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• » Aircraft Flight Manuals

Aircraft Flight Manuals

Since 16 August 2002, all Australian aircraft must comply with new rules for the management of Aircraft Flight Manuals (AFMs).

The new rules were introduced in August 1999 to simplify the system and eliminate delays in getting CASA approval for AFM changes.

Under the new rules, if an AFM, AFM amendment or AFM supplement has already been approved by the National Airworthiness Authority (NAA) responsible for issuing the Type Certificate (TC) for an aircraft, there is no longer a requirement for additional approval by CASA.

In brief:

• The basic AFM for an Australian aircraft must be the maker's AFM that was approved by the relevant NAA - additional CASA approval of the AFM is now not required.
• AFM information changes, such as AFM amendments and AFM supplements, that are approved and applicable, do not need additional CASA approval to be put into an individual aircraft's AFM.
• AFMs that were prepared, approved and issued by CASA or its predecessors (the so-called Civil Mark 1 and Civil Mark 2 AFMs) will no longer be supported by CASA. These will need to be replaced by the maker's approved AFM.
  Under the AFM regulations, it is the registration holder (the holder of the certificate of registration for an aircraft) who must ensure that:
• The basic AFM for the aircraft is the correct and current maker's AFM that was approved by the relevant NAA.
• All other required AFM information - such as approved AFM supplements - is present, correct and current.
• CASA is informed of every change to the AFM information.

Often an operator, registered operator, maintainer or pilot is contracted to keep an AFM correct and current on behalf of a registration holder. To do this, the operator, registered operator, maintainer or pilot must understand and fulfil the registration holder's AFM responsibilities.