Airworthiness Directives 2004 - Revocation and Remaking - Fokker F50 (F27 Mk 50) Series Aeroplanes

This instrument, signed 20 December 2004 by David Alan Villiers as a delegate of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, revokes a set of existing Airworthiness Directives (ADs) that apply to Fokker F50 (F27 Mk 50) series aeroplanes and re-makes them as discrete, separate instruments (sourced to subregulation 39.001 (1) of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998). The operative paragraphs are short and explicit: the delegate, acting under the cited subregulation, (a) revokes the Airworthiness Directives mentioned in Schedule 1, and (b) makes, as separate instruments, each Airworthiness Directive mentioned in Schedule 1 and attached. The instrument includes a note stating that each attached Airworthiness Directive is being re-made in exactly the same form as appears in the latest published edition of the Directive.

Mechanically the instrument does two things, both by reference to Schedule 1. First, it removes (revokes) the previous instruments identified in Schedule 1 from the statutory register of ADs. Second, it creates a set of replacement instruments: each AD named in Schedule 1 is re-made as its own separate instrument and is attached to the revocation-and-remaking instrument. The Schedule identifies the ADs by title and AD number, for example AD/F50/1 Central Windshield Post Connection to Pressure Bulkhead through to AD/F50/89 Cargo Restraint Strap Assemblies. Several entries in the Schedule show amendment annotations (for example Amdt 1, Amdt 4) and one entry is labelled CANCELLED (AD/F50/35). The instrument therefore effects an administrative replacement of the listed ADs while purporting to preserve the substantive content of each AD, by re-making them in the same form as the latest published editions.

The delegate’s authority is expressly invoked: the action is taken under subregulation 39.001 (1) of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998. The instrument is dated and signed by the named delegate, making transparent who made the decision and when. The text does not set out the substantive content of the remade ADs in the body of the instrument; instead it relies on the attached ADs and the schedule of titles and numbers to identify what is revoked and re-made. The instrument therefore functions as an administrative housekeeping instrument: it alters the statutory form and statutory citations of the ADs listed in Schedule 1 while stating that their content is to remain the same as the latest published versions.

The instrument rests on a small set of concrete legal concepts and administrative mechanisms, all stated in the text.

• Delegated power: The instrument is made by a named delegate of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, citing the statutory delegation point, subregulation 39.001 (1) of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998. The source therefore identifies the decision-maker as a CASA delegate exercising an express regulatory power. The instrument records the delegate’s name and the date of signature.

• Revocation by schedule reference: The instrument revokes the existing ADs listed in Schedule 1. The act of revocation is performed by reference rather than by reprinting each revoked AD in full, so the Schedule is the primary identifier of what is removed from the prior statutory record.

• Remaking as separate instruments: Each AD mentioned in Schedule 1 is simultaneously made as a separate instrument and attached to the revocation instrument. The instrument therefore separates the legal identity of each AD by creating individual instruments for them, rather than leaving them in their prior form (the previous form is not described in the instrument).

• Preservation of substantive content: The instrument includes a note that each attached AD is being re-made in exactly the same form as appears in the latest published edition of the Directive. This is an explicit statement that the content of each AD is intended to be preserved; the instrument accomplishes a change in the instruments’ legal form while announcing no substantive amendment to the Directive texts themselves.

• Identification of affected aircraft type: The Schedule is limited to Fokker F50 (F27 Mk 50) series aeroplanes. The instrument therefore confines its operative scope to ADs that apply to that aircraft family, as identified by title and AD number in Schedule 1.

• References to amendment history within Schedule 1: Several Schedule entries are annotated with amendment identifiers (for example Amdt 1, Amdt 4), indicating that the ADs listed may have prior amendment histories which are being consolidated into the presently re-made instruments. One entry is expressly labelled CANCELLED (AD/F50/35), indicating that the schedule includes a previously cancelled AD among those being addressed administratively.

