A recent media statement by McDermott Aviation has raised questions about CASA’s role in the potential certification of the Transall C-160 aircraft for aerial firefighting operations.
Date
CASA’s role is to ensure that any aircraft operating in Australia under civil aviation approvals meets the necessary safety and regulatory requirements.
CASA supports innovation and capability growth in aviation, including for aerial firefighting. However, safety remains the overriding priority, and certification decisions must be based on sound evidence.
The Transall C-160 is a former German military aircraft type designed in the 1960s that has not previously been certified for civil aerial firefighting operations anywhere in the world.
McDermott Aviation did not engage with CASA before purchasing these aircraft which are more than 50 years old and had reached the end of their military service life.
In April, McDermott Aviation submitted their most recent certification project plan to CASA. Based on their own submitted certification timeline, the earliest possible certification outcome would be late 2027. This plan is yet to be agreed by CASA.
Progressing this matter requires 2 key steps. First, a legal pathway for certification would need to be established through amendments to regulations. These currently only support certification of foreign military aircraft from the UK, US and Canada – something that McDermott Aviation should have been aware of when they made the purchase decision. CASA is working to progress those legal amendments.
Second, a detailed engineering assessment is required to determine whether the individual aircraft can meet the standards necessary for civil certification and the types of operations required for aerial firefighting. This is a time-consuming process made difficult by the age of these aircraft, where they have operated and modifications made to them since they were designed.
Flight evaluations form only a small component of this complex process, and to date CASA has not been involved in any form of flight evaluations. CASA encourages operators to engage early when considering the import or modification of aircraft types that have not previously been approved for civil operations in Australia.
Any suggestion we are ‘delaying’ this project ignores the complexity of the safety and engineering assessment work required. CASA follows the same process used by other national aviation authorities, and does not compromise safety in response to the commercial decisions of operators.
Australia already has substantial aerial firefighting capacity, with more than 500 aircraft available nationwide through more than 150 operators.