(1) Reasons for Proposal
As the Aviation Safety Act (Act No. 17613; promulgated on December 8, 2020; to be enforced on June 9, 2021) was amended in a way that bans smoking by personnel on board and adds flight dispatchers in the scope of fatigue management, this Partial Amendment aims to define matters delegated from the Act and other matters required for the enforcement thereof.
It also aims to improve and supplement some shortcomings observed in the operation of the current system by preparing a re-designation procedure when aviation medical examiner designation requirements are changed and alleviating criteria for air traffic control limitations including the vacancies of air traffic controllers due to COVID-19.
(2) Major Provisions
A. Rationalize pilot limited review exemptions (Article 89).
When a new type of aircraft manufactured abroad is introduced, a limited review is replaced by training completed in any Approved Training Organization.
However, as it has recently become possible to manufacture aircraft in Korea, written and practical examinations are exempted for limited review on a new type of aircraft manufactured in Korea if training is completed in Approved Training Organizations recognized by the Korean government (including the manufacturer’s training organizations).
B. Establish a procedure for re-designation when the requirements for aviation medical examiner change (Article 105).
While aviation medical examiners must meet designation requirements including qualification and equipment, which amount to a cause for designation cancellation if the requirements are not met, there is a problem that the designation must be canceled and refiled when there are inevitable changes such as a changed name or address of the medical institution. To address this problem, a procedure is prepared which can change and issue a designation letter.
C. If a Korean air operator leases aircraft registered in another country, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) formerly required aircraft to carry a copy of a supervision obligation transfer agreement between aviation authorities. As different countries have different contents and formats, the ICAO prepares a standardized agreement summary form and requires aircraft to carry a copy of the summary. As such, this change is to be reflected in Korean laws (Article 113).
D. Prepare fatigue management standards including working hours for flight dispatchers (Article 128-2).
The Aviation Safety Act is hereby amended to expand fatigue management, which was previously provided only to aircrew (flight and cabin), to flight dispatchers, and working hours and break times for fatigue management of flight dispatchers are now defined in this Enforcement Rule.
E. Since it is difficult to monitor flight routes over water such as the Pacific Ocean, flight time separations are kept wide. With recent advances in aircraft navigation equipment including satellites, monitoring equipment can be mounted on aircraft and separations can be narrowed in the airspace. As such, an approval procedure is prepared for aircraft navigation equipment to allow aircraft with monitoring performance to fly in the airspace (Article 217).
F. Unlike international standards, cabin crew training has been focused only on the human factor. The provision is amended to be consistent with international standards (Annex 6) to provide training about human performance, a concept expanding on the human factor (Article 218).
G. The legal basis is prepared so that if it becomes difficult to control air traffic because of unexpected situations in air traffic control organizations including fewer air traffic controllers due to COVID-19, air traffic controllers in an alternative air traffic control organization specified in a contingency plan can perform air traffic control without limitations (Article 225).
H. While drones are one of the key technologies in the 4th Industrial Revolution, there are mounting concerns over drone-based terrorism such as drone attacks in Saudi Arabia, which seriously damaged major oil processing facilities and oil fields, making it increasingly necessary to strengthen readiness against drone terrorism. As such, flying drones near important national facilities such as ports is now banned to ensure national security and protect the public (Article 310).
I. Expand the system that returns qualification test fees (Article 321).
While the number of personnel taking a qualification test increases every year, there is a lack of system for returning qualification test fees if the applicant fails to come to a test on the test day due to inevitable reasons including unexpected accidents. To resolve this problem, legal shortcomings are corrected to enable submittal of reasons for returning fees if a test is canceled on the test day.
