CASA has said it will reconvene the CASR Part 103 Technical Working Group (TWG) in the last quarter of this year.
It will be the first time the Part 103 TWG has met since October 2021, when the group dissented on the manual of standards (MOS) describing it as "not fit for purpose in its current form".
CASR Part 103 covers rules for aircraft and operation of sport and recreational aircraft administered by Approved Self-administering Aviation Organisations (ASAO) such as RAAus.
According to a CASA spokesperson, the regulator prioritised other rulesets over Part 103 when the MOS was rejected, such as Part 105 (parachuting) and transitioning ASAOs to Part 149.
Since the making the MOS was deferred, recreational and sport aviation has been allowed due to a number of exemptions to the Civil Aviation Orders (CAO), but now CASA wants to get back to Part 103.
It is believed that CASA began work again last December and has met with several ASAOs this year to discuss the objections to the original MOS, and will re-convene the TWG in the coming months and develop a consultation pathway after that meeting.
Among the original objections to the Part 103 MOS were:
- the draft was overly prescriptive given the type of operations that are intended under Part 103
- the draft shifted away from the informed participation philosophy
- not enough responsibility was given to the individual organisations that administer the rules
- additive requirements in the draft that had not been thoroughly discussed or debated amongst the TWG or the industry.
The TWG consist of representatives from ASAOs and other experts from within the sport and recreational aviation communities.