S.L. 499.9 Art. 2Interpretation.

(1) In this Order, unless the context otherwise requires:

"the Act" means the Civil Aviation Act;

"aerial work" means any purpose, other than public transport, for which an aircraft is flown if payment or reward is given or promised in respect of the flight or the purpose of the flight;

"aerial work aircraft" means an aircraft, other than a public transport aircraft, flying, or intended by the operator to fly, for the purpose of aerial work;

"aerial work undertaking" means an undertaking whose business includes the performance of aerial work;

"aerobatic manoeuvres" includes loops, spins, rolls, bunts, stall turns, inverted flying and any other similar manoeuvre;

"aerodrome" means any area of land or water designed, equipped, set apart or commonly used for affording facilities for the landing and departure of aircraft and includes any area or space, whether on the ground, on the roof of a building or elsewhere, which is designed, equipped or set apart for affording facilities for the landing and departure of aircraft capable of descending or climbing vertically, but shall not include any area the use of which for affording facilities for the land and departure of aircraft has been abandoned and has not been resumed; "aerodrome operating minima" in relation to the operation of an aircraft at an aerodrome means the cloud ceiling and runway visual range for take-off and the decision height, runway visual range and visual reference for landing, specified by the operator in, or ascertainable by reference to, the operations manual as being the minima for the operation of that aircraft at that aerodrome; "aerodrome traffic zone" means -

(a) in relation to an aerodrome other than one which is an offshore installation, the airspace extending from the surface to a height of 2,000 feet above the level of the

*This Order has been repealed by Act XL of 2023. aerodrome and within the distance of 1½ nautical miles of its boundary;

(b) in relation to an aerodrome which is an offshore installation, the airspace extending from mean sea level to 2,000 feet above mean sea level and within 1½ nautical miles of the offshore installation except any part of that airspace which is within the aerodrome traffic zone of another aerodrome which is notified for the purposes of this Order as being the controlling aerodrome; "aeronautical ground light" means any light established for the purpose of aiding air navigation, other than a light displayed on an aircraft;

"aeronautical radio station" means a radio station on the surface, which transmits or receives signals for the purpose of assisting aircraft; "air traffic unit" means a person appointed by the Director General General or by any other person maintaining an aerodrome or place to give instructions or advice or both instructions and advice by means of radio or visual signals to aircraft in the interests of safety but does not include apron management service provided by an apron management unit, and "air traffic control service" shall be construed accordingly;

"air transport undertaking" means an undertaking whose business includes the carriage by air of passengers or cargo for payment or reward; "approach to landing" means that portion of the flight of the aircraft in which it is descending below a height of 1,000 feet above the decision height of the relevant minimum for landing; "appropriate aeronautical radio station" means, in relation to an aircraft, an aeronautical radio station serving the area in which the aircraft is for the time being;

"appropriate air traffic control unit" means, in relation to an aircraft, the air traffic control unit serving the area in which the aircraft is for the time being; "apron management unit" means a person appointed by the Director General General or by any other person maintaining an aerodrome or place to give instructions relating to aircraft operations on the apron, or advice or both instructions and advice, by means of radio or visual signals to aircraft in the interests of safety, and "apron management service" shall be construed accordingly;

"cargo" includes mail and animals; "certificate of airworthiness" includes any validation thereof and any flight manual, performance schedule or other document, whatever its title, incorporated by reference in that certificate relating to the certificate of airworthiness; "Chicago Convention" means the Convention on International Civil Aviation signed at Chicago on the 7th December, 1944; "Class A airspace", "Class B airspace", "Class C airspace", "Class D airspace", "Class E airspace", "Class F airspace" and "Class G airspace" mean airspace respectively notified as such; "cloud ceiling" in relation to an aerodrome means the vertical distance from the elevation of the aerodrome to the lowest part of any cloud visible from the aerodrome which is sufficient to obscure more than one-half of the sky so visible; "commander" in relation to an aircraft means the member of the flight crew designated as commander of that aircraft by the operator thereof, or, failing such a person, the person who is for the time being the pilot in command of the aircraft;

