Director Of Civil Aviation Annual Report 2024

STATES OF JERSEY

DIRECTOR OF CIVIL AVIATION

ANNUAL REPORT 2024

Presented to the States on 14th January 2025 by the Minister for External Relations

STATES GREFFE

2025  R.7

The Office of the Director of Civil Aviation for Jersey 2024 Annual Report

1.0 Introduction

Based on the Director of Civil Aviation's (DCA) key objectives and business plan, significant progress has been made during 2024 on the development of the Office of the Director of Civil Aviation (ODCA) and the regulatory processes used by the team. This has been made possible by the team of technical specialists now in place, working across the Channel Islands for the benefit of the aviation community, with staff from Jersey and Guernsey offices working on key safety assurance activities.

2.0 Joint Working

Following the issue of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Jersey, the States of Guernsey and the DCA, the ODCA has progressed the pan-island approach to its operation and development during 2024. The approach has driven improvements in safety oversight, with all key safety and security elements now included and improved customer service with resilience in the turnaround of foreign carrier permit (FCP) applications. Team members in both islands can provide support for leave, sickness and training.

The ODCA has also completed the issue of a complete set of processes and procedures for the activities it undertakes, a key task necessary to demonstrate compliance with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) requirements and standards across the Channel Islands. These will now be used as a baseline and updated and developed on an ongoing basis. In 2024, an important milestone has been achieved in ensuring that ODCA procedures now include all aspects in the oversight of Aerodromes, Air Navigation Services, Meteorological, Airworthiness, Aviation Security and Flight Operations. The joint working approach has been very successful in ensuring that the required technical skills are available across the Channel Islands.

The ODCA has recruited a new postholder for the role of Aerodrome & Air Traffic Regulator in Q3 of 2024. This role is critical in the support of the oversight of Jersey's Aerodrome and Air Navigation Services Provision.

The team is almost fully-recruited with the recruitment of one remaining post under review Safety & Compliance Analyst.

Director of Civil Aviation

Operations Manager Support Officer Guernsey Base Jersey Base

Aerodromes & Air  Aviation Security  Safety & Compliance  Head of Flight  Head of

Traffic Regulator  Operations

DDCA (Jersey) Regulator Analyst  DDCA (Guernsey) Airworthiness

3.0 Audits and Inspections

During the year, the ODCA developed an annual audit plan, in addition to key changes in audit and escalation processes[1], while incorporating several additional areas of review into the Jersey audit plan. This includes:

Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft (SAFA). For the first time in Jersey, random unannounced safety inspections of aircraft by the ODCA have been conducted at Jersey airport. These sample inspections (SAFA) are an ICAO requirement, and a key component in the assessment of safety risks by all Aviation Authorities globally. The sample checks, which will now be included in the annual audit plan include a visual check of the condition of an aircraft, the document that supports its airworthiness and crew licences. The conduct of SAFA checks in Jersey has been made possible by the sharing of technical resources between Jersey and Guernsey due to the differing technical and specialist skills required to conduct the checks: Sharing technical resources of staff trained specifically for this activity has ensured that a standard approach is followed and removes the cost of subcontracting this activity to external agencies.

The Jersey Air Display. The preparation, conduct and management of the Jersey air display has also been included in the annual audit cycle. The audit assesses the applicant's compliance to the necessary standards for the preparation and conduct of an air display, including aircraft airworthiness, handling and pilot display authorisations.

4.0 Compliance Obligations of the ODCA

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) places obligations on all Member States to satisfy and demonstrate their compliance to international safety standards. Like other Crown Dependencies, Jersey is not an ICAO member, though is represented by the United Kingdom which is an ICAO Member State. Accordingly, the work of the ODCA is subject to audit by the UK Department for Transport (DfT), as are all Crown Dependencies, where we demonstrate our compliance to the obligations of the Chicago Convention.

While Jersey demonstrates its own compliance during audits, there are other mandated sources of ICAO evidence that must be submitted, including:

Protocol Questions & Compliance Checklists.

