AVIATION LAW

AVIATION LAW This highly specialized field of law encompasses most facets of air travel, as well as the operation and regulation of business issues relating to air travel, which requires a comprehensive knowledge of FAA regulations, specific laws regarding flight, and an in depth understanding of aviation. It governs the operation of aircraft and the maintenance of aviation facilities. Aviation law pertains to nearly all individuals connected to the operation and maintenance of aircraft. Air traffic regulation polices, in both federal and state government, has created laws and administrative agencies with certain restrictions preventing states from regulating routes, services, or the rates of all air carriers authorized to provide interstate air transportation by the Federal Aviation Acts. Through Laws, aviation industry been organized in terms of their activities and professionalism prohibiting all acts that may endanger airplanes, airports or any facility related to aviation services. The law obligates aviation workers to obtain permit or license from recognized bodies, with penalties and fines to be imposed for violations. The law has been utilized to assess and screen all aviation exercises and aeronautics specialists, and may additionally characterize any demonstrations that constitute hazard on aviation facilities, air operations, aeroplanes, air travellers and air traffic. To cut it short, the law that has to do with aviation is Aviation law and this is the branch of law that governs the legalities and business aspects of flight and air transport, such as air traffic rights, aviation safety and security, economic regulations of airlines, and the operation of airports. 2.1 Aviation Safety A remarkable means of mobility is one of the skeletal make up of a modern society. Every means of transportation connects with each other. They perform a same function at different dimensions. Out of all the means of transportation, air transport is the safest in regards to the ratio between the number of accidents and that of passenger/kilometers. Another issue is that when incidents or accidents occur such as plane crash, with casualties, all ears are aware about it and this gets the attention of the government. It is therefore not new or surprising that every State government priorities and give attention to it more than other means of transportation. One of the key elements to increase the public confidence in air transport is put in place a standard impeccable level of safety in the Aviation Sector through law. Aviation safety is not an agenda of a group or a sect of people; it s a universal concern that needs an international attention and enforcement. It is just simply the very important issues on a world stage. Being able to critically interpret the word safety in the aviation is very important. What does safety means? According to Merriam-Webster definition, safety itself means the condition of being safe from undergoing or causing hurt, injury, or loss. This definition, if applied to the aviation world, would totally picture the idea of do not go against the fundamental principle of nature since the law of gravity is universal and machines (which is prone to technical fault) are not human. Another definition made it clear that safety is a mechanical device designed to prevent inadvertent or hazardous operations. This could mean that if we go against the laws of nature, devices with high technological concepts can be used to carry out operations of high risk with the tendencies of circumventing inevitable catastrophes. A source gave another definition of safety as a complete understanding of your work and knowledge of every step that must be taken and the realization that mistakes could be costly to yourself and to the company. This in actual sense could mean that every personnel in the (aviation) industry must be completely learned and adequately trained always towards every operation going on in the industry and not having believe in luck but having the right mind to handle any sudden hitches that may come up briskly. More so, safety could mean remembering the safety rules set up by a company and applying them every minute when on the job. It can be finally concluded, with the understanding of air transportation, according to the definition given by ICAO Air Navigation Commission that aviation safety is a state of freedom from unacceptable risk of injury to persons or damage to aircraft and property . This meaning is very comprehending as it indicates that mistake(s) that lead to fatal accidents would become an intolerable hazard, for lessons must be learnt and since safety is not a rigid concept, it has to be flexibly and exposed to changes in synchronism with technological and innovative advancement. What caused power failure, wire sparks, o r technical problem in last year s crash must not repeat itself in the present year. According to the ICAO definition of aviation safety, everything must be put or set right and there must be a zero or insignificant risk before operations. However, marriage between safety and security cannot be sundered. No matter the highest precautions put in place to ascertain safety in a situation, such situation must be secured. The September 11, 2001 attack on US was not as a result of default in safety, it was the ability of the terrorists to bye-pass the security instruments, which nullified the effective safety mechanisms that was put in place. To make aviation safety at its optimal level, aviation security must be kept and treated as a subset to it. Every airline company has a duty to comply with the rules and regulations of the States Aviation Regulatory Bodies. Likewise, no State Aviation Authority is autonomous, they must be under the international body, which gives and determines rules that all aircrafts and airlines must comply with before flying. The role of aviation safety is but not limited to prevention of accidents but covers all scopes but