Proposed flight operations miscellaneous amendments - Tranche 1 - (CD 2605OS)

Current requirements

Regulations 91.095, 121.055, 131.255, 133.030, 135.040, and 138.210 of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998 (CASR), require pilots in command (PIC) and operators to comply with aircraft flight manual instructions. These provisions unintentionally limit compliance to in‑flight activities only, excluding important pre‑flight and post‑flight requirements. Regulation 91.095 of CASR also incorrectly requires compliance with all flight manual content, even though some material is advisory rather than approved instruction.

Advisory Circular (AC) 91‑22 clarifies the distinction between approved and unapproved flight manual content, and that the policy intent was for compliance to apply only to approved elements. The proposed amendments adopt the term ‘requirement or limitation’ to clearly describe these approved elements.

Temporary exemptions and directions have been used to correct the issues above.

Proposed amendments

The proposed amendments will incorporate the effect of the applicable exemptions and directions into regulations 91.095, 121.055, 131.255, 133.030, 135.040 and 138.210 of the CASR. This will ensure safety‑critical flight manual requirements apply throughout aircraft preparation, operation, and shutdown - not just during flight, and also remove the need for these exemptions and directions.

The relevant exemptions and directions are listed in the fact bank below. Although each exemption relates to a different CASR Part, they all address the same underlying issue. A supplementary direction has not been issued for Part 131, with that error being directly fixed by the proposed regulation amendment.