These core concepts show that the instrument is an administrative restructuring: revocation of identified ADs and immediate re-creation of the same ADs as separate, attached instruments, with the explicit claim that their substantive wording remains the same as the latest published editions. The legal basis and the specific list of ADs are stated in the instrument, and the delegate’s identity and date of action are recorded.

The instrument identifies its substantive subject matter as Airworthiness Directives for Fokker F50 (F27 Mk 50) series aeroplanes. That choice of subject determines the primary affected parties, as a matter of legal reach.

• Operators and owners of Fokker F50 series aeroplanes: The ADs listed in Schedule 1 each target technical and operational aspects of Fokker F50 aircraft. Operators and aircraft owners who hold, operate, lease, maintain, or otherwise have operational control of Fokker F50s will be the practical addressees of the ADs. They are the parties who, under the ADs’ terms, will be required to carry out inspections, modifications, maintenance or procedural changes specified in the attached ADs. The instrument itself confines the ADs to the F50 series by title in Schedule 1.

• Maintenance organisations and approved persons: Licensed maintenance organisations, certifying staff, and approved persons responsible for carrying out or certifying compliance with AD requirements will be affected in the sense that the instruments they must follow for continuing airworthiness are being re-issued as separate documents. Where an AD specifies tasks to be performed by maintenance organisations, the change in instrument form may alter how those tasks are cited in maintenance manuals and records.

• Airworthiness managers and regulatory compliance personnel: Organisations’ compliance teams, engineering departments and airworthiness managers will need to track the change in legal form and ensure that manuals, minimum equipment lists, maintenance programmes and logbooks cite the correct instrument references.

• Civil Aviation Safety Authority administrative units and delegates: The instrument is an exercise of a CASA delegate’s power, so internal CASA administration (delegation records, publication registries, and the register of ADs) will be affected by the need to update the public register and publications to reflect the revocation and re-making as separate instruments.

• Third parties relying on AD citations: Certifiers, auditors, lessors, insurers and regulators who rely on legal citations for compliance verification will be affected because the remade ADs will exist as separate attached instruments. Their records and searches may need to reference the remade, attached ADs rather than prior consolidated forms.

The instrument does not itself enumerate duties or prescribe penalties within its text, nor does it set out exemptions or procedural variances; rather, it changes the legal form and the citations that identify the operative ADs for the F50 series. Because the instrument expressly re-makes each AD “in exactly the same form as appears in the latest published edition of the Directive”, the practical substantive obligations embedded in those ADs continue to apply to the parties subject to them, but under the newly issued separate instruments. The Schedule, which lists individual AD titles and numbers, is the primary map of which directives and therefore which technical subjects and aircraft are affected.

The instrument is itself brief, and it does not restate the technical obligations contained in the individual Airworthiness Directives it revokes and re-makes. Nonetheless the instrument establishes certain legal duties and rights by its structure and references, and these should be read with care.

• Duty to comply with the ADs as separate instruments: By revoking the ADs listed in Schedule 1 and simultaneously re-making each as a separate instrument and attached, the instrument carries an implicit duty: the requirements articulated in each re-made AD will be the operative obligations that owners, operators and maintenance providers must follow. The instrument’s note clarifies that each attached AD is re-made in exactly the same form as the latest published edition, which indicates that the substantive duty content of the ADs is intended to be preserved. Practically, affected parties must ensure they are applying the requirements from the attached, re-made ADs when performing maintenance, inspections or operational actions.

• Right to rely on the published text of each attached AD: The instrument re-makes the ADs in the same form as the latest published edition and attaches them. That structure creates a right , a legal expectation , that the attached instruments are the authoritative instruments for compliance. Parties should therefore rely on the attached re-made AD texts as the operative legal instruments.

• Administrative duty to update references and records: Because the form of the ADs is changed (they are re-made as separate instruments), operators and maintenance organisations will have an administrative duty to update manuals, maintenance programmes, minimum equipment lists, certification references and compliance records to cite the re-made instrument references. The Schedule lists titles and AD numbers that identify the re-made instruments; those identifiers will be the correct citations for future records.

