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Civil Aviation Act, 2009 (Act No. 13 of 2009)

Regulations

Civil Aviation Regulations, 2011

Part 43 : General Maintenance Rules

Subpart 2 : Maintenance

43.02.7 Mass and balance

 

(1) Except with the written permission of the Director, no person may operate any South African registered aircraft unless its current empty mass has been established by means of a mass meter and its centre of gravity computed within the preceding five years.

 

(2) Whenever alterations are made which could influence an aircraft's empty mass or its centre of gravity, the mass and balance data shall be amended.

 

(3) An aircraft's empty mass shall be established by means of computation or by means of a mass meter by an appropriately approved AMO or a person acceptable to the Director. The aircraft's new centre of gravity shall be computed thereafter.

 

(4) If an electronic mass meter is used, the mass meter shall, within the period of 12 months immediately preceding the date of determination of the aircraft's empty mass, have been certified by the South African Bureau of Standards or a similar body acceptable to the Director.

 

(5) The mass and centre of gravity data, as supplied by the manufacturer in respect of new aircraft, shall be acceptable for the purpose of this regulation for the first five-year period, provided that the empty mass was established by means of a mass meter.

 

(6) For the purpose of this regulation, the empty mass of an aircraft (as ascertained when the mass was last determined or computed) shall be the mass of the aircraft and its powerplant(s), including any engine coolant, unusable fuel, total oil, total hydraulic fluid, any fixed ballast, and all items of fixed equipment.

 

(7) Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding subregulations, the Director may at any time, when he or she deems it necessary in the interest of aviation safety, require the mass of any aircraft to be established by means of a mass meter or its centre of gravity to be computed.

 

(8) A procedure to establish mass and the form on which the results of balance computations must be recorded is prescribed in the Document SA-CATS 43.