Aircraft NOT required to have an Aircraft Flight Manual (AFM) under Regulation 54 of CAR 1988

STOP PRESS:  This information is now available in reliable, official form!  See www.airsafety.com.au/noafm.htm for the official CASA version, which was made public on 12th July 2000.  Until then it had been a CASA-internal document only, which meant that CASA could use it to catch those who did not comply, but pilots and owners could not use it to determine whether or not a particular aircraft needed a Flight Manual or not.

This list was compiled by CASA, but CASA has restricted it to CASA-internal use only. This copy fell from a passing truck.

CASA has advised me that this list is unfinished, it is incomplete, and it contains errors. To add to the trouble, I have had it re-typed and that probably added more errors. However I have found it a pretty good starting point.

  1. Page 1 of 2
  2. Page 2 of 2

This simple list illustrates the need for constant vigilance by AOPA or whichever organisation represents the interests of those at the bottom of the aviation food chain - the ordinary Weekend Warriors, Australia's pilots and owners of light aircraft.

In the course of consultation about the new Flight Manual system, CASA said that the above list would be made public.  When CASA quietly changed its mind, AOPA should have said "Oh no you don't", with the threat of a political furore in the background.  But AOPA went meekly along with CASA's  change of plan.

We were promised that this list would be available in official form.  See  comments 8, 29 and 30 in the Summary of Responses to NPRM 9801AW .

I recommend that you write to your Federal MP and demand that CASA deliver on the promises it made during public consultation on these new requirements.