Glossary

Accident is an occurrence that is associated with the operation of an aircraft in which a person is fatally or seriously injured, the aircraft sustains damage or structural failure, or the aircraft is missing or is completely inaccessible.

Airline sector includes operators of aircraft weighing more than 5700kg or containing 10 or more passenger seats, and associated maintenance, training, design, manufacturing, and supply organisations.

Auditors are Civil Aviation Authority staff who carry out certification and surveillance work. There are airworthiness auditors and flight operations auditors. (The Civil Aviation Authority also refers to auditors as "inspectors".)

Aviation document is any licence, permit, certificate, or other document issued under the Civil Aviation Act 1990 to, or about, any person, aircraft, aerodrome, aeronautical product, or aviation-related service.

Certification is the entry process to ensure that an applicant is able to comply with the Civil Aviation Act 1990 and with the associated Civil Aviation Rules before that applicant is issued with an aviation document. In this report, certification also refers to recertification and approving changes to aviation documents. However, when referring to actual examples of recertification, we use the term "recertification".

Civil Aviation Rules (Rules) are a form of "secondary" legislation, like statutory regulations, made under Part 3 of the Civil Aviation Act. Participants in the civil aviation system are required to comply with the Rules that are relevant to the aviation documents that they hold.

Corrective actions are actions that the holder of an aviation document needs to complete to rectify any areas of non-compliance with the Civil Aviation Rules and return to an acceptable level of performance. The Civil Aviation Authority identifies corrective actions through findings issued during surveillance.

Entry Process Sheets are electronic checklists covering each step in the certification process.

Exposition is a suite of manuals containing information about an operator's general policies, duties, operational control policy, and procedures, and the responsibilities of personnel. The exposition is the main way of showing that the management and control systems required under the Civil Aviation Rules are in place. The information that must be addressed in the exposition depends on the type of certificate and the scope of the operation.

General aviation sector includes operators of aircraft that weigh 5700kg or less and have nine passenger seats or less; all helicopter, agricultural, and balloon operations; and all sport and recreation aviation (both commercial and private).

Incident is an occurrence, other than an accident, that is associated with operating an aircraft that affects, or could affect, safety.

Inspection is used where the systems-based approach of a routine audit is not suitable (for example, for participants such as agricultural operators, who are not required to have an exposition). The focus is on checking safety practices, documents, and records.

Operation, in this report, means an air transport operation, a commercial transport operation, or an agricultural operation. The Civil Aviation Rule requirements are different for transport and agricultural operations.

Operators are participants in the civil aviation system – both individuals and companies. In this report, the term operator can refer to a participant who holds an air operator certificate or to a participant who holds an agricultural aircraft operator certificate.

Participants are defined in the Civil Aviation Act 1990 as anyone who does anything for which an aviation document is required. Participants include airline operators, pilots, and maintenance providers.

Safety Target Groups are the 13 groups of the civil aviation sector for which the Civil Aviation Authority measures safety targets. The groups are defined by a combination of aircraft type and the type of operation (for example, airline operation or other commercial operation).

Senior persons are people in an aviation sector organisation who have roles that are critical to aviation safety. They include the chief executive, chief pilot, and maintenance controller, who, under the Civil Aviation Act, have control over the "privileges" (duties and responsibilities) of an aviation document. Every senior person must be approved by the Civil Aviation Authority through the "fit and proper person" process.

Surveillance is the function of the Civil Aviation Authority that monitors participants' adherence to the Civil Aviation Act 1990, the Civil Aviation Rules, and the operators' exposition. It includes identifying action that participants need to take to ensure that they comply with safety standards.