24 April 2018
The General Aviation Roadmap from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is beginning to deliver improved rules and regulations, said EASA certification director Trevor Woods at AERO Friedrichshfane last week.
“The GA Roadmap project succeeded in establishing an effective cooperative spirit between EASA, stakeholders and National Aviation Authorities. A true example of Safety Together!” he said, using the new EASA slogan for Safety Promotion activities.
Among the highlights this year are:
EASA is also working on innovative projects involving electrical propulsion, vertical take-off and landing and air taxi operations.
The agency says it is leading and contributing to the success of these projects and to the development and certification of new technologies.The CS-23 rules, which were rewritten in 2017, are proving to be a strong enabler.
The GA Roadmap has started initiatives for the future development of General Aviation, such as T4S – Technology for Safety. T4S introduces the concept of ‘Net Safety Benefit’ and looks at the operational benefits in addition to the current certification approach where we focus on mitigating risks.
For the next step of the GA Roadmap, EASA is taking a more proactive role in Safety Promotion. The slogan Safety Together! underlines that successful safety promotion of General Aviation in Europe needs to be done in close cooperation and partnership.
EASA has set up a GA community site where interested individuals and groups can engage, connect, discuss and share ideas.
Further communication and safety promotion initiatives include the recently launched EU-wide campaign on avoiding airspace infringement, EASA’s multi-language Sunny Swift cartoon sharing simple and good practices for GA pilots, and the Balloon Rule Book – Easy Access Rules.
This vision as well as new technologies, such as electrical propulsion, vertical take-off and landing and sharing of airspace, will also be discussed at EASA’s upcoming 2018 Annual Safety Conference in Vienna later this year (6-7 November 2018) which will focus on the future of GA.