• Delegationally-created decision: The instrument explicitly records that it is made by a named delegate under subregulation 39.001 (1) of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998. That creates a right for regulated parties to identify the decision-maker and the statutory authority under which the revocation and remaking was undertaken.

• No substantive amendment right or waiver specified: The instrument’s text does not create any new exemptions, waivers or amended compliance dates. The note states that the re-made ADs are in exactly the same form as the latest published edition. Therefore, no change in substantive requirements or compliance timeframes is presented within this instrument itself. Any rights to seek relief, alternative means of compliance, or temporary exemptions would have to be located in the substantive ADs themselves or in the governing regulations, not in the revocation-and-remaking instrument.

The text of this instrument does not itself specify penalties, sanctions, or an enforcement regime. It performs an administrative act , revocation and remaking of ADs , and states the legal basis, but it does not contain provisions describing offences, pecuniary penalties, imprisonment or enforcement processes. That omission is meaningful: any enforcement consequences that arise in practice will be located in the underlying regulatory framework that empowers CASA and its delegates, and in the substantive wording of each Airworthiness Directive as an instrument. Two points flow from the instrument’s form.

• No penalties stated in this instrument: The revocation-and-remaking text contains no penalty clauses. The Schedule lists AD titles and numbers and the instrument notes the re-making of each AD in the same form as the latest published editions. If the underlying ADs make compliance mandatory under statute or regulation, any penalties for non-compliance will derive from those instruments and the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998, rather than from this administrative instrument’s text.

• Enforcement will be implemented through existing CASA mechanisms and the ADs themselves: Because each AD is being re-made as a separate instrument, the primary locus for enforcement and for any penalty language is the individual AD documents. The instrument therefore changes where enforcement reference points will be located: enforcement actions, audits, or notices will need to cite the re-made attached AD instrument rather than the previously existing form. The instrument’s invocation of subregulation 39.001 (1) establishes the delegated statutory basis for the act, but does not itself set out the enforcement pathway.

Practitioners should therefore do two things. First, inspect each attached re-made AD to confirm whether that AD includes mandated compliance actions, compliance timeframes, and references to enforcement or to the regulatory provisions under which non-compliance may be actionable. Second, consult the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998 and the CASA legal framework for the general enforcement regime that applies to airworthiness directives and continuing airworthiness obligations. The present instrument is silent on penalty quantum and enforcement procedure; it only relocates the ADs into separate attached instruments.

The instrument explicitly engages a single other legal source within its text: the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998. The delegate acts under subregulation 39.001 (1) of those Regulations, and the instrument’s legal authority is therefore grounded in that regulatory provision. The instrument’s interaction with other laws and legal mechanisms must be read through that narrow linkage.

• Delegated regulatory power under CASR 1998: The instrument is an exercise of power conferred under subregulation 39.001 (1) of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998. The legal relationship is explicit: this instrument is a regulatory action taken under that subregulation. Any question about the delegate’s authority, the scope of permissible actions, or reviewability of the act will therefore connect back to the powers and limits contained in the cited subregulation and the broader CASR regime.

• ADs as regulatory instruments sitting within the aviation regulatory framework: Airworthiness Directives are part of the CASA regulatory architecture for continuing airworthiness. By revoking and re-making ADs, the instrument changes the statutory form in which those regulatory requirements appear. Interactions with other laws , for example, obligations under the Civil Aviation Act, contractual obligations with lessors, insurance terms, and workplace or safety legislation , are not addressed in this instrument. However, because ADs often impose technical and maintenance obligations that bear on airworthiness, operational safety and contractual performance, the re-making of ADs as separate instruments can affect how compliance with those other legal obligations is evidenced and enforced.

• Publication and citation practice: The instrument identifies a set of ADs by title and AD number in Schedule 1 and states the ADs are attached. The way those instruments are cited for legal or contractual purposes will now be the attached, separate AD instruments. This may affect cross-references in manuals, contracts, leases and certification records that previously cited the prior form of the ADs.

