A consultation on simplifying many of the national rules and regulations that affect UK General Aviation (GA) and opportunities for further deregulation is now underway through a second and final consultation on GA elements in the Air Navigation Order (ANO).

Today’s announcement follows an earlier consultation in March this year on the wider aims of the review and follows a commitment made by the CAA, in response to the Government’s GA Red Tape Challenge, to reform the regulatory regime for the UK’s GA sector.

Responses to the previous consultation, which are also detailed in today’s announcement, were extremely supportive of the principles of the review. As a result, the new consultation makes detailed proposals on changes to the rules and regulations for pilot licensing, operations and airworthiness with a view to deregulating or delegating where possible in order to simplify compliance for GA pilots and organizations.

An impact assessment on these proposals has been completed that indicates a substantial saving to the GA community.

All the proposals follow our principles already adopted for the oversight of GA, which include:

• only regulate when necessary, and do so proportionately
• deregulate where possible
• delegate where appropriate
• not to gold-plate, and quickly and efficiently remove gold-plating that already exists
• help create a vibrant and dynamic GA sector in the UK.

All the proposed changes have been influenced by an independent GA challenge panel chaired by Julian Scarfe, Vice President of Europe Air Sports, which was put in place to provide challenge and act as a critical friend to the process.

The current consultation is available at www.caa.co.uk/consultations and will close on 4 November 2015. A new ANO is expected to be enacted in autumn 2016 to closely align with the arrival of European Aviation Safety Agency operational rules for private aircraft.

Where possible changes will be introduced prior to the new ANO by exemptions to bring the benefits to the GA community as soon as possible.

More detail on the CAA’s GA activities and the work of the GA Unit are available at www.caa.co.uk/ga
For further media information please contact the CAA press office on 020 7453 6030.
Notes to Editors

The creation of a dedicated GA Unit within the CAA emerged from the Government’s GA Red Tape Challenge in 2013, which explored ways to reduce the regulatory burden on the general aviation sector. The 25-strong Unit has been assembled from airworthiness, flight operations and licensing specialists from across the CAA. All have significant knowledge and experience of general aviation, with most being active private pilots. The Unit is based in the CAA’s Aviation House facility in Gatwick.

The CAA is the UK’s specialist aviation regulator. Its activities include: making sure that the aviation industry meets the highest technical and operational safety standards; preventing holidaymakers from being stranded abroad or losing money because of tour operator insolvency; planning and regulating all UK airspace; and regulating airports, air traffic services and airlines and providing advice on aviation policy.