this study will focus on just the legal dimensional aspect of it. It has been noted that safety is not limited to accident prevention, but should be considered in a broader term as risk management. Keeping the aviation industry safe is just the law, which sets right the right things to put in place to ensure safety. For example, the Federal Aviation Agency which is saddled with the responsibility to regulate airlines in US has embraced safety as its core mission with the statement Our mission is to provide the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world and our mantra is to improve the safety and efficiency of aviation, while being responsive to our customers and accountable to the public . Equally in, the EU, the European Aviation Safety Agency, EASA, which is the centrepiece of the European Union’s strategy for aviation safety has its mission, which states that t o promote the highest common standards of safety and environmental protection in civil aviation. They mainly draft legislation that centres on aviation safety and works hand in hand with the national authorities, which continue to carry out many operational tasks, such as certification of individual aircraft or licensing of pilots. Additionally, in Nigeria, the most populated black nation in the world, has Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, as its highest aviation regulatory body that ensures that all stakeholders in the sector comply with the aviation safety regulations. Where safety rules are breeched, the NCAA takes strong corrective actions to enforce compliance which may include sanctions. As it is conspicuous that every democratic government must have a 3-arm component, which constitute of the executive, legislature and judiciary, it is also not new that they must function as a sovereign entity. They can make laws that would solely affect them and form ties with friendly nations with treaties of economic and political importance. As it is extremely pertinent for states to be free of any form of external aggression, its will be disturbing and dangerous to leave some issues in the hands of States to regulate fully without some international bodies influencing them. In as much that citizens of State A can have the freedom to chose another State of interests to visit for any good reasons, then safety doctrines that is regimented by international bodies would save State B from the possible safety negligence from State A s aviation sector. Since law is a product of drafting of bills, passing the bills and giving assent to it and implementing it, it can be seen that when laws dealing with aviation industry, having in mind that there are rules of international standards which binds all, every legislative arm of a State have the duty to marry the national laws with the international rules such that the world will have a safe air transport system. 2.2 Civil Aviation It is among the most widely controlled sector in the world. Every single technical personnel, equipment and airport must be certified and monitored by competent regulatory agencies known as Civil Aviation Authorities (CAAs). Indeed, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and other global bodies thus evaluate even the CAAs themselves. The working standards, rules and measures used in civil aviation have Standards And Recommended Practices (SARP) of ICAO and stipulated National laws and regulations as there working template. 2.3 History of Aviation Safety It is very important to always have a fine connection between the past, present and the future. Aviation safety did not just become an issue of concern today. It can be dated back to when humans began to add air to the means of transportation. History of airplane can be traced to the age of the Wright Brothers who went against all odds to air-control an aircraft that was engine-powered for 12 seconds in 1903. However, the ideas of these brothers were tailored to meet the aims of victory that spelt doom to the generations in the World War I (1914 – 1918). This ushered in a new era of flight. There came into existence the invention of flights instruments, airplanes were equipped with radar, the first jet engine was already in production. Technological advancement bringing about improved aerodynamics, high-powered engines and aircraft (fabric) metals enabled these flying machines to go on high cruising altitudes and bringing about transoceanic flights. After the ending of the World War II, jet airliners began. Airline companies such as Pan Am and airplane manufacturers, for example, Boeing are into air transporting meeting the fast mobility need of uncountable number of passengers all over the world. Fear was an element that gripped people in regards to their safety. In course of making sure that public confidence is buffered, aviation safety became the channel by which the establishment of ICAO came into being. Regulations were put in place, which happens to be the earliest form of legislation, to make sure that everyone on the ground not aboard is safe from the aircraft impact on the ground. This however became or was seen as a biased legislation, which did not consider those on-board. Aviation Law that has to do with safety got a new face when in 1819, France enacted a law which required that man-flight balloons be equipped with parachutes which can be seen as to incorporate not only safety on the ground but also safety on board aircraft. In Paris, the year 1889 gave birth to first international aeronautical congress in which Brazil, Mexico, France, United Kingdom and United States were in attendance. In this convention, issues such as aeronauts certificates; liability of aeronauts towards passenger, the public and landowners; salvage; and the use of aircraft in war were discussed. Another conference was held in 1910 in France attended by nineteen states but suffered no adoption of a single convention due to the fact that the participants could not agree on the kind of treatment to be