• Amendment annotation in Schedule 1: Several AD entries in the Schedule include amendment markers (for example Amdt 1 through Amdt 4). That signals that the ADs have a history of being varied, and that the remade instruments should reflect the latest published editions. The instrument’s note says expressly that the remade ADs replicate the latest published form, which may include prior amendments. The instrument therefore interacts with the prior amendment history by consolidating the latest published wording into new, separate statutory instruments.

The instrument itself is an amendment-style administrative measure: it revokes identified ADs and re-creates them in the same substantive form as the latest published editions. The text records a specific point in time at which that administrative housekeeping occurred: the instrument bears the delegate’s signature and is dated 20 December 2004. The Schedule lists ADs, some of which are annotated with amendment numbers. Those annotations provide a record of prior amendment activity relevant to the ADs being re-made.

• Date and author of the action: The instrument is dated 20 December 2004 and signed by David Alan Villiers, delegate of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority. That date is the operative date for the revocation and remake action as recorded in the instrument.

• The instrument’s own amendment action: The core amendment here is organisational: revocation of previous instruments and re-issue of the same text as separate instruments. The instrument therefore functions as a re-issuance rather than a substantive amendment of AD content. The attached ADs are re-made “in exactly the same form as appears in the latest published edition of the Directive”, which indicates that the present instrument consolidates the latest published amendments into separate statutory instrument forms without altering substantive wording.

• Evidence of prior amendments: Schedule 1 annotates many AD entries with amendment identifiers, for example AD/F50/3 Amdt 1, AD/F50/14 Amdt 1, AD/F50/16 Amdt 1, AD/F50/32 Amdt 1, AD/F50/33 Amdt 1, AD/F50/35 CANCELLED, AD/F50/41 (no amdt shown) and AD/F50/58 Amdt 4, among others. Those annotations record that the ADs have previously been amended; the present instrument takes the latest published versions as the basis for re-making each AD.

• Inclusion of cancellations: The Schedule explicitly includes an entry marked CANCELLED (AD/F50/35). The presence of that entry in the Schedule as part of the revocation-and-remaking exercise documents that the register included a previously cancelled AD and that the administrative republishing addresses that status.

• No textual amendments in this instrument: The instrument does not itself amend the textual content of the ADs. The stated intent is to preserve the latest published wording by re-making each AD identically. Therefore the instrument’s amendment history is limited to an administrative re-issuance on the recorded date rather than to changes in technical obligations.

The instrument contains no reference to litigation, proceedings, challenges, judicial review outcomes or contested enforcement actions. It is an administrative action recorded by a delegate of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, and the text does not include any note of legal proceedings either pending or concluded.

• No cases or appeals recorded in the instrument: The instrument itself does not identify any litigation history arising from the ADs, their amendment, or their re-issuance. The Schedule lists a large set of AD titles and numbers, with some amendment annotations and one cancellation, but nothing in the text records court proceedings or tribunal matters.

• Implication for practitioners: Because the instrument does not record litigation history, parties seeking to know whether any of the listed ADs have been the subject of legal challenge must search external sources: court records, administrative appeal bodies, or regulatory decisions. The present instrument provides no such litigation pointers.

• Delegation and reviewability: While the instrument records the decision-maker and the statutory subregulation relied upon, it does not comment on the potential for judicial review or internal review of the delegate’s action. Any question about reviewability of the delegate’s exercise of subregulation 39.001 (1) would need to be taken to the relevant judicial or administrative review forum and cannot be answered from the instrument text.

In short, the instrument’s own text contains no litigation history. For any litigation context, external legal research will be necessary, because the instrument is silent on challenges or adjudications.

This instrument’s brevity and administrative nature create several practical pitfalls for practitioners who rely on AD citations, and each is traceable to the instrument’s specific wording and structure.

