Cooperative Development of Operational Safety and Continuing Airworthiness

Under ICAO Technical Co-operation Programme

COSCAP-South Asia

DRAFT

CO-OPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT OF OPERATIONAL SAFETY AND CONTINUING AIRWORTHINESS PROGRAMME – SOUTH ASIA

(COSCAP-SA)

MINUTES OF THE FOURTEENTHTHIRTEENTH MEETING OF THE PROJECT

STEERING COMMITTEE COSCAP-SA

HELD AT BANDOS ISLAND RESORTNEW DELHI, MALDIVES – INDIA

29 November 6 – 8 JUNE 2005– 012 DECEMBER 2004

Present

1.A total of37 of 5436 participants comprising Directors General of Civil Aviation, their Representatives from participating States, ICAO, representatives, representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), European Commission, European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), EU-Asia Civil Aviation Project, representatives of manufacturers, air operators and service providersand IATA attended the meeting. The list of the attendees is attached as Annexure 1.

Opening of the Meeting

2.The Hon’ble Secretary Civil Aviatiomeeting commenced with the recitation of verses from the Holy QurannDefence, Government of IndiaPakistan. Mr. Mahmood Razee, ; Secretary General of ICAO; Director General Civil Aviation Department,MaldivesIndia Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority;and Chairman of the COSCAP-SA Steering Committee and Mr. Wolfgang Sander-Fischer, Acting Chief, Asia Pacific Section; and the Regional Director, ICAO ICAO HeadquartersAsia and Pacific Regional Of fice, and Capt. Haile Belai, Chief of Safety Oversight Audit Programme, ICAO addressed the participants and invited guests during the meeting opening ceremony.

2.1In his welcome address Mr. Mahmood Razee Satendra Singh, Air Marshal Pervaiz Akhtar Nawaz, Director General Civil Aviation, India and the Chairman COSCAP-SA, Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority, extended a very warm welcome andsincere greetings to all the participants at the 1432th Steering Committee Meeting. He thanked the Secretary of Civil AviationDefence, Government of of IndiaPakistan for gracing the Inaugural Session. and extended heartfelt gratitude to the Secretary General ICAO for accepting the invitation of the Government of Pakistan to be at the Meeting. The Air Marshal acknowledged the perseverance with which ICAO has worked to make the COSCAP-SA Programme viable and successful.Welcoming He lauded the efforts of the Chairman and Members of the COSCAP-SA Steering Committee in guiding the Programme with objectivity, skill and competence.Mr. Lalit Shah, Regional Director of ICAO Regional Office, Bangkok, the Chairman called him a pillar of the regional cooperation in the Asia Pacific region, who, due to his personal initiative, had been able to achieve landmark resolutions in the diverse aviation activities. Mr. Razee wished the participants a very comfortable stay at the island resort. The Chairmanalso extended a warm welcome to Capt. Haile Belai, Chief of Safety Oversight Audit; Programme and Capt. Glenn Herpst, Chief of Operations Airworthiness Section and Ms Dawn Flanagan, TCB representative, all Mr. Vincent Galotti and Mr. Wolfgang Sander-Fischer from ICAO Headquarters and and thanked ICAO for its active participation and strong support to the Programme.. Giving a brief history of the Project, the Chairman touched upon Mr. Razee specially welcomed the Chairman CAA Bangladesh, Air Commodore AKM Harun Chowdhry and the FAA Director for Asia Pacific Ms. Nancy J. Graham who were participating in the Steering Committee for the first time. Briefly enumerating the numerous benefits that the States had accrued from the Programmeject the Chairman. informed that over 4About 42000 participants, both from the regulatory authorities and the industry have been trained under the Programmeject. The Cchairman highlightedemphasised that the cost of training of such a large cross sectionnumber of personnel would have been exorbitant without the continued support ofis co-operative effor the donor agencies and expressed the hope that donor support would continue in the future as well.t. He was pleasedexhorted that the Programmeproject had moved into Phase II and hads demonstrated complete flexibility to meet not only the requirements of the region but also of the individual States. . The Chairman highlighted that in accordance with the Chicago Convention, States were obliged to ensure that their aviation activities meet the International Standards and the Recommended Practices stipulated in various ICAO Annexes. Safety Oversight Audit Programme of ICAO was widely accepted by the States and the 33rd Assembly decided to expand the Audit programme to also cover Annexes 11, 13 and 14 dealing with Air Traffic Control, Accident Investigation and Aerodromes respectively. However, the Annex-by-Annex approach to audit was difficult to implement as many of the Annexes had inter-related safety provisions. The 35th Assembly, recognizing the difficulty, resolved that the USOAP be expanded to cover all safety-related Annexes and adopt a comprehensive systems approach for the conduct of safety oversight audits. The Chairman stressed that such safety oversight audits covering all ICAO safety-related Annexes is a difficult task and would require States to prepare themselves comprehensively for such an audit as approximately 30,000 International Standards and Recommended Practices and their safety related provisions would be addressed. Keeping this in view the Chairman stated that Safety Oversight Audit should be the main theme of the 13th Steering Committee Meeting. The Chairman reiterated the need for States not only to deliberate on how to get themselves prepared for the ICAO audit but also on how to get their personnel effectively trained on the new systems approach to audit. The ChairmanHe hoped that member States would endeavour to further enhance the regional cooperation and create a strong regional base of experts along with a compatible infrastructure.that would eventually be accredited by ICAO for carrying out Safety Oversight Audits. Mr. Razee hoped that the threewo days of the meeting would be very interactive and produce far reaching decisions in enhancing the safety of aviation in the South Asia region. The Chairman announced that the theme topic for the meeting was Safety Management for Air Traffic Management. Such experts could then be used to enhance aviation safety by undertaking similar safety oversight assessments in the region. The Chairman’s speech is attached as Annexure 2.

