Tag: IACAC

Industry News- ICAO DECISION TEMPORARILY RESTRICTS CARRIAGE OF LITHIUM ION AIRCRAFT BATTERIES AS CARGO ON PASSENGER AIRCRAFT

Posted on | by Scott Case

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

ICAO DECISION TEMPORARILY RESTRICTS CARRIAGE OF LITHIUM ION AIRCRAFT BATTERIES AS CARGO ON PASSENGER AIRCRAFT

MONTRÉAL, 13 February 2013 - Pending the outcomes of investigations now being carried out in the United States and Japan, the President of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has provisionally approved an interim amendment that will prohibit the carriage of lithium ion aircraft batteries as cargo on passenger planes. Final approval of the amendment from the ICAO Council is expected when it returns to Session later this month.

The new amendment will rescind ICAO's recent inclusion of lithium ion aircraft batteries up to 35kg in Special Provision A51 to the UN aviation body's Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air. Special Provision A51 is designed to provide airlines with the operational flexibility to transport aircraft batteries as cargo on passenger aircraft in special circumstances. The inclusion of lithium ion aircraft batteries in A51 had only become effective on 1 January 2013.

"This amendment to Special Provision A51 is a temporary measure, taken to ensure that safety considerations remain paramount while the related investigations in the United States and Japan remain ongoing," stressed ICAO Council President, Roberto Kobeh González. "Safety is the number one priority of the aviation community and we are very confident that this situation will eventually be resolved in a manner that further supports air transport's admirable safety performance while addressing the concerns of all stakeholders impacted by these events."

The ICAO decision comes on the heels of the grounding of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner fleet by the U.S. and Japan more than three weeks ago, after a battery caught fire in a plane parked in Boston and a 787 with a smoking battery was forced to make an emergency landing at Takamatsu airport in western Japan.

ICAO stressed that the new amendment does not affect the carriage of other aircraft battery types on passenger planes under A51, nor will it place additional restrictions on lithium ion aircraft batteries being carried as cargo on cargo aircraft. Similarly, it will have no impact on the extensive requirements in the ICAO Technical Instructions governing the carriage of other types of lithium ion batteries.

IACAC By-Laws Revision Proposal

Posted on | by Scott Case

Proposed Revision to Article 4, Section 1 of the By- Laws of The IACAC

Please address all comments/questions to info@iacac.com

This change will be voted on in April, 2013

     **Vote postponed; updates will be provided as soon as possible**

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The current text reads as follows:

 Article 4. Officers and Duties

Section 1. The officers of this association shall be a president, one or more vice presidents, a secretary, a treasurer, and such officers, as the board of directors shall from time to time deem necessary. The officers shall be elected at the annual business meeting of the association as follows:

The President shall be elected by a majority vote of the membership present at this meeting. All other officers will be elected by the board of directors present at the Board of directors meeting.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The By-Law Committee proposes the following subsection be added by the Board and submitted to the General Membership for a vote and approval.

Article 4, Section 1. , subsection A.1 (01/13)

This subsection provides the instructions for resolving an election tie after an annual election of the President. Prior to establishing whether the tie exists, the Standing Committee (the Committee) must take the following steps:

  1. timestamp all absentee ballots as they are being received by the Committee, both the sent in, i.e., faxed, e-mailed, or texted by courier absentee ballots received by the Committee, and handed in to the Committee absentee ballots;
  2. complete the count of all timely sent, i.e., the absentee ballots received by the Committee by 11:59 p.m. CST of the day before the Annual Business meeting’s date;
  3. complete the count of all absentee ballots handed in to the members of the Committee on the day of the election, held during the Annual Business meeting;
    1. disregard the absentee ballots that have not been timely sent and the absentee ballots that have been handed in to the Committee after the final count of the ballots even when submitted at the Annual Business meeting.

When the annual election of the President results in a tie, the elected Directors must vote to elect the President.  A simple majority (3 to 2) is sufficient to elect the President. If that vote also results in a tie, the elected Directors must toss a coin one time and resolve the tie, finalizing the annual election of the President.

Draft of wording 12.30.2012