Proposed amendments to Part 138 MOS - Carriage of personnel involved in firefighting activities - (CD 2509OS)

The proposed Part 138 MOS amendments are intended to implement the policy outcomes arising from a consultation conducted in September and October 2024. The information relating to this consultation is available at this link: Proposed change to policy on carriage of personnel involved in firefighting activities - (PP 2406OS).

The SPC attached to this consultation (not the prior policy consultation) contains essential information outlining CASA’s reasoning for each of the proposed MOS amendments.

It is strongly recommended that you read the SPC before answering this question.

The following paragraphs are only a brief summary of relevant SPC content.

Multiple new definitions are proposed to support the MOS amendments. It is critical that you read the proposed definitions carefully as they contain key criteria which determine whether a flight is classified as the new kind of aerial work operation, or the flight remains an air transport operation.

The new defined terms are:

• key definition: fireground personnel carriage operation
• supporting definitions:
  • fireground
  • fireground emergency organisation
  • relevant ground activity
  • fire helibase.

A passenger carried in a fireground personnel carriage operation will be defined to be an aerial work passenger.

An operator conducting a fireground personnel carriage operation will be required to have:

• a training and checking system relevant to the operator’s personnel conducting fireground personnel carriage operations
• a safety management system (SMS), although some operators may be able to defer implementing an SMS if an exemption applies to their operation (see the SPC for further information).

An operator conducting a fireground personnel carriage operation will, like the other existing kinds of aerial work operations, have to ensure their flight crew members comply with the fatigue management rules under the Civil Aviation Order 48.1 Instrument 2019 (CAO 48.1).

An operator conducting a fireground personnel carriage operation will be able to access the relief provision in Chapter 8 of the Part 138 MOS. This relates to operations inside the avoid area of the HV envelope, subject to meeting the existing conditions in that Chapter.

An operator conducting a fireground personnel carriage operation in or over a populous area (which will often include a fire helibase) must operate the helicopter in accordance with the ‘OEI accountability’ helicopter performance requirements. These requirements are already specified in the Part 138 MOS.

An operator must verify, before a flight, that each aerial work passenger to be carried has been provided with information about the risks of the operation. These risks should clearly outline how a fireground personnel carriage operation differs from an air transport operation. The passenger must give written acknowledgement and consent, confirming that they understand the risks involved in the aerial work activity. This acknowledgement must be given with enough time for the passenger to properly consider the information, but not earlier than 12 months before the flight.

The operator must verify these matters by receiving written notification from the relevant fireground emergency organisation, which enables this process to be conducted efficiently in a fire incident.

This requirement is separate to any specific training determined by an operator as necessary to be conducted by an aerial work passenger before the flight, or from the existing requirement to provide a pre-flight safety briefing to any passenger (including aerial work passengers).

In essence, CASA views the following matters as being different and separate matters, which although theoretically could be combined, would most likely be conducted as separate activities, even if those activities were conducted in close succession:

• training for an aerial work passenger relating to a particular skill or activity they must reliably perform to ensure the operation is performed safely
• the pre-flight safety briefing for an aerial work passenger required under regulation 91.565 of CASR and section 20.06 of the Part 91 MOS
• the ‘within the last 12 months’ delivery of information to an aerial work passenger carried on this specific kind of flight, regarding the relative safety of the flight compared to an air transport operation, and the obtaining of consent to be carried on such an operation.

An operator conducting a fireground personnel carriage operation will be required to keep records of their verification matters for a specific flight for a period of 3 months following the flight.