2.2 Aviation Safety Oversight Challenges

2.2

Capt. Haile Belai, Chief, Safety Oversight Audit Section, spoke on the ‘Aviation Safety Oversight Challenges’. He stated that safety of aircraft operations, in their totality has been the major occupation of ICAO and its Contracting States; this meant attending to all threats and challenges that may have a negative impact on the safety of aircraft operation as well as its security. He emphasised that Contracting States should build a capacity for oversight of their respective civil aviation industry because lack of safety oversight in one contracting State would threaten not only the health of civil aircraft operations in that country but also wherever an aircraft registered in that State may operate. Capt. Belay discussed the two distinct challenges to aviation safety-oversight: reducing the rate of accidents and dealing with futuristic opinion or expectations. He exhorted that the management of safety oversight-related activities is of prime importance to improving the level of safety and perception of flying as the safest mode of travel. He stated that ICAO and the Contracting States have been working together and highlighted the concrete steps taken by ICAO in this direction while discussing the USOAP and the success achieved. Thus far the Chief Safety Oversight Audit Section cautioned that the Audit Programme only covered a limited area of a State’s safety oversight responsibilities. He informed that the last session of the ICAO Assembly while addressing this limitation unanimously endorsed the need to adopt a comprehensive approach for the conduct of safety oversight audits which would cover all safety related Annexes as of January 2005. Capt. Belai noted that the point of concern remains to be the national aviation authorities’ capability for safety oversight and the willingness of their respective governments to support them to achieve this capability. He further stated that the audits have indicated that in a number of States, aviation has not been given the priority it deserves to promote safety and productivity but none the less significant progress has been made since the initial audits. While ICAO and the contracting States have been able to confront critical issues, however, the challenges faced have also increased in number and complexity. This required that the States commitment to aviation safety should increase at least at the same rate, an absolute necessity to successfully overcome the challenges presented. Capt. Belai’s speech is attached as Annexure 3.Mr. Wolfgang Sander-Fischer in his opening remarks conveyed the greetings and best wishes from the Director, Technical Cooperation Bureau, ICAO Headquarters and the Regional Director of ICAO’s Regional Office in Bangkok. He informed that regrettably, Mr. Lalit B. Shah, the Regional Director was unfortunately not in a position to join the meeting due to other pressing commitments but had conveyed his best wishes for a successful meeting and a fruitful outcome of the discussions. Mr. Fischer stated that the TCB Programme consists of approximately 100 technical cooperation projects in Asia/Pacific including three COSCAPs for South East Asia, North Asia and South Asia besides the Cooperative Aviation Security Programme for Asia/Pacific. He highlighted that COSCAP is one of the very important multi-country and multi-donor programmes that ICAO is executing in several regions world wide. Its basis is the Global Aviation Safety Programme of ICAO as well as the ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) as established by the ICAO Assembly. He informed that the related Assembly Resolutions further underpinned the need to address flight safety related deficiencies as identified by USOAP and other means, on a regional basis, exactly as was being done through the COSCAP Programmes. He described COSCAP-SA as being the front runner. Mr. Fischer stated that since its establishment seven years ago the Programme has gone through its establishment phase, its regionalization phase and had now reached its expansion phase in line with ICAO’s USOAP to include aerodrome and air traffic management. He recalled that a major accomplishment was the establishment of the South Asia Regional Aviation Safety Team (SARAST) which offers the unique opportunity for safety experts from the participating Governments, airlines and soon airport and ATM administrations to jointly translate into regional requirements those aviation safety issues as identified by safety teams like CAST and JSSI, and ICAO itself. Mr. Fischer wished the meeting every success.

