Air Navigation (135 — Commercial Air Transport by Helicopters and Small Aeroplanes) (Amendment) Regulations 2022

No. S 825

Air Navigation Act 1966

Air Navigation
(135 — Commercial Air Transport
by Helicopters and Small Aeroplanes)
(Amendment) Regulations 2022

In exercise of the powers conferred by section 9 of the Air Navigation Act 1966, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, with the approval of the Minister for Transport, makes the following Regulations:

Citation and commencement

1. These Regulations are the Air Navigation (135 — Commercial Air Transport by Helicopters and Small Aeroplanes) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 and come into operation on 3 November 2022.

Replacement of regulation 43

2. In the Air Navigation (135 — Commercial Air Transport by Helicopters and Small Aeroplanes) Regulations 2018 (G.N. No. S 445/2018) (called in these Regulations the principal Regulations), replace regulation 43 with —

“Offshore destination — alternate

43.—(1) An AOC holder must not select or specify in the operational and ATS flight plans, an offshore destination alternate heliport for a flight of a helicopter which starts on or after 3 November 2022 —

(a)	without first carrying out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment about the use of a helideck as an offshore destination alternate heliport, if the helideck is to be so selected or specified; and
(b)	except under and in accordance with an approval granted by the Director‑General of Civil Aviation.

(2) The risk assessment mentioned in paragraph (1)(a) must include an assessment of the following matters:

(a)	the type and circumstances of the operation;
(b)	the area over which the operation is being conducted, including sea conditions, survivability and search and rescue facilities;
(c)	the availability and suitability of the helideck for use as an offshore destination alternate heliport including the physical characteristics, dimensions, configuration and obstacle clearance, the effect of wind direction, strength and turbulence;
(d)	the type of helicopter used or that may be used;
(e)	the mechanical reliability of the engines and critical control systems and components of the helicopter used or that may be used;
(f)	the training and operational procedures, including mitigation of the consequences of helicopter technical failures;
(g)	specific mitigation measures;
(h)	the equipment of the helicopter used or that may be used;
(i)	the spare payload capacity for the carriage of additional fuel;
(j)	weather minima, taking into account the accuracy and reliability of meteorological information;
(k)	communications and aircraft tracking facilities.

(3) In respect of any helideck that is approved by the Director‑General of Civil Aviation as an offshore destination alternate heliport under paragraph (1)(b) for a flight of a helicopter, the AOC holder selecting or specifying the helideck must comply with all of the following additional conditions:

(a)

the helideck must be used, or allowed for use, by the AOC holder as an offshore destination alternate heliport —

(i)	only beyond a point of no return with respect to the flight; and
(ii)	only if both an onshore aerodrome and an onshore destination alternate aerodrome are not geographically available;

(b)

the process for carrying out a risk assessment required by paragraph (1)(a) must —

(i)	be recorded by the AOC holder in the operations manual for the utilisation of a helideck as an offshore destination alternate heliport; and
(ii)	be kept up to date by the AOC holder where the helideck is being used or may be used;

(c)

the AOC holder must establish and apply specific procedures and appropriate training programmes in the operations manual for offshore destination alternate heliport operations;

(d)

the AOC holder must record, in an appropriate form in the operations manual, information about the latest survey conducted as to the orientation of the helideck and suitability of the helideck and make that information accessible;

(e)

the helicopter must have a one‑engine inoperative landing capability at the offshore destination alternate heliport;

(f)

the AOC holder must ensure that the minimum equipment list contains specific provisions for this type of operation;

(g)

the AOC holder must specify cloud ceiling and visibility criteria relevant to the elevation and location of the helideck;

(h)

the AOC holder must ensure that fog is neither present nor forecasted within 60 NM of the destination helideck and alternate helideck, respectively, during the period starting one hour before, and ending one hour after, the expected time of arrival of the helicopter at the destination helideck or alternate helideck, as the case may be.

(4) The AOC holder must ensure that, before the point of no return for the purposes of paragraph (3)(a) with respect to a flight of a helicopter is passed, the following actions have been completed:

(a)	confirmation that navigation to the destination and offshore alternate heliport is assured;
(b)	radio contact with the destination and offshore alternate heliport (or master station) is established;
(c)	the landing forecast at the destination and offshore alternate heliport are obtained and confirmed to be at or above the required minima;
(d)	the requirements for one‑engine inoperative landing are verified against the latest reported weather conditions to ensure that they can be met;
(e)	to the extent possible, having considered information on current and forecast use of the offshore destination alternate heliport, and on conditions prevailing, the availability of the offshore alternate heliport will be guaranteed by the helideck provider until the landing at the destination, or the offshore destination alternate heliport, is achieved.”.

New regulation 120A

3. After regulation 120 of the principal Regulations, insert —

“Runway overrun awareness and alerting system

120A.—(1) An AOC holder must ensure that every turbine engine aeroplane with an MCTOM exceeding 5,700 kg is equipped with a runway overrun awareness and alerting system (ROAAS).

(2) This regulation does not apply to a turbine engine aeroplane for which a Certificate of Airworthiness is first issued before 1 January 2026.”.

Amendment of regulation 127

4. In regulation 127 of the principal Regulations —

(a)

in paragraph (a), delete “and” at the end; and

(b)

after paragraph (a), insert —

“(aa)

obtain and assess airworthiness information from the organisation responsible for the design of the modification or repair of the aeroplane or helicopter; and”.

Amendment of regulation 171

5. In regulation 171(5) of the principal Regulations —

(a)

in sub‑paragraph (b), replace “abnormal circumstances” with “an unforeseen operational circumstance”; and

(b)

replace sub‑paragraph (c) with —

“(c)	the related reporting by the pilot‑in‑command each time the pilot‑in‑command exercises the discretion mentioned in sub‑paragraph (b);”.

Amendment of regulation 172

6. In regulation 172(3) of the principal Regulations, replace sub‑paragraph (g) with —

“(g)

whenever a pilot‑in‑command exercises (on or after 3 November 2022) a discretion to extend a flight duty period under unforeseen operational circumstances by more than 2 hours, submit a report containing details of the flight involved and the associated circumstances to the Director‑General of Civil Aviation, not later than the 30th day after the decision extending the flight duty period was made.”.

Amendment of First Schedule

7. In the First Schedule to the principal Regulations, after the definition of “Ground handling”, insert —

“ “Helideck” means a heliport located on a floating or fixed offshore structure.”.

Amendment of Fifth Schedule

8. In the Fifth Schedule to the principal Regulations, in paragraph 13 —

(a)

in the paragraph heading, after “flight duty period”, insert “or reduce minimum rest period”;

(b)

replace sub‑paragraph (3) with —

“(3) An AOC holder must ensure that the pilot‑in‑command reports to the AOC holder every exercise of discretion by the pilot‑in‑command —

(a)	extending any flight duty period under sub‑paragraph (1); or
(b)	reducing any minimum rest period under paragraph 3(2).”; and

(c)

in sub‑paragraph (4), after “the discretion”, insert “to extend any flight duty period or reduce any minimum rest period”.

[G.N. Nos. S 681/2018; S 771/2018; S 181/2019; S 214/2020; S 940/2020; S 838/2021]

Made on 19 October 2022.

EDMUND CHENG WAI WING

Chairperson,
Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore.

[LE/LGN/A1.8; AG/LEGIS/SL/6/2020/3 Vol. 2]

(To be presented to Parliament under section 9(9) of the Air Navigation Act 1966).

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