Organisations dealing with a flight crew who are inexperienced or have limited training.
What can CASR Part 135 Operators do?
Operators should consider how they support crew with limited experience to ensure safe operations.
Training and checking requirements establish the minimum regulatory requirements but you should consider other options when supporting junior crew.
Consider adopting a conversation approach about safety of operations if you have low to average experience among crew.
Other options to support inexperienced crew could include:
- mentoring. Consider starting a mentoring program for junior pilots who receiving mentoring by more experienced pilots within the organisation. A mentoring program extends beyond traditional training and checking and allows opportunities for junior pilots to gain a better understand of ‘corporate’ knowledge from experienced pilots.
- standardising operations as much as possible. This includes incorporating ‘airline’ style SOPs into operations to reduce variation and crew workload. This can also allow for a greater focus on the safe operation of the aircraft
- allowing enhanced insights into your normal operations and improve the understanding of latent issues that may exist in your organisation by implementing either:
- flight data analysis program (FDAP)
- flight operations quality assurance (FOQA)
- line observation safety audit (LOSA).
You should also promote a positive safety culture to support crew in raising concerns. This empowers crew to make appropriate risk-based decisions knowing they have your support.
What is CASA doing or has already delivered?
In addition to licencing experience and competency requirements details in CASR Part 61 and associated material, we have introduced CASR Part 119.
Part 119 details requirements for the certification and management for air transport operators. It also includes the requirements for a scalable training and checking system. This Part ensures all operational safety critical personnel are at an acceptable level of competency before starting safety critical tasks.
We have published new training and checking and recency requirements in CASR Parts’ 119 and 135. This ensures operational safety-critical personnel are proficient in the required competencies to support air operations.
Guidance material is available to operators to help meet requirements and support establishing an effective training and checking system. Material includes:
- Part 119 Acceptable Means of Compliance – Guidance Material. This details one way you can meet the requirements of CASR Part 119
- AC 119-11 and AC 138-02 - Version 3.1 training and checking systems.
For operators interested in implementing a FDAP program, we have updated and released guidance on FDAP for air transport operations through AC 119-04 v1.0.
This AC provides:
- description of the relationship between safety management systems (SMS) and FDAP
- overview of the key elements and guidance for the establishment and implementation of an FDAP.