extended to foreign and national aircraft in regards to over flight freedom. This convention happens to be the first international air law conference that displayed the very much eagerness to make provision for a regulatory regime of global standard for civil aviation. However, in 1913, precisely, July 26 1913, France and Germany signed the first bilateral agreement, which allowed for airships from Germany to enter French airspace and remained in France. The first legal instrument to enter into force in the world of aviation was the Paris Convention of 1919, which is enclosed with a recognised comprehensive and exclusive sovereignty of states over the airspace. This convention enjoyed a ratification by 32 nations. Few of the features of this convention was the generally acceptable definition of aircraft; CINA, the Commission Internationale de la Navigation Aerienne , was established in Article 34, which got a far-reaching regulatory powers chiefly directed towards technical matter. ICAN, the International Commission for Air Navigation was established by this Paris Convention, which dealt exclusively with the regulation of international air navigation and in particular public international air law. In law the ICAN was placed, and remained, under the direction of League of Nations, in practice direction was replaced by friendly cooperation. The League never attempted to exercise any authority on the ICAN, and the ICAN never attempted t o break away from the League; cooperation was mostly carried on through the League s Committee on Transit and Communications. This Committee and the ICAN were represented at each other s meetings, when any question of common interest was under discussion. It also provided for innocent passage of the aircraft of other jurisdictions in times of peace and prohibited aircraft from carrying explosives or weapons. The Paris Convention was starved with universal acceptance, which should have been the desired goal that coloured aviation safety. Like it was said above that this Convention got a 32-state-ratification, however, giant states; Russia, Germany, China, United States were absent in this States ratification of the Convention. In Madrid, the Ibero-American Convention on Air Navigation (which is also referred to as Convenio Ibero Americano de Navegaci n AÃÆ' ©rea, or CIANA, also called the Madrid Convention) was formed which seems to succeed the Paris Convention. This Convention came up due to the growth of aviation activity between Spain and South-America and as a result of the failure by the USA and most Central and South American States to adhere to the Paris Convention, Spain decided to initiate a diplomatic counteraction and invited all Latin American and Caribbean States and Portugal to the Ibero-American Conference to be held in Madrid from 25 to 30 October 1926. This Convention suffered neglect because at no point in time was it registered with any international body. It was labelled unsuccessful; reason being that at the time it was being formed, aircraft of the period were not sufficiently developed to tie together Iberia and Latin America. Another factor that made this Convention to lack succe ss was Spain s political environment during the period was very unsettled, deteriorating into Civil War and the change of focus of Latin America energies on North America keeping them distracted away from Iberia. 1927 marked the year when the United States commenced the drafting of an air navigation Convention for the Americas identified as Pan-American Convention. It was not signed until 1928 at Havana. It can be said that the modelling of the Pan-American Convention was after Paris Convention being applicable to not government aircraft but only Private aircraft. Mutual freedom of air passage was orchestrated by this Convention with stone-rules for aerial traffic as the principal structures lacking technical standards of uniformity and Annexes. This Convention however did not help ICAN but weakened it. Unfortunately, after the World War II, it became out-dated due to the mammoth improvement of aerial transport in the period of war. On 7th of December 1944, some 50 states signed the Chicago Convention couple with two agreements annexed to it, which are the International Air Services Transit Agreement, and the International Air Transport Agreement. This Convention was a replacement for the Paris Convention and became an heir to the safety framework set by the Paris Convention, in fact, Chicago Convention would not have been what it claimed to be if not for the residues of previous conventions, conferences and all-important statement of aerospace sovereignty. Even though there is no such Convention that is stable and universally accepted, Chicago Convention seems to be a package of agreements that is use today. It is widely known formally as Convention on International Civil Aviation (CICA). Without mincing words, it created an independent agency known as the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), which succeeded International Commission for Air Navigation (ICAN). This Convention is pregnant with sub-ag reements listed below: The right to fly across another’s territory without landing; 1. The right to put down passengers and cargo taken on in the territory of the aircraft’s nationality; 2. The right to take passengers and cargo destined for the territory of the aircraft’s nationality; and 3. The right to take on passengers and cargo, and to drop-off passengers and cargo destined for, or coming from the territory of any state signatory to the Chicago Convention The right to land for non-traffic purposes (such as to re-fuel). 