Civil Aviation Act 2017 and CAR 84: Legal Framework and Enforcement
The structure of the law
Aviation law in this jurisdiction operates in layers. The Civil Aviation Act 2017 is the primary legislation: it establishes the regulator, defines its powers (certification, oversight, inspection, enforcement), creates offences, and authorises subsidiary legislation. CAR 84 (the Civil Aviation Regulations) sits beneath the Act and contains the detailed operating and maintenance rules, including personnel licensing, continuing airworthiness, and maintenance organisation requirements. Candidates must be able to say which layer does what: the Act creates the power and the offence; the regulations prescribe the standard; acceptable means of compliance and guidance material explain how to meet it.
Concepts to master
Learn the regulator's oversight and enforcement toolkit: findings, corrective action requests, variation, suspension and revocation of certificates, and financial penalties. Understand the personal obligations on a certifying engineer - a duty to certify only what is true, a duty to report occurrences, and exposure to offences for false certification. Understand record-keeping obligations: who keeps maintenance records, for how long, and who may inspect them. Note the change-control duty: an organisation or licence holder must notify the authority of changes affecting approval.
Traps in questions
- Treating guidance material as legally binding; only the Act and the regulations create requirements.
- Assuming enforcement only targets organisations; individuals can be prosecuted and licences acted against.
- Confusing suspension (temporary) with revocation (permanent removal, requiring reapplication).
- Missing that record retention periods and who must sign records are prescribed, not discretionary.
Rule of thumb
Act = power and penalty; CAR = standard; guidance = method. Worked example: an engineer is asked to sign a release for work not carried out. The relevant prohibition and offence arise under the Act and regulations, the standard breached is in CAR 84, and the internal procedure in the company manual is only the means of compliance - so "the manual didn't say I couldn't" is no defence.