"competent authority" means, in relation to Malta, the Director General General of Civil Aviation, and in relation to any other country the authority responsible under the law of that country for promoting the safety of civil aviation; "congested area" in relation to a city, town or settlement, means any area which is substantially used for residential, industrial, commercial or recreational purposes;

"Contracting State" means any State, including Malta, which is a party to the Chicago Convention;

"controlled airspace" means airspace which has been notified as Class A, Class B, Class C, Class D or Class E airspace;

"control area" means controlled airspace which has been further notified as a control area and which extends upwards from a notified altitude or flight level; "control zone" means controlled airspace which has been further notified as a control zone and which extends upwards from the surface; "co-pilot" in relation to an aircraft means a pilot who, in performing his duties as such, is subject to the direction of another pilot carried in the aircraft;

"crew" has the meaning assigned to it by subarticle (3); "decision height" in relation to the operation of an aircraft at an aerodrome means the minimum height specified by the operator in, or ascertainable by reference to the operations manual as being, the minimum height to which an approach to landing can safely be made by that aircraft at that aerodrome without visual reference to the ground;

"Directive 2004/36/CE" is the Directive 2004/36/CE of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 on the safety of third-country aircraft using Community airports; "Directive 2006/23/EC" is the Directive 2006/23/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2006 on a Community air traffic controller licence; "Directive 2008/49/EC" is the Commission Directive 2008/49/ EC of 16 April 2008 amending Annex II to Directive 2004/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council regarding the criteria for the conduct of ramp inspections on aircraft using Community airports;

"Director General" means the Director General of Civil Aviation and, to the extent of the authority given, any person authorised in that behalf by the Director General; "EC Regulation 1592/2002" is the Regulation (EC) 1592/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 July 2002 on common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which is referred to in EASA as the basic Regulation; "EC Regulation 1702/2003" means the Implementing Rules for the airworthiness and environmental certification of aircraft and related products, parts and appliances, as well as for the certification of design and production organisations;

"EC Regulation 2042/2003" means the Implementing Rules on the continuing airworthiness of aircraft and aeronautical products, parts and appliances, and in the approval of organisations and personnel involved in these tasks; "EEA State" means a State which is a contracting party to the EEA Agreement; "EEA Agreement" means the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on the 2nd May 1992 as adjusted by the Protocol signed at Brussels on the 17th March, 1993;

"flight" and "to fly" have the meaning respectively assigned to them by subarticle (2);

"flight crew" in relation to an aircraft means those members of the crew of the aircraft who respectively undertake to act as pilot, flight navigator, flight engineer and flight radio operator of the aircraft; "flight level" means one of a series of levels of equal atmospheric pressure, separated by notified intervals and each expressed as the number of hundreds of feet which would be indicated at that level on a pressure altimeter calibrated in accordance with the International Standard Atmosphere and set to 1013.2 hectopascals;

"flight recording system" means a system comprising either a flight data recorder or cockpit voice recorder or both;

"flight simulator" means apparatus by means of which flight conditions in an aircraft are simulated on the ground;

"flight visibility" means the visibility forward from the flight deck of an aircraft in flight;

"instrument flight rules" means Instrument Flight Rules contained in the Rules of the Air and Air Traffic Control;

"instrument meteorological conditions" means weather precluding flight in compliance with the Visual Flight Rules;

"JAA" or "Joint Aviation Authorities" means the associated body of the European Civil Aviation Conference constituted by a number of European States to develop and implement common safety regulatory standards and procedures, and who have signed the document entitled "Arrangements concerning the Development, the Acceptance and the Implementation of Joint Aviation Requirements (JAR)" concluded in Cyprus on l l September, 1990;