2.4 Aviation safety Regulatory agencies With a specific end goal to meet the prerequisites for safe air transport benefits, various organisations and foundations have been set up at worldwide, regional and national levels to create basic guidelines, regulations, benchmarks and methods on safety and administer their execution over all aviation jurisdictions. The administrative system and safety necessities have been developed over decades and are persistently being changed or amended and upgraded to accomplish a perpetually expanding safety execution and to meet future difficulties postured by the usage of new air navigation ideas and the need to guarantee manageable advancement of civil aviation. Before distinguishing the three basic layers of safety regulations, it is important to state that all administrative regulatory agencies perform the functions of making of rules, enforcement of the rules, or adjudication. The rulemaking function is very much like the legislative process performed by the Congress; enforcement is the same sort of process performed by the executive branch of government and adjudication is essentially the function performed by the judiciary. The three basic levels of aviation safety regulations are: 1. International regulatory arrangements and requirements, established and promulgated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), 2. Regional regulatory arrangements and requirements, 3. National regulatory arrangements and requirements, promulgated in national legislations and other normative acts by the designated State authorities. 2.4.1 International Regulatory Arrangements The standard global aviation regulatory organ is the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). ICAO is an agency of the United Nations and was set up in 1944 through the Convention on International Civil Aviation, identified as the Chicago Convention. Through the cooperation of complying states, ICAO creates Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) that cover all parts of aviation, incorporating safety. SARPs give the establishment of all safety organizational administrations at a worldwide scale. There are currently over 10,000 SARPs reflected in the 19 Annexes to the Chicago Convention which ICAO oversees, and it is through these provisions † as well as ICAO s complementary policy, auditing and capacity-building efforts † that today s global air transport network is able to operate close to 100,000 daily flights, safely, efficiently and securely in every region of the world. By being a signatory to the Chicago Convention, a state concurs that the entrenched standards will be effected in its own constitutional domains, and if there is any conflict or variance, ICAO must be aware of it. As a matter of fact, ICAO does not concern itself with military aviation, which embodies combatant and non-combatants aircraft and facilities, which are solely operated by member States military force. As of late the aviation service provider organ and aircraft administrators have stretched the ICAO provisions out to necessitate usage of a formal safety management. ICAO directs the advancement of safety regulatory structures by Member States through the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Program (USOAP) that was set up in 1999 to guarantee the uniform use of ICAO standards. These safety regulatory structures are the International Standards and Practices which stands to be of advantage and profit to member States. According to the United Nations Charter Articles 57 and 63, through the United Nations Economic and Social Council, ICAO was declared an autonomous Intergovernmental organisational. Members States who are having membership in ICAO are 191 at present. Based on the institutional structures, ICAO consist of a plenary body, the Assembly; a permanent body responsible to the Assembly, the Council; and the Secretariat headed by the Chief Executive Officer of the Organization, the Secretary General. The Council has 36 member States, which is responsible to the assembly. One of the required functions of the Council in connection to safety is the selection and correction of the Annexes to the Chicago Convention, which contain inter-national standards and recommended practices. The Annexes are continually looked into and corrected to keep pace with new improvement and propelled innovation. At the flip side of the range, ICAO has seen solid regional and national activities to re-uphold the safety administration for civil aviation. 2.4.2 Regional regulatory arrangements Considering the topography, environmental conditions, climatic situations, natural disturbances and other salient factors, there must be needs to be flexible with measures to ensure safety. ICAO as the international body that regulates all aviation industry of all States Aviation Sectors has delegated responsibilities to regions, which allows or gives room for regions to come up with regulations in accordance with ICAO doctrines that would facilitate safety in the air and on the land. These regional regulatory organizations are directly under ICAO and they are: (1) African Civil Aviation Commission This is an ICAO African branch, which was set up by the Constitutive Conference, convened by the ICAO and the Organization of African Unity, OAU, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1969. It was established primarily to handle Civil Aviation matters in Africa in collaboration with ICAO. The OAU itself is a body that embodies African States. They are made up of Head of States/Governments, which occupies the highest decision making component of the organization. It also has Council of Minsters, which constitutes Ministers responsible for Civil Aviation. They predominantly recommend high profile policies for the OAU Summit. They have a commission named African Civil Aviation Commission , (AFCAC) which is a specialized agency of the AU responsible for coordinating aviation activities in Africa and is also the Executing Agency of the Yamoussoukro Decision (YD). The Commission understands that to boost business capacity of Africa, influx of tourists, cultural and social structures of Africa, there must be a need for a save aviation sector. One of the most remarkable objectives of this body has to do with adopting or and promoting the