There may be times when it’s necessary for pilots to not follow aviation safety rules in order to respond to a sudden or extraordinary emergency.
Some provisions enable pilots to 'break' the rules when it is reasonably necessary. Pilots do this to save a life or minimise the risk of serious harm or injury.
These provisions mean pilots can get people to emergency medical treatment or out of a dangerous situation. This is if the flight itself doesn’t give rise to equally serious or greater risks to safety.
How pilots can help in non-aviation emergencies
During situations like these, pilots can declare a 'mercy flight'. A mercy flight commonly involves an urgent need to:
- transport someone who needs lifesaving medical help
- evacuate someone from an emergency such as a flood or fire.
By declaring a mercy flight, a pilot can operate beyond some of the usual regulatory constraints.
Before declaring a mercy flight, pilots need to consider:
- if there is a safe and lawful form of alternative transport or medical help available
- the conditions they are flying under
- their experience and capability to conduct the flight as safely as circumstances permit
- the capability and performance of the aircraft involved.
When pilots provide a flight notification for a mercy flight, they must:
- advise the reason for the mercy flight
- refer at least generally to the rules which they will not comply with.
While mercy flights are not common, the provision gives pilots the flexibility to help the community in extraordinary situations during emergencies to save lives.
You can find the legal basis for mercy flights in section 10.3 of the Commonwealth Criminal Code Act 1995. The section states that 'a person is not criminally responsible for an offence [in response to a] sudden or extraordinary emergency . . . if committing the offence is the only reasonable way to deal with the emergency.'
Section 30 of the Civil Aviation Act 1988 allows for a similar defence 'if the act or omission charged is . . . due to extreme weather or other unavoidable cause'.
How air operators can help during community emergencies
Aviation organisations can get permission to operate beyond normal limitations to help during community emergencies.
This means airlines and other operators can respond more quickly during major natural and other large scale or national disasters. This can occur whether a state of emergency has been officially declared or not.
In exceptional circumstances like these, we can quickly give the green light for operators to fly outside some of the regulations that normally apply.
An exemption given to operators will recognise it is not reasonable to comply with certain regulations during exceptional circumstances of a national or large-scale emergency.
Pilots used this exemption in the aftermath of the destruction of Darwin by Cyclone Tracy in 1974. During this emergency crews had to evacuate the city as quickly as possible. The provisions permitted some evacuation aircraft to operate overloaded with appropriate safety conditions.
When granting an exceptional exemption of this kind, you must satisfy our requirements. This includes maintaining the highest level of aviation safety practicable under the circumstances.
Drones and emergencies
People with a drone must not fly during emergencies.
You must keep drones on the ground during police operations, bushfire fighting, flood rescues and storm responses.
A drone can interfere with essential work by emergency responders.
Where emergency responders are using aircraft as part of an emergency response there is the real risk of a mid-air collision with a drone.
If authorities see your drone flying near emergency aircraft operations, pilots are likely to stop flying. This means pilots are not doing vital work to save lives and help people.
Emergency responders on the ground will also waste precious time dealing with the risks posed by an unauthorised drone.
Find out more on safely flying drones.
Consequences of bad behaviour on planes
It is against the law to behave in an offensive or disorderly manner on board an aircraft.
Anyone who behaves in a way that threatens the safety of an aircraft, crew, or passengers faces substantial fines.
An important part of flying is always listening and following instructions given by aircraft crew. It is a legal requirement to obey any safety-related instructions or directions given by the pilot or another crew member. You may also face substantial penalties if you break these rules.
This is also part of the conditions of carriage that passengers accept when taking a flight.
Aircraft crew members have the power to arrest and restrain unruly passengers if necessary. This makes sure crew can remain safe during a flight. They can do this without a warrant.
Aircraft crew only need a reasonable belief someone is committing or will commit an act that will breach aviation safety regulations. Crew will hand over anyone arrested on the flight to police.
Aircraft crew can refuse someone to board an aircraft if they believe that person is likely to behave in an offensive or disorderly way. This type of behaviour can put the safety of the flight and people on board at risk.
Learn more about Onboard safety and behaviour.
Restricting airspace for the community
There are times when it is appropriate to restrict flights in certain areas in the interests of the community.
We can declare areas to be temporary restricted airspace to protect public safety, the environment, or national security.
These declarations are usually for a set period and cover a defined location and airspace.
Generally, pilots cannot fly in temporary restricted airspace without clearance from the authority that is temporarily controlling the area. This can be police, fire or other authorities.
You can find details of airspace restrictions published in aviation documents such as Notices to Airman (NOTAMs).
Your application for temporary restricted airspace must detail the public safety, environmental or national security reasons for request.
In your application you must set out:
- risks to the public and aviation
- how the restriction will deal with the risks.
We respond quickly to requests for urgent temporary restricted airspace.