Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Civil Aviation Act 2023

Functions, powers, and duties of participants in civil aviation system - Aviation participants - Provisions relating to pilots-in-command

15: Duties of pilot-in-command in emergencies arising in flight

You could also call this:

"What a pilot must do in an emergency while flying to keep people safe"

Illustration for Civil Aviation Act 2023

If you are a pilot-in-command and there is an emergency while you are flying, you can break the civil aviation rules if you think it is necessary to save lives or property. You must only break the rules as much as you need to, and you must think that following the rules would be more dangerous than breaking them. You also need to think that there is no other way to deal with the emergency.

If you do break the rules, you must tell air traffic control right away, and then tell the Director as soon as you can. You must also tell the Director what happened and why you had to break the rules. If the Director asks, you must write a report about what happened. You can compare this to the 1990 legislation to see how the rules have changed.

When you are dealing with an emergency, you have to make quick decisions to keep people safe, and sometimes that means breaking the rules.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS49513.

Topics:
Transport and travel > Air travel
Previous

14: Duties of pilot-in-command, or

"The pilot in charge must keep everyone and everything on the plane safe."

Next

16: Duties of pilot-in-command and operator in emergencies not arising in flight, or

"What to do if you're in charge of a plane and there's a ground emergency"

Part 2Functions, powers, and duties of participants in civil aviation system
Aviation participants: Provisions relating to pilots-in-command

15Duties of pilot-in-command in emergencies arising in flight

  1. In an emergency arising in flight, the pilot-in-command may breach civil aviation legislation only if the pilot-in-command is satisfied that—

  2. the emergency involves a danger to life or property; and
    1. the extent of the breach goes only as far as is necessary to deal with the emergency; and
      1. there is no other reasonable means of alleviating, avoiding, or assisting with the emergency; and
        1. the degree of danger involved in complying with the provision is clearly greater than the degree of danger involved in deviating from it.

          1. If the pilot-in-command breaches civil aviation legislation in accordance with this section, the pilot-in-command must—

          2. immediately notify the relevant air traffic control service of the breach; and
            1. as soon as practicable, notify the Director of the breach and the circumstances that necessitated it; and
              1. if requested by the Director, provide to the Director a written report in respect of the breach.

                Compare