implementation of ICAO Standard and Recommended Practices for safety, security, environmental protection and regularity of aviation sector. They make this happen by marrying and sustaining the harmony between ICAO rules and regulations couple with the States in areas that has to do with safety, security and other areas clustering around the integrity of the aviation sector. They do not give less attention to the balancing of advocacy and defenses of common locus of member States at international levels when the agendum revolves round civil aviation. This body has been known to examine specific challenges that can destabilize the growth and optimal functioning of African Civil Aviation sector with the ever-prompt actions to correct and or prevent any member State going out of the recommended standards. Africa has been known for higher accident rates due to the fact that, upon placing safety as a paramount issue, they still have an oversight mechanism, which is very ineffective for safety. This is one of the biggest problems in Africa s aviation sector. To ensure that aviation industry is coloured with safe operations, AFCAC have come up with cooperative and collaborative mechanisms that will orchestrate safety oversight which is however inline with the vision statement of the African Civil Aviation which states that to foster a safe, secure, efficient, cost effective, sustainable and environmentally friendly civil aviation industry in Africa . It is imperative to state that not only humans need to be the potential victims of ineffective safety in the aviation industry; the natural environment can be affected as well. Environmental degradation takes diverse forms, ranging from pollution and destruction of ecosystems to degraded fresh water supplies and arable land. The Aviation sector has contributed to global warming and depletion of the ozone layer in its own capacity through pollution. The 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development adopted Agenda 21 that called States/governments to work together with appropriate UN bodies to solve this environmental problem posed towards the aviation industry. In fact, one of the relevant UN bodies, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCC, gave recognition to ICAO as a primary body responsible for the regulation of aviation-related environmental issues on aircraft engine emission, and which calls upon developed countries to pursue limitation or re duction of greenhouse gases from aviation bunker fuels working through ICAO. In other words, under the guidance of ICAO, all African States have a duty to have contribution to the protection of the environment via a safe aviation industry. It has been clearly stated that all aviation laws, regulations and practices shall be based on the Chicago Convention and its Annexes that make up the bedrock of international air law which regulates the conduct of international civil aviation, coupled with the air law instruments and guidance provided by ICAO. It is however expected that every Member State must ratify her key aviation legislation such that it would empower the civil aviation activities, which involves conducting, and over sighting within the jurisdictions of the State which must not fall outside the provisions of the Chicago Convention. States shall also adopt adequate regulations to address, at a minimum, national requirements emanating from the primary aviation legislation and providing for standardized operational procedures, equipment and infrastructures including safety management and training systems as well as enforcement mechanisms, in accordance with ICAO SARPs (Standards and Recommended Practices). These R egulations in standard terms cover all instructions, rules, edicts, directives, and sets of laws, requirements, policies, and orders. To further enhance safety in Africa, member States are allowed through the legislative system to make aviation safety laws, which must be in consonance with international aviation laws, rule and regulations. These laws must be appraised and modified to accommodate existing ICAO SARPs. When these are done, the Civil Aviation Authorities, CAAs, are authorized by their member States to implement and put to force all the international Conventions, protocols and resolutions. Meanwhile, each CAAs of member States must be autonomous with legitimate power and devoid of interference when carrying out enforcement of safety laws and over sighting over the aviation industry so as to easily realize safe air transportation in all the African regions involved in aviation. The oversight in aviation safety actually means adequately putting in place safety measures via the effective implementation of the safety-related Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) in civil aviation. The CAAs exercise there oversight obligations on aircraft operators, maintenance and repair organisations, Airports/Aerodrome and Air Navigation Service Providers, Aeronautical Meteorology, Aviation Training Organisations, handling companies, aviation fuel suppliers, among others. All licences issued to personnel involved in the aviation sector are under the logistical approach of CAAs in ensuring safety as well. The member States also have the role of conducting training and orientation programmes for all safety inspectors. Such programmes includes ICAO s Train the Trainers courses, seminars, workshop, conferences and so on which help to update aviation stakeholders towards embracing all the safety cultures and practices. The AFCAC under the discretion of OAU allows Member State to create Regional/Sub-Regional Aviation Safety Oversight Organisations (RSOOs), which helps the involved Member States to improve the regulatory, and oversight proficiencies. Examples of the RSOOs include Civil Aviation Safety and Security Oversight Agency (CASSOA) of the East African Community (EAC) and the Banjul Accord Group Aviation Safety Oversight Organisation (BAGASOO). (2) Federal Aviation