2.3Mr. L.B. Shah, ICAO Regional Director, ICAO Asia/Pacific Office, in his address conveyed the greetings of the President of the Council of ICAO and the Secretary General to all participants of the 13th Steering Committee Meeting. He informed the meeting of the unanimous re-election of Dr. Assad Kotaite as the President of the ICAO Council for the 11th consecutive three year term. Mr. Shah stated that the revival to growth in Air Transport and corresponding increase in the number of flights and passengers made global co-operation more vital than ever in preserving the safety and security of air travel. He observed that the COSCAPs were the best model to demonstrate the core value of co-operation as enshrined in the Convention. Mr. Shah informed that the co-operative programmes had come a long way and in addition to the success of COSCAP-South Asia, North Asia and South East Asia, six other similar programmes were in the planning stages in various sub-regions of the world. He also stressed that each of the DGCA’s Conference brought the Asia/Pacific Region closer. Echoing the resolutions from the 41st Conference of the Directors General he quoted:

“Recognizing the value of partnership in promoting effective oversight of safe, secure and efficient international air transport, the Conference strongly urged States to reiterate their commitment to the existing partnership mechanisms.” ; and

“Acknowledging the extensive activities carried out by the COSCAP Programmes in the Region and their benefits to the States and Industry Partners and also acknowledging the establishment of Pacific Aviation Safety Office (PASO) and the Co-operative Aviation Security Programme – Asia/Pacific (CASP-AP) and bearing in mind the thrust of Assembly Resolution A35-7 stressing regional and sub–regional approaches, the Conference strongly urged all partners to continue extending full support to ensure sustainability of these co-operative arrangements.”

Acknowledging the presence and support of his colleagues from ICAO, FAA, EC, Airbus and Boeing, Mr. Shah reiterated the need for continued support and cooperation . The Regional Director also paid tribute to Capt. Fareed Ali Shah, the Programme Coordinator for his dedication and professionalism. Mr. Shah concluded by expressing his gratitude to the Secretary of Civil Aviation of India for extending overwhelming support to the COSCAP-SA Programme. Mr. Shah’s speech is attached as Annexure 4.

2.4The Chief Guest Mr. Ajay Prasad, Secretary, Civil Aviation in his address highlighted that during the 35th General Assembly of ICAO held in September-October 2004, the scope of the programme had been extended to cover all safety aspects. This enlarged audit will commence from 2005 and will require considerable development of regulations, procedures and training to show compliance with ICAO SARPs. He expressed confidence that COSCAP-SA would rise to the occasion and provide the necessary guidance, training- procedures and systems to meet the exacting requirements of the forthcoming ICAO audits; and also ensure that the standard of aviation safety in the region fully meet the international standards. The Secretary agreed that it was both appropriate and timely that the main focus of discussion would concentrate on aviation safety and stressed that although commercial civil aviation is the safest form of transport, it was always under very close scrutiny by the media. The present aviation safety level, though commendable would not be acceptable in future in view of increased number of accidents commensurate with with the growth of air transport activities. Mr. Prasad urged States, to therefore, strive to improve the rate of accidents by taking all possible measures. Constant training, skill up-gradation and competent handling of evolving technologies were the cornerstones in achieving the highest safety standards, he said. He felt certain that ICAO and COSCAP-SA would provide the necessary assistance and expertise for achieving this objective. The Secretary took the opportunity to appraise the Meeting of the steps taken by India to fully implement ICAO standards in safety to meet the challenges of the growing traffic needs. He congratulated DGCA India for achieving the desired goals. The Secretary further added that as users of aviation facilities, airport operators and the airline had to meet ICAO SARPs and welcomed the step of associating them in this meeting. He expressed confidence that the user organizations would provide very useful inputs during the deliberations and add value to the recommendations that emerge. The Secretary recognized the contributions by the donor organizations which had been continuously supporting this programme not only by providing financial support, but also by providing the services of experts in various fields to conduct training programmes. He hoped for their continued support to ensure the future success of the programme. Appreciating the guidance provided by the ICAO in the formulation and expansion of the programme, he expressed that it showed their commitment to make this programme highly successful. The Secretary lauded the professionalism and dedication of the COSCAP Steering Committee Members in taking this programme forward in a cost effective manner. While looking forward to the recommendations of the Steering Committee in guiding the future course of the programme, and in particular the measures to enhance safety in the airspace of the Region, the Secretary wished all the participants from neighbouring countries a pleasant stay in New Delhi and expressed trust that the deliberations of the Committee would be fruitful in further developing civil aviation in the Region. The Secretary Civil Aviation India’s speech is at Annexure 5.

While enumerating the main objectives and aims of the Programme, the Air Marshal stressed that for States with limited resources it was difficult to meet their safety oversight training requirements from international training centres because of prohibitive costs. He acknowledged the assistance and support of the donor countries, organization and agencies in assisting COSCAP-SA bring the requisite training to the Region. The effectiveness of the Programme, he said, could be gauged from the high benefit to cost ratio which averages 4.6 for all Member States. He, however, emphasized that despite huge grounds having been covered by COSCAP-SA in a short span of time, many issue remained to be resolved like: harmonization and standardization of rules, regulations and laws within the Member States; further promotion of air safety; and making a common pool of available expertise for the region. The concept of self-help and a collective regional approach was a step in the right direction he concluded