General News

ICAO Doc 10110 – The Helicopter Code of Performance Development Manual

By Captain Matthew Nielsen (HPC Committee Chair) from the recent edition of the AFAP Air Pilot magazine.

Every AFAP member is aware of the industrial activities of the Federation via enterprise bargaining, pilot representatives and occasionally those unlucky enough to find themselves seriously at odds with their employers. Industrial work is high energy and high profile and even occasionally results in our very own AFAP Executive Director making the evening news.

However, Safety and Technical (S&T) work is arguably the eldest child of the Federation. The AFAP was, after all, a founding member of the International Federation of Airline Pilot Associations (IFALPA), a champion of safety and technical activities and one of the few non-state bodies granted status within ICAO.

I found myself reading an advisory circular the other day during a quiet moment. The matters discussed were helicopter specific, but it set me thinking.

The more I read, the more I recognised much of the material and its genesis in a job card set by ICAO for the purposes of modernising and elaborating Annex 6 Part III of the ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices.

I appreciate that this seems unbearably dry on superficial examination, but it reminded me that it is human nature to miscalculate the consequences of our actions for good and bad at times.

It set me to thinking about a series of meetings that I first attended in 2018 across Cologne, Vienna, dozens of online meetings and, more recently, Montreal.

One of the results of this long effort across time and pandemics was an ICAO document – 'The Helicopter Code of Performance Development Manual' (Doc. 10110).

So here I was with my CASA Advisory Circular, reading references to Doc.10110 and recognising the results of what was years of arguments, occasional walkouts, robust discussion and a shared motivation to illuminate areas of regulatory guidance at a global level that will have meaningful effects on safety outcomes for helicopter pilots worldwide.

Additionally, IFALPA and ICAO co-authored a Helicopter FRMS Guidance Manual for Regulators and are working on the Helicopter All Weather Operations Manual.

This will address specific capability differences in rotary aviation with enroute PBN authorisations and helicopter specific instrument approach design.

We are currently finalising work on a proper definition of what will be codified in global regulations as Technical Crew Members. There is more in the pipeline!

Change in a mature and highly regulated system is necessarily slow and methodical. Small glimpses of words or intent that you might recognise as your own, coming back in the form of local regulatory change, is evidence of the fact that real change, whilst requiring patience, is absolutely possible. I can also tell you that it is somewhat satisfying to think that even at such a small scale of input, individuals and small groups can have meaningful input to actual change.

We must all continue to support and recognise the important work done by our industrial staff. Take a minute to consider though, the varied work of the AFAP, AusALPA, IFALPA and ICAO across portfolios as varied as helicopter, accident analysis, air traffic services, human performance, security and aerodromes.

Consider that areas of interest to you might benefit greatly from your support and input. You might well be the expert an area needs to progress a development initiative and thereby improve in some small way the highest possible standards of safety and technical outcomes for us all.

I would encourage those of you interested, to reach out to your pilot reps and contact the AFAP's S&T team (technical@afap.org.au) to work out where we could best align your interests with ongoing S&T work.

I have had the good fortune to meet some amazing pilots, engineers and crew from countries and cultures all over the world. I have seen a vast range of places and shared friendship with some amazing humans and it has made my piloting career that much richer.