"JAR" means the technical requirements and procedures in the field of civil aviation safety published by the JAA and applicable in Malta under the Civil Aviation (Joint Aviation Requirements) Order, as amended; "to land" in relation to aircraft includes alighting on the water; "licence" includes any certificate of competency or certificate of validity issued with the licence or required to be held in connection with the licence by the law of the country in which the licence is granted;

"licence for public use" has the meaning assigned to it by article 71(2);

"licensed aerodrome" means an aerodrome licensed under this Order;

"life-jacket" includes any device designed to support a person individually in or on the water;

"log book" in the case of an aircraft log book, engine log book or variable pitch propeller log book, or personal flying log book. includes a record kept either in a book, or by another means approved by the Director General in the particular case; "maximum take-off mass" in relation to an aircraft means the maximum total mass of the aircraft and its contents at which the aircraft may take off anywhere in the world, in the most favourable circumstances in accordance with the certificate of airworthiness in force in respect of the aircraft; "military aircraft" includes the naval, military or air force aircraft of any country and any aircraft in respect of which there is in force a certificate issued by the Minister that the aircraft is to be treated, for the purpose of this Order, as a military aircraft; "Minister" means the Minister responsible for civil aviation and, to the extent of the authority given, any person authorised in that behalf by such Minister; "nautical mile" means the International Nautical Mile, that is to say, a distance of 1,852 metres; "navigation services" includes information, directions and other facilities furnished, issued or provided in connection with the navigation and movement of aircraft and includes the control of movement of vehicles in any part of an aerodrome used for the movement of aircraft; "night" means the time between half an hour after sunset and half an hour before sunrise, sunset and sunrise being determined at surface level;

"notified" means shown in any of the following publications issued in Malta whether before or after the coming into operation of this Order, that is to say, "notams (notices to airmen)", "Information Circulars", or such other official publication issued for the purpose of enabling any of the provisions of this Order to be complied with; "operator" has the same meaning assigned to it by subarticle (4); "parascending parachute" means a parachute which is towed by cable in such a manner as to cause it to ascend; "pilot in command" in relation to an aircraft means a person who for the time being is in charge of the piloting of the aircraft without being under the direction of any other pilot in the aircraft; "pressurised aircraft" means an aircraft provided with means of maintaining in any compartment a pressure greater than that of the surrounding atmosphere;

"public transport" has the same meaning assigned to it by subarticle (5);

"public transport aircraft" means an aircraft flying or intended by the operator of the aircraft to fly, for the purpose of public transport; "record" includes in addition to a record in writing -

(a) any disc, tape, sound-track or other device in which sounds or signals are embodied so as to be capable (with or without the aid of some other instruments) of being reproduced therefrom;

(b) any film tape or other device in which visual images are embodied so as to be capable (as aforesaid) of being reproduced therefrom; and

(c) any photograph, and any reference to a copy of a record includes, in the case of a record falling within paragraph (a) only of this definition, a transcript of the sound or signals embodied therein, in the case of a record falling within paragraph (b) only of this definition, a still reproduction of the images embodied therein, and in the case of a record falling within both these paragraphs, such a transcript together with such a still reproduction;

"Regulation (EC) No 550/2004" is the Regulation (EC) No 550/ 2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 March 2004 on the provision of air navigation services in the Single European Sky; "replacement" in relation to any part of an aircraft for its equipment includes the removal and replacement of that part whether or not by the same part, and whether or not any work is done on it, but does not include the removal and replacement of a part which is designed to be removable solely for the purpose of enabling another part to be inspected, repaired, removed or replaced or cargo to be loaded; "Rules of the Air and Air Traffic Control" means the Rules contained in the Thirteenth Schedule; "runway visual range" in relation to a runway or landing strip means the maximum distance in the direction of take-off or landing, as the case may be, at which the runway or landing strip or the markers or lights delineating it can be seen from a point five metres above its centre line; and in the case of an aerodrome in Malta the distance, if any, communicated to the commander of the aircraft by or on behalf of the person in charge of the aerodrome as being the runway visual range shall be taken to be the runway visual range for the time being;

"scheduled journey" means one of a series of journeys which are undertaken between the same two places and which together amount to a systematic service; "seaplane" shall be construed as including a flying boat and any other aircraft designed to be used on the water; "State aircraft" means aircraft used in the military, customs or police services of State; "special Visual Flight Rules flight" means a flight which is a special VFR flight for the purposes of Rules of the Air and Air Traffic Control; "Visual Flight Rules" means Visual Flight Rules contained in the Rules of the Air and Air Traffic Control; "visual meteorological conditions" means weather permitting flight in accordance with the Visual Flight Rules.

