Air Navigation Act 1966

Air Navigation Act 1966 2020 REVISED EDITION This revised edition incorporates all amendments up to and including 1 December 2021 and comes into operation on 31 December 2021 An Act to provide for the control and regulation of aviation so as to maintain, enhance and promote safety and security in civil aviation, and to provide for the implementation of Singapore’s obligations under the Chicago Convention and any other international convention, agreement, or understanding relating to safety of civil aviation to which the Government is a party. [13 May 1966] PART 1 PRELIMINARY Short title 1. This Act is the Air Navigation Act 1966. Interpretation 2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires — “83 bis agreement” means an agreement entered into under Article 83 bis of the Chicago Convention; “aerodrome” means any defined area of land or water in Singapore used, or intended or designed to be used, either wholly or partly, for the landing, taking off, movement, or servicing of aircraft, and includes any buildings, installations, and equipment on or adjacent to any such area used in connection with the aerodrome or its administration; “aeronautical product” means anything that comprises or is intended to comprise any part of an aircraft or that is or is intended to be installed in or fitted or supplied to an aircraft, and includes fuel and other consumable items necessary for the operation of the aircraft; [Deleted by Act 36 of 2018 wef 01/01/2024] “aircraft” means any machine that can derive support in the atmosphere from the reactions of the air otherwise than by the reactions of the air against the surface of the earth; “airport” includes an aerodrome; “air traffic” means all aircraft in flight or operating on any manoeuvring area of an aerodrome; “air traffic control service” means a service provided for the purposes of — (a) preventing collisions between aircraft, and between aircraft and obstructions on any manoeuvring area; and (b) expediting and maintaining an orderly flow of air traffic; “air traffic service” means — (a) any aerodrome control service; (b) any area control service provided for controlled flights in such airspace of defined dimensions within which an air traffic control service is provided; (c) any approach control service provided for arriving or departing controlled flights; (d) any flight information service provided for the purpose of giving advice and information intended for the safe and efficient conduct of flights; (e) any alerting service provided to notify appropriate organisations regarding aircraft in need of search and rescue from the air, and to assist such organisations as required; or (f) any other air traffic service considered by the Authority to be necessary or desirable for the safe and efficient operation of the civil aviation system; “Authority” means the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore established under section 4 of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore Act 2009; “auxiliary police officer” means a person appointed as such under Part 9 of the Police Force Act 2004; “aviation-related service” means any equipment, facility, or service (including any air traffic service) operated in support of or in conjunction with the civil aviation system; “aviation safety instrument” means any licence, permit, certificate, authorisation, approval or other document issued under or by virtue of this Act to, or in respect of, any person, aircraft, aerodrome, aeronautical procedure, aeronautical product, or aviation-related service, but does not include an airport licence within the meaning of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore Act 2009 or a permit mentioned in section 32(5)(b)(ii) or 33(5)(b)(ii); “aviation safety subsidiary legislation” means any order made under section 8 or any regulations made under section 9; “aviation security” means a combination of measures and human and material resources intended to safeguard civil aviation against acts of unlawful interference; “aviation security inspector” means a police officer or an individual who is appointed under section 17A(8) as an aviation security inspector, and includes the NCASA; “aviation security regulation” means any regulation made under section 69 for the purposes of Part 2B, and includes any order made by the Minister before 1 April 2014 in relation to aviation security until revoked; “Chicago Convention” means — (a) the Convention on International Civil Aviation done at Chicago on 7 December 1944; (b) the Protocols amending that Convention which Singapore ratifies; and (c) the Annexes to that Convention relating to international standards and recommended practices, being Annexes adopted in accordance with that Convention; “command and control link” means the data link between a remotely piloted aircraft and a remote pilot station for the purposes of managing the flight of the remotely piloted aircraft; “competent security officer” means any public officer designated as such by the Minister charged with the responsibility for homefront security; “conduct” means any act or omission; “Contracting State” means any country which is a party to the Chicago Convention; “controlled area” means any area declared to be a controlled area under section 72; “controlled flight” means any flight that is provided with or required by or under this Act to make use of an air traffic control service; “crew”, in relation to an aircraft, includes every person having duties or functions on board the aircraft during the flight of the aircraft in connection with the flying or safety of the aircraft; “damage or loss” includes, in relation to a person, loss of life and personal injury; “designated person” means a person designated in voluntary reporting rules for the purposes of the voluntary reporting scheme established by those rules; “Director-General of Civil Aviation” means the Chief Executive of the Authority and includes any individual appointed by the Authority to act in the place of the Chief Executive; “erection of a structure” includes an addition or alteration to an existing structure; “foreign aviation authority” means the