AMC and GM to Annex VIII (Part-SPO) to Commission Regulation (EU) No 965-2012 — Issue 1, Amendment 18

Annex III to ED Decision 2023/004/R

‘Acceptable Means of Compliance (AMC) and Guidance Material (GM) to Annex VIII (Part-SPO) to Commission Regulation (EU) No 965/2012 Issue 1, Amendment 18’

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The Annex to ED Decision No 2014/018/R is amended as follows:

SUBPART B: OPERATIONAL PROCEDURES

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AMC1 SPO.OP.140(a) Flight preparation

When deciding on the adequacy of facilities and services available at an aerodrome of intended operation, the operator should: (a) consult the aeronautical information publication (AIP) for information on the availability of rescue and firefighting services (RFFS) at the aerodrome of intended operation; and (b) assess the level of safety risk that is associated with the aircraft type and nature of the operation in relation to the availability of RFFS.

GM1 SPO.OP.140(a) Flight preparation

To operate at an aerodrome with downgraded or unavailable rescue and firefighting services (RFFS), the operator may consider including in its operations manual, for each aircraft type, certain criteria to be used when conducting a safety risk assessment of such operations. For aircraft in rescue and firefighting (RFF) category 3 and higher, the conditions under which the pilot-in-command may decide to conduct a flight may include, but not be limited to the following: (a) acceptable downgrades of RFFS for planning and in-flight purposes such as departure, destination, and alternate aerodromes; (b) aircraft characteristics related to mass, landing speed, fuel capacity; (c) possible limitation to daytime only or a certain time of the day (due to fatigue); (d) weather constraints; (e) aerodromes that are unacceptable with unavailable or downgraded RFFS.