February 28 , 2024
By way of a quick summary of the recent board meeting we wanted to let the members know that we are working with the new EASA structure to ensure that we are representing your interests in the Safety Advisory Board (SAB) and the six community steering groups. All nominations have been submitted to the EASA and SAB secretariat. With a new senior team at EASA, we are waiting to see how the newly proposed process will work in 2024.
There were two interesting discussions following EASA meetings. The first was related to Part 147 and the proposed update to the regulation. It seems that the proposal is focused primarily on the system to support large airlines and little if any consideration has been given to the requirements of GA activities. Through your representative Marcel Gisel, ECOGAS has made a submission to the consultation making several suggested amendments to the proposal which are fully supported by the ECOGAS board.
The second discussion was related to the use of cost sharing in GA and the different way that this is handled across the member states. There is concern that the traditional use of cost sharing by club members and their friends is moving away from the simple sharing of operational costs on the day. There are those who are seeking to extend cost sharing to a far wider range of costs including longer term requirements in maintenance and insurance. Those seeking to extend the cost sharing model appear to be doing this for commercial reasons and effectively offering a for hire and reward service.
As ECOGAS we support the original intent of cost sharing amongst club members and friends as it both encourages the use of aircraft at a club, plus it helps build flying hours for the aspiring pilot. Beyond this basic concept ECOGAS would not support an extended cost sharing model.
Our next meeting with EASA is the SAB taking place on the 11 and 12 of March 2024.