• The operative AD texts are “attached” but not reproduced in the instrument body: The instrument states that each Airworthiness Directive mentioned in Schedule 1 is “attached” and is being re-made in exactly the same form as the latest published edition. If you are working from a copy of this instrument that does not include the attachments, you lack the substantive texts that specify the maintenance actions, compliance times and technical requirements. Practical consequence: do not assume the Schedule alone is sufficient for compliance; obtain the attached re-made AD documents.

• Change of legal form without substantive change: The instrument preserves the ADs’ substantive wording but changes their legal form by creating separate instruments. That can disrupt document control. Practical consequence: manuals, maintenance programmes, MELs, contractual clauses and insurer references that cite the old form of the ADs may need to be updated to cite the new separate AD instruments. Failure to update citations can create confusion in audits and contractual compliance checks.

• Amendment markers and cancellations embedded in Schedule 1: Several ADs in the Schedule carry amendment annotations (Amdt 1, Amdt 4, etc.). One entry is explicitly CANCELLED (AD/F50/35). Practical consequence: confirm which edition the instrument’s note treats as the “latest published edition” for each AD, particularly where amendments exist. For cancelled ADs, confirm whether there is any residual obligation or whether the cancellation was already effective before this instrument; the Schedule entry alone does not explain timing or rationale for cancellations.

• Delegation record: The instrument names the delegate (David Alan Villiers) and cites subregulation 39.001 (1) CASR 1998. Practical consequence: where disputes arise over procedural validity, the delegation chain and the statutory reach of subregulation 39.001 (1) will be relevant. The instrument provides the evidence of delegation and date, but not the underpinning paperwork of delegation authority beyond the citation. If a party needs to test the propriety of the delegate’s action, they will need to review the delegation framework under the CASR.

• Reliance on the phrase “latest published edition”: The note states each attached AD is re-made in exactly the same form as appears in the latest published edition of the Directive. Practical consequence: there may be ambiguity about what counts as the “latest published edition” at the time of re-making. For example, if a further amendment was published between the date you are reviewing and the date of re-making, you must confirm which publication the note references. Record-keeping and version control are therefore essential.

The instrument’s practical demand is administrative continuity combined with document control. The substantive technical obligations remain located in the re-made ADs attached to the instrument. To comply, affected parties should follow a short set of concrete steps anchored to the instrument’s text.

1. Obtain the attached AD instruments. The instrument states that each listed AD is being re-made and attached, and that each attached AD replicates the latest published edition. Compliance begins by securing copies of those attached ADs and confirming that they are indeed the versions re-made under this instrument. Do not rely solely on the Schedule; the operative obligations and compliance timeframes are contained in the attached AD texts.

2. Verify version identity. For each AD in Schedule 1, confirm that the attached re-made instrument reproduces the latest published edition. Where Schedule entries include amendment markers (for example Amdt 1 or Amdt 4), check that the remade AD includes those amendments as intended by the note in the instrument. If any discrepancy appears between the attached AD and what you have previously relied on, treat that as a document-control issue requiring clarification from CASA.

3. Update internal citations and records. Replace older citations in maintenance manuals, airworthiness records, minimum equipment lists, maintenance programmes and contractual documents with citations to the re-made AD instruments. Record the revocation-and-remaking event dated 20 December 2004, and link each historical AD reference to the corresponding re-made instrument for audit trails.

4. Check cancelled and amended entries. Note that the Schedule includes an entry marked CANCELLED (AD/F50/35) and several entries with amendment identifiers. Confirm the effective status of any cancelled AD and whether any prerequisite actions or residual records are required. For amended ADs, verify the effective amendment content as embodied in the attached re-made AD.

5. Ensure maintenance and compliance actions align with the re-made AD texts. The technical tasks, compliance intervals and methodologies will be set out in each attached AD. Ensure maintenance organisations, certifying staff and operational personnel are briefed and scheduled to carry out the work required by the re-made ADs.

6. Retain the instrument and delegate record. Keep a record of this revocation-and-remaking instrument, including the signature of the delegate and the statutory citation (subregulation 39.001 (1) of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998), as part of your compliance file. That record demonstrates that the ADs were re-made on the recorded date and under the cited authority.