S.Atlantic : Peggy Wilson: Caribbean Manager of CAA-ASSI
Submitted by SARTMA.com (Juanita Brock) 11.11.2003 (Article Archived on 25.11.2003)

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) today announced that Margaret (Peggy)
Wilson has been appointed Caribbean Manager of CAA subsidiary Air Safety
Support International (ASSI).

CARIBBEAN MANAGER APPOINTED TO HELP REGULATE THE SAFETY OF CIVIL AVIATION IN
THE UK'S OVERSEAS TERRITORIES

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) today announced that Margaret (Peggy)
Wilson has been appointed Caribbean Manager of CAA subsidiary Air Safety
Support International (ASSI). This company has been set up to help provide a
more cohesive system of civil aviation safety regulation in the UK's
Overseas Territories. Ms Wilson will take up her appointment on 12 January
2004.

She will run ASSI's regional office in Antigua, working closely with the
Directors of Civil Aviation in each of the Caribbean Overseas Territories to
ensure the highest levels of safety oversight are achieved and maintained.

Ms Wilson has over 20 years of aviation regulatory experience with the
Canadian aviation regulator Transport Canada. Prior to this she was a pilot
for a major airline and still retains an Airline Transport Pilot's Licence.

ASSI Chief Executive, Rod Dean, said: "Peggy will bring to ASSI a
significant level of experience in civil aviation regulation. As well as her
time with Transport Canada she also chairs a number of International Civil
Aviation Organisation panels and is highly respected within the aviation
community."

ASSI has been set up by the CAA under Directions from the UK's Department
for Transport (DfT). It is responsible for supporting the UK Overseas
Territories' existing civil aviation authorities in the safety regulation of
all aspects of civil aviation, including the licensing of personnel and
airports and the certification of aircraft, airlines, and air traffic
control. ASSI is run as a not-for-profit company funded by the DfT.

ASSI began operations on 1 April 2003 and has offices in West Sussex in the
UK and an operational base in Antigua.


International civil aviation is governed by the 1944 Convention on
International Civil Aviation - 'The Chicago Convention'. The Convention
obliges contracting states to regulate their industries in accordance with
the standards and recommended practices established by the International
Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). The Overseas Territories are not
contracting states in their own right but are considered to be part of the
UK for the purposes of the Convention.

The UK was audited under ICAO's Universal Aviation Safety Oversight Audit
Programme in July 2000. This looked at the UK's regulation of aircraft,
airlines and licensed personnel and included a visit to two of the
Territories. In the report of the audit ICAO recommended that the UK should
exercise greater oversight of aviation safety regulatory activities in the
Territories.

The Governor in each Territory will retain overall responsibility for safety
regulation of its aviation industry, but will delegate this to either the
existing local Government body or to ASSI or, in some cases, the existing
local Government body with assistance from ASSI.

The Civil Aviation Authority (Overseas Territories) Directions 2003 were
issued under section 6 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982.

*The Overseas Territories covered by ASSI are: Anguilla, Bermuda, British
Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, St
Helena and Dependencies, and The Turks and Caicos Islands. In the future,
ASSI's remit will be extended to other Territories that commence civil
aviation activities.


For further information please contact Jonathan Nicholson on 020 7453 6027.