competent authority responsible for regulating civil aviation in a country or territory other than Singapore; “foreign registered aircraft” means an aircraft registered in a country or territory other than Singapore; “foreign state aircraft” means aircraft used in the military, customs or police services of a country or territory other than Singapore; “goods” and “articles” include mails and animals; “Government aerodrome” means an aerodrome under the control of the Government and a naval, military or air force aerodrome; “ICAO” means the International Civil Aviation Organization established under the Chicago Convention, and includes any successor to that Organization; [Deleted by Act 36 of 2018 wef 01/01/2024] “land” includes land covered with water and any right in or over land; “maintenance”, in relation to any aircraft or aeronautical product, means any task required to ensure, or that could affect, the continuing airworthiness of an aircraft or aeronautical product, including any one or combination of overhaul, repair, inspection, replacement of an aeronautical product, modification or defect rectification; “manoeuvring area” means that part of an aerodrome to be used for the take‑off and landing of aircraft and for the surface movement of aircraft associated with take‑off and landing, but excludes any area set aside for loading, unloading or maintenance of aircraft; “military aircraft” means aircraft used in the military services of any country or territory, and includes aircraft of any part of the Singapore Armed Forces (including any aircraft that is being constructed for any part of the Singapore Armed Forces); “National Civil Aviation Security Authority” or “NCASA” means the National Civil Aviation Security Authority appointed under section 64; “National Civil Aviation Security Programme” or “NCASP” means the National Civil Aviation Security Programme required to be established for the purposes of Part 2B; “navigation installation” means any building, facility, work, apparatus, equipment, or place, (whether or not part of an aerodrome) that is intended to assist in the control of air traffic or as an aid to air navigation, and includes any land adjacent to any such building, facility, work, apparatus, equipment, or place, and used in connection with any such building, facility, work, apparatus, equipment, or place; “operate”, in relation to an aircraft, means to fly or use the aircraft, or to cause the aircraft to fly, be used, or be in any place, whether or not a person is present with the aircraft; “operator”, for an unmanned aircraft, means a person engaged in, or offering to engage in, the operation of the unmanned aircraft, and where the unmanned aircraft is a remotely piloted aircraft, includes — (a) the person who causes the remotely piloted aircraft to fly; and (b) the remote pilot of the aircraft with duties essential to the operation of the remotely piloted aircraft, such as manipulating the flight controls as appropriate during flight time, if the remote pilot is not the operator; “pilot-in-command”, in relation to an aircraft, means — (a) the pilot designated by the operator of the aircraft as being in command and charged with the safe conduct of a flight using that aircraft; and (b) if no such person under paragraph (a) is designated, a person who is, for the time being, in charge of the piloting of the aircraft without being under the direction of any other pilot in the aircraft; “remotely piloted aircraft” means an unmanned aircraft that is operated using a remotely piloted aircraft system; “remotely piloted aircraft system” or “RPAS”, for a remotely piloted aircraft, means all of the following components: (a) the remotely piloted aircraft; (b) every remote pilot station associated with the remotely piloted aircraft in paragraph (a) containing the equipment used to pilot that aircraft; (c) the command and control links between the remotely piloted aircraft in paragraph (a) and its remote pilot station or stations and other command; (d) any other components as specified in the type design to fly that aircraft; “safety inspector” means a safety inspector appointed under section 13 and includes the Director‑General of Civil Aviation; “security directive” means a security directive given by the NCASA under section 67; “Singapore operator” means an operator of aircraft whose principal place of business or permanent residence is in Singapore; “Singapore registered aircraft” means an aircraft registered in Singapore; “state aircraft” means — (a) aircraft of any part of the Singapore Armed Forces (including any aircraft that is commanded by a member of that Force in the course of his or her duties as such a member); and (b) aircraft used in the military, customs or police services of a country or territory other than Singapore; “State of Registry” means the State on whose register the aircraft is entered; “State of the Operator” means the State in which the operator’s principal place of business is located or, if there is no such place of business, the operator’s permanent residence; “structure” includes any house, warehouse, office, shop, school and any other building whether permanent or temporary and whether used for the purpose of human habitation or otherwise, and also any wall, fence, platform, staging, gatepost, pillar, paling, frame, hoarding, bridge, cable, wire or any other artificial obstruction raised above ground level; “unmanned aircraft” means an aircraft that may be flown or used without any individual on board the aircraft to operate it; “unmanned aircraft system” means an unmanned aircraft and its associated elements; “voluntary reporting rules” means rules made under section 46; “working day” means any day except Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday. [16/2015; 18/2018] (2) Any reference in this Act to any country or territory is, unless the context otherwise requires, to be construed as including a reference to the territorial waters (if any) adjacent to that country or territory. Application of Act 3. Except as otherwise expressly provided by sections 6, 7 and 88, this Act applies to and in relation to every person, aircraft, aerodrome, aeronautical product, air service and aviation‑related service, in Singapore. [2A Extraterritorial application of Act 4.