Administration The F.A.A. (Federal Aviation Administration), is an aviation authority of the United States of America, which was founded in 1958. It concerns itself with the airspace glitches; most of the glitches they are concerned with are on the runways of aerodromes coupled with extra-terrestrial life. Since the year this body was established, regulation of air commerce for the promotion of Aviation safety and development had been a centerpiece of their duty. FAA rules are known as Federal Aviation Regulations ( FAR ), and are published annually in the Code of Federal Regulations ( CFR ). FAA regulations are extensive, comprising many thousands of separate sections, which touches areas of both commercial and general aviation. This includes design of aircraft and certification, airspace design, procedures involved in air traffic control, rules involved in carriers operations, implementation of administrative rules and so on. The agency, established as an independent authority with a civilian administrator, is combined with the Civil Aeronautics Administration, the Airways Modernization Board, and the Civil Aeronautics Board to carry out their functions. It was made a division of the Transportation Department in 1967. One of the responsibilities of FAA which is stated under the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (49 U.S.C.A.  § 106) is to regulating air commerce to promote its development and safety and to meet national defense requirements and also in addition to their responsibility is the development and implementation of programs and regulations to control aircraft noise, sonic booms, and other environmental effects of civil aviation. According to the mission, vision and values of FAA, safety seems to be the core key of there existence. Between 2001 and 2007, with the influence of FAA, aviation industry has witnessed one of its safest periods for scheduled air carriers. According to statistics, rate of accidents has dropped drastically. In the world today, FAA has delivered the safest and reliable transport system in this industry. In the civil aviation, not only FAA is involved, there are other federal entities that are worth noting. It includes National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This body has safety programmes that emphasize not only accident reduction, but also a decrease in injuries when accidents do occur. The program has to do with research to reduce human-error-caused accidents and incidents, predict and prevent mechanical and software malfunctions, and eliminate accidents involving hazardous weather and controlled flight into terrain. These programmes additionally will utilize information technology to set a more safe aviation framework to bolster pilots and air traffic controller. Another entity is National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which basically support FAA as regards making provision for research and operations for the forecasting of weather. Also, is Transportation Security Administration in the Department of Homeland Security, which exercise authority over civil a viation security and consequently, the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates aviation accidents and makes safety recommendations to FAA and proposals for additional regulations. In addition, the Transport Security Administration (TSA) is saddled with the responsibility of aviation security. The FAA is additionally actualizing the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen), a progression of technological and system abilities to propel air carrier operations by improving safety, lessening travel delays, saving fuel and diminishing flight’s ecological effect. The FAA Office of Aviation Safety (AVS) governs compliance with FAA safety regulations and directives. Perhaps a FAR violation is conveyed or noticed, the FAA will conduct an investigation and may introduce prosecution action. In the shape the violation takes, the FAA might enforce civil fine charges or suggest the issue to be prosecuted criminally. The FAA Office of Aviation Safety (AVS) oversees compliance with FAA safety regulations and orders. On the off chance that a FAR infringement is accounted for or found, the FAA may carry out investigation and may lay down enforcement action. Depending on the infringement, the FAA may force a common fine or elude the matter for criminal indictment. The immediate and precise reporting of mishaps and occurrences in the field is a vital part of safety and accident preventive actions. Keeping in mind the end goal to assemble this data, the FAA has initiated the Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP), which is a voluntary reporting system of safety issues and occasions that is intended to improve safety and avert accidents. The FAA likewise obliges carriers, owners, operators and others to make available report that has to do with failures, technical malfunctions or anomalies to a Service Difficulty Reporting System. These reports, which are freely accessible through the FAA’s website, are implied to recognize patterns or issues with administration, and alarm the FAA and relevant unit of the aviation sector. FAA has issued new necessities with respect to qualification standards for first officers, for the most part obliging that they meet the same certification minimum training and experience prerequisites as airline captains. FAA is revamping regulations regarding airline-training programs for flight crews and dispatchers, and air carrier safety management systems to provide comprehensive, process-oriented programs for managing safety throughout an airline organization. It additionally plans to put up some adjustments to air carrier training programmes to address mentoring, leadership, and expert improvement of less experienced pilots. (3) European Aviation Safety Agency EASA is an Agency of the European Union. As a Community Agency, EASA is a body governed by European public law; it is distinct from the Community