IBAC Bulletin 99-1

Subject: Humanitarian Flights - Abuse of special arrangements for NON-RVSM Approved Aircraft

At a recent meeting with Shanwick Oceanic it was brought to light that aircraft not approved for RVSM have been requesting altitude reservations to operate at RVSM levels based on being a medical flight. The rate at which this is happening is upwards of 5 times a day. The procedures allow for bona fide humanitarian flights to operate at RVSM levels even though they are not approved, but there are specific procedures that are to be adhered to (see the excerpt taken from the North Atlantic MNPS Operations Manual below). Operators are specifically warned not to use this procedure as a loophole around the RVSM approval process.

Shanwick has adopted a monitoring procedure to track the number of occurrences where non-approved aircraft are asking for RVSM levels based on being a humanitarian flight. If it is determined that flights claiming to be humanitarian are not, action will be taken against that operation in the future.

 

" SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR NON-RVSM APPROVED AIRCRAFT TO:

- Operate at RVSM Levels

ATC may provide an altitude reservation for an MNPS approved aircraft that is not approved for RVSM operation to fly at RVSM levels provided that the aircraft:

is on a delivery flight; or

was RVSM approved but has suffered an equipment failure and is being returned to its base for repair and/or re-approval; or

is on a mercy or humanitarian flight.

Operators requiring such an altitude reservation should contact the initial Oceanic Area Control Centre (OAC), normally not more than 12 hours and not less than 4 hours prior to the intended departure time. The altitude reservation approval should be clearly indicated in Item 18 of the ICAO flight plan. It must be noted that the provision of this service is intended exclusively for the purposes indicated above and is not a means for an operator or pilot to circumvent the RVSM approval process. The service will not be provided to aircraft that are not approved for MNPS operations."

In order to uphold the reputation of the Business Aviation community and

the good standing of its representative bodies, all Operators and flight

crews are urged to respect the published rules.