—(1) Except as otherwise expressly provided by sections 6 and 7, this Part and Part 2 also extend to — (a) every foreign registered aircraft specified in any 83 bis agreement that has the effect of transferring functions or duties to Singapore; (b) every Singapore registered aircraft outside Singapore, subject to any 83 bis agreement that has the effect of transferring functions or duties to another Contracting State; (c) every holder of an aviation safety instrument while outside Singapore and exercising or purporting to exercise privileges accorded by that instrument; (d) every person in, or any of the crew of, any Singapore registered aircraft or aircraft operated by a Singapore operator, wherever they may be, insofar as this Act prohibits, requires or regulates the doing of anything by such persons in, or by any of the crew of, Singapore registered aircraft or aircraft operated by a Singapore operator; (e) every person in any aircraft (not being a Singapore registered aircraft or an aircraft operated by a Singapore operator) who commits any act or omission on board the aircraft while in flight elsewhere than in or over Singapore, insofar as this Act prohibits, requires or regulates the doing of anything by the person in the aircraft, and the aircraft subsequently lands in Singapore with the person who committed the act or omission still on board the aircraft; and (f) every other person wherever they may be, insofar as any provision of this Act prohibits, requires or regulates the doing of anything in relation to any Singapore registered aircraft or aircraft operated by a Singapore operator, by such other persons. [32/2018] (2) Except where an act or omission is required in order to comply with the laws of any foreign country, every holder of an aviation safety instrument who, while outside Singapore and exercising or purporting to exercise the privileges accorded by that instrument, commits an act or omission that would constitute an offence under this Act if it were committed in Singapore, is deemed to have committed an offence under this Act and may be proceeded against in Singapore as if the act or omission had occurred within Singapore. (3) A person outside Singapore who operates an unmanned aircraft in a manner which, if the person were in Singapore, would be an offence under section 32, 33, 34 or 35, shall be guilty of an offence under section 32, 33, 34 or 35, as the case may be. [16/2015] (4) Nothing in this section is to be interpreted as requiring a person or aircraft to contravene or be operated in contravention of a law of a foreign country or territory that applies to or in respect of the person or aircraft. [2B Article 83 bis agreements 5.—(1) A provision in this Act (called the applied provision) applies to an aircraft that is registered in a Contracting State as if the aircraft were a Singapore registered aircraft if — (a) an 83 bis agreement to which Singapore is a party and which is in force has the effect of transferring a function of the Contracting State as the State of Registry in respect of the aircraft to Singapore; and (b) the agreement states that the applied provision relates to that function. (2) A provision in this Act (called the disapplied provision) does not apply to a Singapore registered aircraft if — (a) an 83 bis agreement to which Singapore is a party and which is in force has the effect of transferring a function of Singapore as the State of Registry in respect of the aircraft to a Contracting State; and (b) the agreement states that the disapplied provision relates to that function. (3) Despite anything in this Act, a reference in this Act (other than subsections (1) and (2) of this section) to or in relation to a Contracting State in which an aircraft is registered includes a reference to or in relation to another Contracting State to which any function of the State of Registry in respect of that aircraft has been transferred under an 83 bis agreement that has effect in relation to Singapore in accordance with Article 83 bis of the Chicago Convention. (4) If Singapore has entered into an 83 bis agreement or an 83 bis agreement to which Singapore is a party has been amended, the Authority must, as soon as practicable, publish in the Gazette, a notice setting out all the following particulars of the agreement or amendment: (a) the Contracting State that is the other party to the agreement; (b) the date of commencement of the agreement or amendment; (c) the aircraft to which the agreement or amendment relates; (d) the functions of the State of Registry in respect of the aircraft that are transferred under the agreement or amendment; (e) the provisions of this Act that are stated in the agreement or amendment to be related to the functions. (5) If an 83 bis agreement has ceased to be in force, the Authority must, as soon as practicable, publish in the Gazette, a notice setting out particulars of that cessation. (6) To avoid doubt, any reference in this section to the Act includes a reference to any aviation safety subsidiary legislation. [2C Exemption of state aircraft, etc. 6. This Act, with the exception of Part 2A and the provisions of any aviation safety subsidiary legislation — (a) does not apply to any state aircraft or navigation by state aircraft; and (b) does not limit the privileges or immunities of any foreign state aircraft and the officers and crew of any foreign state aircraft. [2D Act is binding on Government 7.—(1) Except as otherwise expressly provided by this Act, this Act binds the Government, and applies to and in relation to aircraft belonging to or exclusively employed in the service of the Government, other than state aircraft, as they apply to or in relation to other Singapore registered aircraft or aircraft which are capable of being registered in Singapore. (2) Nothing in this Act renders the Government liable to be prosecuted for an offence, but this section does not prevent the prosecution of — (a) a member of the crew of an aircraft owned by the Government; or (b) any other person employed by the Government. [2E