In accordance with section 27G(1) of the Civil Aviation Act 1990 this proposed General Direction (GD), Examination Procedures, is an updated revision of the published 2009 GD of the same name, published in the New Zealand Gazette, 26 February 2009, No. 23, page 585. Changes from the 2009 GD are:

• Re-arranging the various sections in a more logical order.
• Changes to Part 1 with introduction of the Augmented Medical History in lieu of a GME in specific cases approved by the Director.
• Changes to cross references in Part 1, especially to other GDs that remove the date of the referenced GD and replace this with “current”. This change is intended to have no effect other than reduce the workload required when other GDs are revised.
• Insertion of a “proof of identity” provision in Part 1, and removal of the many similar provisions throughout the rest of the document. Again this is intended simply to reduce the complexity of the document, ensure internal consistency, and make updates and revisions less labour intensive.
• Changes to Section 3 of Schedule 1:
• Removal of “specialist medical physician” and insertion of direct reference to expertise domain required.
• Inserting a reference listing “normal variant” ECG diagnoses (Schedule 1, Section 3) that do not necessarily require cardiologist reporting.
• Changes to Section 4 of Schedule 1:
• Clarification of excessive CVS risk interpretation parameters.
• Adjusting the period of validity for cardiovascular risk estimation.
• Updating of the CVS risk-assessment tool specification and inclusion of a degree of future-proofing into that section.
• Changes to Section 8 of Schedule 1 (now rearranged as Section 6):
• Incorporate HbA1c assay as a legitimate alternative test.
• Remove the need to undertake a test while fasting.
• Changes to section 8 of schedule (now rearranged as Section 6) to incorporate the option of point of care testing (POC testing).
• Updating of Section 11 of Schedule 1, to accommodate the Colour Vision Deficiency General Directions Notice.
• Insertion of Exercise Stress Electrocardiography section into Schedule 4.
• Insertion of Calcium scoring section into Schedule 4.
• Insertion of several non-routine examinations details into Schedule 13, relating to the assessment of Colour Vision deficient applicants.

These General Directions were signed by the Acting Director of Civil Aviation on 28 December 2020 and become effective on 1 February 2021.

These General Directions are available for inspection at the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand, Level 15, Asteron Centre, 55 Featherston Street, Wellington 6011. They may be downloaded from the CAA website www.caa.govt.nz.

Dated at Wellington this 20th day of January 2021.

SHELLEY TURNER, Acting Director of Civil Aviation.