In keeping with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) recommendations for the establishment of sub-regional bodies which address various aspects of civil aviation, seven Caribbean Civil Aviation Authorities serving thirteen (13) states have embarked upon a joint-initiative. This specifically focuses on harmonising rules and standards, inspection procedures, sharing scarce technical resources implementing recommendations based on a recent assessment as it relates to their flight safety oversight responsibilities.
Structure
In 2001, the Directors General of Civil Aviation of seven (7) member-states of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)- Barbados , Belize , Guyana , Haiti , Jamaica , the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago- agreed to form an Association of Civil Aviation Authorities of the Caribbean (ACAAC). Belize is presently inactive as it is involved with the Central American Aviation Safety Agency (ACSA) The agreement aims at intensifying efforts aimed at harmonising the group's approach to certain key safety oversight areas through the Regional Safety Oversight System (RASOS).
ACAAC/ RASOS is the first alliance of its kind in Caribbean aviation. Projects complementary to RASOS in the hemisphere include the ACSA. The Board of Directors of the RASOS is comprised of the Directors General of the participating ACAAC member-authorities. It is chaired by Jamaica , with the OECS Directorate of Civil Aviation as deputy chair. The effort is being co-ordinated by a regional office located in Kingston , Jamaica , staffed by a Co-ordinator and Administrative Officer.
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Objectives
RASOS' main objectives as a co-ordinating body are aimed at tackling:
• The diseconomies of scale faced by Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the establishment of infrastructure and the implementation of development programmes, personnel training and establishing maintenance facilities. High costs of maintaining qualified personnel, for example, borne by territories prove to be wasteful and inefficient as fleets and facilities are small on a territory by territory basis
• Need for standardisation in the approaches to regional safety oversight in areas such as licensing, aviation security, certification , inspection and surveillance
• The small number of CARICOM nationals who are trained, experienced technical experts and inspectors, and the need to develop these skills in these states in order to achieve self sufficiency Most of these states are at various levels of upgrading their aviation programmes and certification standards. This must be completed quickly as their airlines are operating in an increasingly globalised area.
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Activities of the RASOS
The RASOS is presently engaged in the following:
• Provision of technical assistance to ACAAC member-states through the resource-sharing mechanism co-ordinated by RASOS such as the provision of certified, experienced operations and airworthiness inspectors, and organisation of necessary training facilities and courses
• Provision of necessary leadership and guidance to participating CAAs towards developing adequate procedures and standards
• Assisting with the development and implementation of the use of common procedures, criteria and guidance materials by staff trained at the same standards. This will also serve to make aviation professionals more portable throughout the region Using modern technology to improve communications among the RASOS member-states developing shared aviation
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