State Safety Programme.

State Safety Risk Management System & Trend Analysis.

Interim Audit.

These elements of our compliance programme are outlined below.

Protocol Questions. ICAO has produced and developed nineteen separate Annexes that detail the requirements that States and Aviation Authorities, such as the ODCA must comply with. For example, Annex 6 (Operation of Aircraft), Annex 11 (Air Traffic Services), Annex 13 (Accident & Incident Investigation), and Annex 14 (Aerodromes). These Annexes are translated into questions for which the ODCA must provide evidence and answers in order to demonstrate oversight of all aspects of aviation and the safety programmes in place. There are approximately 800 priority questions that require responses, and a further 13,000 compliance checklist questions to be considered (ongoing activity).

State Safety Programme. During 2024, the ODCA issued the Channel Island State Safety Programme. This document provides an oversight of the operation of the ODCA, its legal basis, and crucially, target areas for further development. In this way the Office holds itself to account for key deliverables though the process. The attached link provides access to the State Safety Programme.

State Safety Programme - Channel Islands - Director of Civil Aviation

The State Safety Risk Management System. This is the method the ODCA uses to identify aviation safety risks and conduct trend analysis. The team have commenced work on the development of this key element that will be rolled out in 2025, with a plan to review ongoing safety risks, and develop mitigation based on their likelihood and severity.

Audit of the ODCA. The United Kingdom (UK), as a member of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), is subject to periodic ICAO audits. ICAO may also elect to include an audit of any of the UK Crown Dependencies or Overseas Territories as part of

the UK audit cycle. Accordingly, the ODCA ensures on an ongoing basis that our activities, processes and procedures demonstrate compliance to ICAO Standards & Recommended Practices (SARPS) and provide the DfT with assurance of compliance as required by a Memorandum of Understanding. Regular meetings are held with the DfT to maintain alignment of expectation and horizon scanning. A mock ICAO audit of Jersey sponsored by the DfT is planned for Q2 2025 and a substantial effort has been committed by the ODCA team during 2024 to ensure a successful outcome.

5.0 Communication

Engagement with the aviation community and other stakeholders remains a key objective of our work. In addition to regular meetings with aerodrome operators, and interest groups, the ODCA continues to provide updates to all three of the Aero Clubs in the Channel Islands. The DCA and members of the team have presented to members in Jersey, Alderney and Guernsey during 2024 on relevant General Aviation topics of interest.

We welcome the opportunity to discuss aviation issues with other key stakeholder groups and encourage them to make contact if further engagement would assist. o.

During 2024, new guidance material has been published for the benefit of UAS (drone') operators and is available on the ODCA website at Drones Guidance - Director of Civil Aviation

Following extensive technical assessment and review of the necessary safety cases, the ODCA was delighted to be able to issue an Aerial Work Permit to for an applicant to conduct trials of specialist UAS activity in Jersey, as part of the ALIAS' project.

The ODCA would also take this opportunity to highlight the dedicated email addresses: odca@cidca.aero  A general inbox for all ODCA

permits@cidca.aero   Dedicated email for all Permit applications consultation@cidca.aero  Dedicated email for all Consultation feedback. drones@cidca.aero   A dedicated email from UAS (done) users.

Applications are directed to group emails to avoid the risk of emails being unseen due to staff travel or annual leave.

6.0 Volumes & Metrics

The ODCA now tracks all application activity to manage workload effectively, and plans in 2025 to develop its internal dashboard. Some examples are shown below.

Foreign Carrier Permits & Aerial Work Permits 2024

Jersey FCP Jersey AWP

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

12 10 8 6 4 2 0

Procedures In Compliance to ICAO

100% 80% 60%

40% 20% 0%

Procedures in place Jersey oDCA

2022 2023 2024

John Nicholas

Director of Civil Aviation (Jersey) 2024

[1] Note, audit reports are confidential between the ODCA and auditee.