Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has postponed changes to the regulation of Approved Testing Officers (ATO) in response to community feedback.
As a result, ATOs have another year to surrender their delegation and obtain a Flight Examiner Rating (FER).
“In response to the concerns expressed by members of the industry about the insurance-related implications of this change, CASA has decided to extend the expiration date of current ATOs for a further year – from 30 June 2016 to 30 June 2017,” CASA said in a statement on Tuesday.
“This means that ATOs who have not yet surrendered their delegation and obtained a FER under Part 61 of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998 (CASR) in its place do not need to do so immediately, and may continue to perform their functions as ATOs for a further year.
“It also means that the indemnity protection offered to all CASA delegates and authorised persons, as set out in Civil Aviation Advisory Publication (CAAP) Admin-1, will continue to apply to ATOs until 30 June 2017.”
For those who have already surrendered their ATO delegation and obtained a FER, CASA was proposing a legislative amendment to retain their status as an ATO until June 30 2017.
CASA noted on its website that many who had already transitioned from having an ATO delegation to a FER would have made arrangements to obtain their own insurance coverage.
However, the legislative amendment would include the indemnity protection that having an ATO delegation provided.
“Until that change can be made flight examiner rating holders are not covered by the CAAP Admin-1 indemnity,” CASA said.
“Please note that until the legislation has been amended, FER holders who were previously ATOs are not now ATOs (delegates), and the benefit of CAAP Admin-1 indemnity protection has not yet been extended to these people.
“CASA will ensure that affected former ATOs who now hold FERs are advised when the legislation is amended, and what further action may need to be taken so they can obtain the retrospective benefit of CAAP Admin-1 protection.”
More details are available on the CASA website.
