GM28 Annex I Definitions
CAA ORS9 Decision No. 47
Text in magenta in force from 30 October 2025
FLIGHT MONITORING AND FLIGHT WATCH – RELEVANT SAFETY INFORMATION
Relevant safety information is any element that may affect the safety of the flight, such as:
(a) an aircraft technical failure (e.g. failures where flight operations personnel can help to calculate the landing distance or new trip fuel or to update the aerodrome minima);
(b) unforeseen hazards:
(1) air traffic (e.g. delays and/or long distance to complete the approach, extensive use of radar vectoring);
(2) meteorological conditions (e.g. DH and aerodrome operating minima, adverse or extreme meteorological conditions);
(3) aerodrome and runway status (e.g. insufficient runway length due to brake failure, obstruction or closure of the runway, runway contamination, failure or malfunction caused by on-ground navigation or approach equipment);
(4) navigation aid status (e.g. failure of the navigation aids);
(5) availability of communications (e.g. failure of communications capabilities, interruptions, interferences, change of frequency channels); and
(6) terrain and obstacles (e.g. geophysical phenomena (volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunami), difficult terrain at an unplanned aerodrome (large bodies of water, mountains));
(c) updates of the operational flight plan when they affect the fuel reserves:
(1) diversion to an en-route alternate (ERA) aerodrome, a destination alternate, or a take-off alternate aerodrome;
(2) change of the runway selected for landing if the new runway is shorter;
(3) location of the decision point or the point of no return (PNR) due to, for instance, change in altitude, in wind data, etc.;
(4) significant in-flight change of the flight route compared to the route in the flight planning; or
(5) significant deviation from the planned fuel consumption; and
(d) position reporting:
(1) flight-monitoring personnel should report in every phase of the flight: taxi, take-off, climb, cruise, cruise steep climb, descent, approach, landing;
(2) flight watch provides active tracking; and
(3) where no real-time automatic position-reporting is possible, the operator should have an acceptable alternative to ensure in-flight reporting at least every hour.