where

CAA has chopped up the original proposed

regulations like a salad and rearranged

them on the plate in an attempt to fool

everyone that it is something different

– despite thousands of objections and

comments lodged on the previous

proposals.

AOPA has been taking the point for

some time that the regulatory process

over this issue is seriously awed and

that the procedures that are painstakingly

prescribed in the Civil Aviation Act and the

Regulations are simply being ignored.

A procedural aspect that has recently

taken a comical turn for the worse is

that Part 11 prescribes that proposed

regulations must be published in the

Gazette for not less than 30 days. In this

instance, and despite warnings from AOPA,

the proposed aireld regulations were not

published in the Gazette. Only a reference

to the CAA website was published – but

the proposed regs were not on the website

either.

A frantic scramble to get them on the

website was, however, too late. The date by

which public comments must be submitted

was now less than the mandatory 30 days.

CAA has asked CARCom members to

condone their failure to comply with the law.

Obviously AOPA cannot give permission for

the law to be broken, and has refused.

HOW TO KILL A ZOMBIE

These undead regulations continue

to lurch and stagger through the halls of

the CAA. As in the classic movie, Night of

the Living Dead, the zombie apocalypse

threatens to swamp civilised society,

leading to its panicked collapse where

only a few isolated pockets of survivors

remain, scavenging for fuel and airelds in

a world reduced to a pre-industrial hostile

wilderness.

Zombie experts all agree that the

only way to kill a zombie is the complete

destruction of the brain. Fortunately, the

brains appear to be faltering already.

AOPA BRIEFING

CAA has granted some

limited blanket exemptions

from portions of Part 93.

RIGHT - The saga of licensing and

registration of private airfields has been

going on for over ten years.