Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will hold discussions with the Civil Aviation Authority on requiring airlines operating in UK airspace to have wind shear detection and alert systems fitted to commercial aircraft.

International civil aviation is governed by the Convention on International Civil Aviation. Under the Convention, the International Civil Aviation Organisation is responsible for establishing the minimum safety standards for international aviation. Subject to compliance with those international standards, the State in which the aircraft is registered is responsible for determining what equipment it should carry. Within the EU, aircraft equipment requirements are introduced through EU legislation adopted on the advice of the European Aviation Safety Agency. There are currently no plans to introduce EU legislation to require the carriage of wind shear detection and alert systems on aircraft registered in EU Member States. We believe that this position is reasonable because the Civil Aviation Authority is not aware of any safety case which would justify the introduction of such a requirement.