Vol 5 - PPL/CPL Air Law - May 2023

The regulatory facet of aviation in New Zealand has gone through considerable adjustment brought about by Government policy to place greater responsibility for flight safety, in all its aspects, on the operators of aircraft. The former NZ Regulations (1953) have been replaced by the Civil Aviation Act (1990) as well as many associated documents such as Civil Aviation Rules, Advisory Circulars and the like. The nature of the Industry will undoubtedly cause further changes to take place in the future.


Air Law requires pilots to have a good working knowledge of a number of documents. In general, Private Pilots must be conversant with Volume 4 of the AIP New Zealand while Commercial Pilots must have a wider knowledge. The text in this manual is not intended to replace those documents and it is essential that both Private Pilot and Commercial Pilot candidates have access to, and study, the appropriate documents. We have, however, provided a guide to this study by directing your attention to certain documents, or by summarising the main points.

The NZ CAA have published syllabuses for the Private Pilot and the Commercial Pilot. Students are advised to access the NZ CAA web site, select A to Z Topics, then scroll down to Advisory Circulars and select AC61.1-3 for the PPL and AC61.1-5 for the CPL.