Institutions (Council, Parliament, Commission, and so on.) and has its own legitimate identity. EASA was set up by a Council and Parliament (Regulation (EC) 1592/2002 cancelled by Regulation (EC) No 216/2008 and corrected by Regulation (EC) 1108/2009) and was given particular to ensure a high and uniform level of safety in civil aviation, by the implementation of common safety rules and measures. EASA has assumed control over the obligations of the previous Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) framework, which ended on 30 June 2009. On the other hand, it is not a successor body in lawful terms since it works straightforwardly under EU statute. The primary distinction between EASA and the JAA is that EASA is Regulatory Authority, which uses NAAs to actualize its Regulations while the JAA depended upon the active involvement of NAAs to apply its orchestrated regulations without having any intensity of law at source. Since it is self apparently difficult to make another Regulatory System â€Å"overnight† EASA has needed to acknowledge expansive parts of the JAA framework as its own particular whilst it builds up the new blended framework needed under EU statute. EASA is, in addition, actually responsible to giving of advice to the EU when new laws that concern aviation are drafted. The entire safety rule, which does not exempt inspecting EU member States, are developed, implemented and monitored by the EASA. They are known for Certification of organisations located outside the territory subject to the EC law and responsible for providing ATM/ANS services or ATCO training in the Member States where EC law applies; and the Safety analysis and research, including publication of an Annual Safety Review. EASA is also an agency that helps the Community legislature to design common standards to guarantee the most elevated conceivable levels of safety and protection of the environment. They guarantee that all the standards are complied with in Europe and that any important safety measures are all carried out and it ensures the adoption of these standards around the world. Since the inception and operation of the Basic Regulation, EASA is the equipped and eligible Community Aviation Authority to see into the safety in air transport. Aftereffects or outcome of air incidents and accidents investigation is to be treated and followed up on as an issue of direness, specifically when they have connection with inadequate aircraft design or plan and/or operational matters, keeping in mind the end goal to guarantee public confidence in air transport without ill reference to the Community law; consequently, EASA is the beneficiary of safety suggestions within its remit. Under international and community law, all safety recommendations must be given full acknowledgement by the element to which they are directed to. At whatever point the investigation is carried out in an EU Member State, EASA displays an advisory role to guide the Investigator in control. Outside an EU Member State, EASA also advise the European Accredited Representative delegated by the State where the vital spot of business of the aircraft producer is. 2.4.3 National regulatory arrangements and requirements A national safety regulatory capacity is built up in every state. There is an extensive variety in the execution of the international safety regulations at the national level. This takes into consideration flexibility at all regional levels but it as well amounts to some irregularities. Numerous safety regulatory requirements seem hard to execute, both in states with restricted pre-existing safety regulation and those with well-grounded regulatory systems. Making sure that national regulatory structures are consistently in line with each other is difficult to achieve most times. Despite all this, there is still broad consensus that the matter of safety is global in nature, and that ICAO should remain the world regulatory authority for the safety of civil aviation. It is also noteworthy to say that before there can be in existence an international service airline operation to a destinated State, the State with the airline must enter into treaty with the government of the destinated State. This type of treaty is termed as Bilateral Air Service Agreements. 2.5 Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) This treaty facilitates cooperation between States, standardization of regulations and harmonization of these regulations on matters that has to do with aviation safety. Under the Chicago Convention, it was clearly stated that no scheduled international air service may be operated over or into the territory of a contracting state without their permission. Since the need for movement across borders is just too inevitable, and destination country would want a situation whereby there standards for safety is not compromised, there came up the need for States to enter into agreements with each other which appeared in the form of bilateral air service. Under the Appendix 5 ICAO Template Air Service Agreement (TASA), which is an ICAO guidance material for agreement negotiation with parties entering into agreement, it was stated that each party grants to the other party the right to fly without landing across the territory of the other party and the right to make stops in the territory of the other party for non-traffic purposes. The selected airlines of each party can take on board, in the territory of the other party, passengers, cargo, mail and still go on operating for other reasons within the territory of the party. For safety reasons, each party, according to this Appendix, have the right to, in written, select the appropriate airlines that is worth operating and also the right to withdraw or change the airline if the part designating the airline fails to comply with the safety provisions. Any designated airlines for operation within the territories of each party has the discretionary right to reject or accept this designation.