Avionics News June 2015 - 14

F R O M
R I C
P E R I
A EA V I C E P R ES I D E N T O F G OV E R N M E N T & I N D U ST RY A F FA I RS

The Aircraft Electronics Association's international membership continues to grow. Currently, the AEA represents avionics
businesses in more than 40 countries throughout the world. To better serve the needs of the AEA's international membership,
the "International News and Regulatory Updates" section of Avionics News offers a greater focus on international regulatory
activity, international industry news and an international "Frequently Asked Questions" column to help promote standardization.
If you have comments about this section, send emails to avionicsnews@aea.net.

CANADA

News & Regulatory Updates
Martin J. Eley retires
The Transport Canada Civil Aviation announced
that Martin J. Eley, the director general for the
agency, retired effective May 29. Eley originally
planned to retire in the fall, but the selection process
for his successor was completed earlier than expected.
Eley was with the TCCA for more than 25 years.
He started in the Aircraft Certification department
as a structural engineer and then moved to chief
engineer and director of aircraft certification prior
to taking on the top post. The AEA appreciates
all the hard work Eley put into the TCCA and
his calm and thoughtful approach in dealing with
issues.
The Department of Transport made a decision
in this process to divide the TCCA into two
organizations: Aviation Safety Oversight and
Aviation Safety Regulatory Framework, headed by
Denis Guindon and Aaron McCrorie, respectively.
The thought is that the TCCA is a large and
complex organization, and each of these areas
has a specific focus. It will allow for better
executive focus to ensure that each part of the
TCCA's responsibilities can react to the needs of
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2015

the industry. It is not clear if this will be the right
direction to take, as no other authority is structured
in this manner. However, Guindon has been tasked
with ensuring that a clear and consistent direction
is provided nationally, including the regions. This
could lead to the resolution of long-standing issues
within the regions and from region to region.

TCCA asks for stakeholder feedback
The Regulatory Services Branch of the TCCA has
distributed a survey to CARAC members to determine
how well the TCCA is doing overall on regulatory
interpretation and direction to the industry. The
interpretation can be in the form of direct response
from TCCA personnel and from published guidance
material. The questions deal with how effective the
interpretations are and how satisfied industry is with the
information provided.
It also has asked for feedback on what areas need to be
improved. The initial response from Regulatory Services
is that there is a common opinion from stakeholders that
the TCCA is not consistent with its interpretations, and
that policy and guidance is not keeping pace with the
needs of industry. It appears the next steps are to have
open discussions with stakeholders on how to correct
this. It is important that the industry speak up about the
issues and insist on participation with the solutions. The
AEA strongly encourages industry participation so that it
can bring concerns to the table.

Avionics News June 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News June 2015