FAA holds Workshop for Certification of Aerodromes in ESAF and WACAF Regions

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States of America continues to provide technical assistance to the African States through its project, Safe Skies for Africa (SSFA). One of the challenges faced in aviation today in Africa is that of certifying international aerodromes. As long as an aerodrome does international traffic, under ICAO it is deemed an international aerodrome and therefore, must meet international standards as specified in Annex 14 to the Chicago Convention.

ICAO to this effect has so far launched two projects in Africa, one in the WACAF region and the other in ESAF region. The aim is to have all African States achieve a 60% Effective Implementation (EI) by the end of 2017 after having certificated at least 45% of all African international airports by the end of 2016.

The FAA supports this initiative by ICAO and for this purpose honoured the request by the SADC Aviation Safety Oversight Organisation (SASO) to hold a workshop on Certification of Aerodromes for African States from 19^th – 23^rd September 2016 in Ezulwini, Royal Kingdom of Swaziland. The workshop which was opened by the Director General of the Swaziland CAA, Mr. Solomon Dube, was attended by participants from Swaziland CAA inspectorate (SWACAA), SASO, the East African Community CASSOA, Angola, Botswana, Cameroun, Cape Verde, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Togo, and Uganda.

The FAA team, left to right: Mr. Grady Stone (FAA Africa Representative), Mr. C. Mark, and Mr. Kelly Slusarski

The workshop also provided comparisons on the minor differences between the FAA standards and those provided for in our region in certification of aerodromes. This is healthy for consideration of alternative ways of correction action plans where no technical guidance material has so far been developed. Participants were encouraged to focus on the bigger picture rather than the minor differences. Experience shows that a Best Practice is derived at after hearing/learning the same principles from different perspectives of compliance of SARPs.

Participants during workshop theory session

As a guide to the easy process of certificating an aerodrome, aerodrome designers should be able to determine for which type of aircraft the subject aerodrome is designed. Participants also got to learn the difference between certification and licensing, where;

• Certification is for aerodromes designated for international traffic
• Licensing is meant for domestic traffic

The participants upon their successful completion of the workshop, came up with the following resolutions:

1. States should ensure that their Civil Aviation Acts clearly provide for the responsibilities of their safety oversight inspectors
2. For the States with the CAA acting the role of both the regulator and operator/service provider, the organisational structure of the CAA should be such that there is a clear separation of the regulatory arm and service provision arm functions
3. States should ensure that their civil aviation regulations provide clauses on exemptions commensurate with the industry and environment while at the same time not compromising on safety of the industry
4. Develop all the necessary technical guidance materials for both the regulator and service provider
5. There is need to establish the minimum qualifications and experience for the inspectorate staff
6. Establish a robust policy on record keeping and archiving
7. States should undertake to make use of the ICAO software on Compliance Checklists and Electronic Filing of Differences (CC/EFOD)
8. States should ensure availability of sufficient financial and human resources in order to effectively discharge safety oversight functions and obligations
9. States should endeavour to adopt the industry Best Practices

Participants during the workshop practical session at King Mswati III International Airport, Sikuphe

EAC CASSOA

September, 2016