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Comparative analysis of legislation governing maintenance check flight of aircraft
Aviation activity is conducted under the ambit of internationally agreed upon Air Law, which imposes the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)'s Standards and Recommended Practices upon global aviation stakeholders. The imposition of standardised Air Law is in line with ICAO's founding ch...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English English |
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Centre for Law and Society
2025
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| _version_ | 1867613150455529472 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Rogers, Matthew |
| author2 | Salazar, Philippe-Joseph |
| author_browse | Rogers, Matthew Salazar, Philippe-Joseph |
| author_facet | Salazar, Philippe-Joseph Rogers, Matthew |
| author_sort | Rogers, Matthew |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Aviation activity is conducted under the ambit of internationally agreed upon Air Law, which imposes the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)'s Standards and Recommended Practices upon global aviation stakeholders. The imposition of standardised Air Law is in line with ICAO's founding charter, which declares the principles of regulatory uniformity and safety as fundamental postulates. While ICAO's efforts at the standardisation of Air Law are commendable, certain aviation activities occur in the absence of agreed-upon international standards. The Maintenance Check Flight (MCF) is one such activity. An MCF supports the aircraft maintenance process by verifying aircraft system operability after the completion of a maintenance task, or as a troubleshooting step before corrective maintenance action. MCFs are considered more risky than regular commercial flights,1 with several accidents on record which are attributable to the MCF process.2 Despite the elevated risk associated with MCF, there exist notable inconsistencies in MCF regulation across international aviation legal systems. This inconsistent regulatory stasis appears to be at odds with ICAO's fundamental principles, and prompts a compelling research question: what legislative framework exists to promote safety during MCF activity across different legal systems? This study analyses the practical aspects pertaining to MCFs, as well as South African and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) jurisprudence to determine the basis of MCF risk, and whether this risk may be managed by exacting Air Law. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/41876 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | English eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:31:34.243Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Centre for Law and Society |
| publisherStr | Centre for Law and Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/41876 Comparative analysis of legislation governing maintenance check flight of aircraft Rogers, Matthew Salazar, Philippe-Joseph Maintenance Check Flight (MCF) Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Aviation activity is conducted under the ambit of internationally agreed upon Air Law, which imposes the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)'s Standards and Recommended Practices upon global aviation stakeholders. The imposition of standardised Air Law is in line with ICAO's founding charter, which declares the principles of regulatory uniformity and safety as fundamental postulates. While ICAO's efforts at the standardisation of Air Law are commendable, certain aviation activities occur in the absence of agreed-upon international standards. The Maintenance Check Flight (MCF) is one such activity. An MCF supports the aircraft maintenance process by verifying aircraft system operability after the completion of a maintenance task, or as a troubleshooting step before corrective maintenance action. MCFs are considered more risky than regular commercial flights,1 with several accidents on record which are attributable to the MCF process.2 Despite the elevated risk associated with MCF, there exist notable inconsistencies in MCF regulation across international aviation legal systems. This inconsistent regulatory stasis appears to be at odds with ICAO's fundamental principles, and prompts a compelling research question: what legislative framework exists to promote safety during MCF activity across different legal systems? This study analyses the practical aspects pertaining to MCFs, as well as South African and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) jurisprudence to determine the basis of MCF risk, and whether this risk may be managed by exacting Air Law. 2025-09-19T12:15:12Z 2025-09-19T12:15:12Z 2025 2025-09-19T12:09:01Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters Masters http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41876 en eng application/pdf Centre for Law and Society Faculty of Law University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Maintenance Check Flight (MCF) Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Rogers, Matthew Comparative analysis of legislation governing maintenance check flight of aircraft |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Comparative analysis of legislation governing maintenance check flight of aircraft |
| title_full | Comparative analysis of legislation governing maintenance check flight of aircraft |
| title_fullStr | Comparative analysis of legislation governing maintenance check flight of aircraft |
| title_full_unstemmed | Comparative analysis of legislation governing maintenance check flight of aircraft |
| title_short | Comparative analysis of legislation governing maintenance check flight of aircraft |
| title_sort | comparative analysis of legislation governing maintenance check flight of aircraft |
| topic | Maintenance Check Flight (MCF) Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41876 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT rogersmatthew comparativeanalysisoflegislationgoverningmaintenancecheckflightofaircraft |