CAAP hosts inaugural Air Operators Summit 2022

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) recently organized and hosted its inaugural Air Operators Summit 2022 with the theme Transitioning to Risk-Based Oversight.

The mandate of the Flight Standard and Inspectorate Service (FSIS), a department within CAAP, is to roll out a more effective aviation safety oversight to ensure aircrafts, airmen, and air operators meet the standards set by ICAO.

With the recent update, CAAP will define and implement a process-oriented oversight program for Flight Operations and Airworthiness consisting of:

• Review of the Minimum Required Annual Inspection (MRAI) program working towards the implementation of risk-based oversight;
• Standardization of a training program for Flight Operations and Airworthiness Inspectors & competencies;
• Ensure qualifications, experience and training requirements for inspectors to fulfill ICAO recommended standards; and
• Put in place a Data Management System to complement risk-based environment.

Some of the highlights of this transition are:

1. The FSIS shall continuously determine each operator’s continued compliance with regulatory requirements and safe operating practices with a surveillance planning process that a continuous recommendation every 2 years of an air operator’s validity.

2. The FSIS launched a new Document Management System  designed as a central cloud-based repository system to contain the policies, processes, and procedures of the FSIS to ensure all Aeronautical Information Publications (AIP) utilized by the FSIS personnel is controlled and available, and to ensure that FSIS personnel have access to relevant documents that are up to date.

3. New FSIS checklist including updated airworthiness checklist, operations checklist, quality management system checklist, and audit finding forms.

4. New CAAP Audit Procedures with an updated Audit Procedure Manual (APM) which moves from a traditional inspection to a a risk-based oversight and new surveillance checklist.

Philippine L2b member Kerwin Tan of Tan Hassani and Counsels attended the summit representing several air operators and in support of the continued developments by the CAAP.