Security 108 deadline looking improbable

The deadline of February 1, 2009 for the implementation of the Part 108 safety regulations is now a pipedream, according to Professor Johann Coetzee, owner of Henley Air, the major helicopter company. The technical standards, which are the “working manual” of the regulations, he told FTW, will only be signed by the commissioner after December 10 – when the final technical standards will be presented to the civil aviation regulations committee (CARcom) for approval. “This,” said Coetzee, “means that no air cargo security manuals will be able to be approved by the SA Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) before this date.” The air cargo security manual itself presents its own difficulties. “The CAA distributed a guideline manual as a service to the industry,” said Coetzee, “which requires major remodelling. In its present form it is impractical and could not be approved even by the CAA (its author), without reconstruction.” Another area of delay is evident. According to Coetzee, it is only very recently that aircraft training organisations (ATOs) were advised which training material from the International Civil Aviation Organisation ( Icao) was approved to be able to provide standard air cargo security training which is required by “designated officials”. These designated officials must be employed – either on a full-time or part-time basis – by airlines and regulated agents. “ATOs must amend their manuals of procedure to incorporate the specific training and, of course, ensure that they have training personnel qualified to deliver this training,” Coetzee said. “There already is an SA unit standard, published in August 2007, specifically covering this training with which the ATO must comply. “In addition, the designated official must also comply with the training required to become a registered security official and acquire dangerous goods training to category 6.” But, Coetzee added, there is not yet a single designated official in SA who has achieved the necessary qualifications. Also, the steps necessary to accredit consignors and approve regulated agents, cannot be completed until the technical standards have been signed into operation. Said Coetzee: “This prevents, for example, the CAA from officially approving cargo security familiarisation training syllabi – which consequently means that the familiarisation training cannot be given to consignor and forwarding agent personnel. “The syllabus must be developed by potential regulated agents.” According to Coetzee, the forwarding organisations – such as the SA Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff), Air Cargo Operators’ Committee (Acoc) and the SA Express Parcel Association (Saepa), as well as NAFCOC/JCCI and the Business Aviation Association of Southern Africa (Baasa) are doing what they can to speed up the process and assist the CAA. “There are a variety of other items yet to be finalised by the CAA,” he said. “An important example is the suggestion made to the CAA on September 10 that items of less than 250-grams should be exempted from security controls which the CAA undertook to consider – but nothing further has been heard. “The Part 108 measures require total commitment from all concerned – exporters, forwarding and courier agents, air carriers and suppliers of catering and all other items that are carried on aircraft. “Zero defect must be our goal. There must be no compromise.”