(2) An aircraft shall be deemed to be in flight -

(a) in the case of a piloted flying machine, from the moment when after the embarkation of its crew for the purpose of taking off, it first moves under its own power, until the moment when it next comes to rest after landing;

(b) in the case of a pilotless flying machine, or a glider, from the moment when it first moves for the purpose of taking off until the moment when it comes to rest after landing;

(c) in the case of an airship or free balloon, from the moment when it first becomes detached from the surface until the moment when it next becomes attached thereto or comes to rest thereon; and the expressions "flight" and "to fly" shall be construed accordingly.

(3) Every person employed or engaged in an aircraft in flight on the business of the aircraft shall be deemed to be a member of the crew thereof.

(4) References in this Order to the operator of an aircraft are, for the purposes of the application of any provision of this Order in relation to any particular aircraft, references to the person who at the relevant time has the management of that aircraft: Provided that for the purpose of the application of any provision in Part IV of this Order, when by virtue of any lease or other agreement for the hire or loan of an aircraft a person other than an air transport undertaking or an aerial work undertaking has the management of that aircraft for a period not exceeding fourteen days, the foregoing provisions of this subarticle shall have effect as if that agreement had not been entered into.

(5) (a) Subject to the provisions of this subarticle, an aircraft in flight shall for the purposes of this Order be deemed to fly for the purpose of public transport -

(i) if payment or reward is given or promised for the carriage of passengers or cargo on that flight; or

(ii) if any passengers or cargo are carried gratuitously in the aircraft on that flight by an air transport undertaking, not being persons in the employment of the undertaking (including in the case of a body corporate its directors), or persons authorised by the Director General to make an inspection or witness any training practice or test for any of the purposes of this Order, or cargo intended to be used by any such passengers as aforesaid. or by the undertaking; or

(iii) for the purposes of Part IV of this Order, if payment or reward is given or promised for the right to fly the aircraft on that flight otherwise than under a hire purchase agreement or similar agreement; and the expression "public transport of passengers" shall be construed accordingly: Provided that, notwithstanding that an aircraft may be flying for the purpose of public transport by reason of subparagraph (a)(iii), it shall not be deemed to be flying for the purpose of the public transport of passengers unless payment or reward is given for the carriage of those passengers: Provided further that an aircraft in flight shall not be deemed to fly for the purpose of public transport if the direct costs of the flight are shared proportionately between the persons on board the aircraft and no more than four persons (including the pilot) are carried on such flight, no person acting as a pilot on such a flight shall be employed as a pilot by or be a party to a contract for the provision of services as a pilot with the operator of the aircraft being flown on the flight, and no information concerning the flight shall have been published or advertised prior to the commencement of the flight. For this purpose "direct costs" means, in respect of a flight, the costs actually and necessarily incurred in connection with that flight without a view to profit but excluding any remuneration payable to the pilot for his services as such.

(b) Where under a transaction effected by or on behalf of a member of an association of persons on the one hand and the association of persons or any member thereof on the other hand, a person is carried in, or is given the right to fly, an aircraft in such circumstances that payment or reward would be given or promised if the transaction were effected otherwise than aforesaid, payment or reward shall, for the purposes of this Order, be deemed to have been given or promised, notwithstanding any rule of law as to such transactions.

(6) The expressions appearing in the Table of General Classification of Aircraft set forth in Part A of the Fourth Schedule to the Aircraft Registration Act shall have the meanings thereby assigned to them.