1.—(1) In this Act, save where the context otherwise requires—

“the Act of 1965” means the Extradition Act, 1965;

“aircraft” includes any aircraft other than state aircraft;

“appropriate authority” means, in relation to an aircraft, the authority in charge of the particular airport at which the aircraft lands or intends to land;

“commander”, in relation to an aircraft, means the member of the crew who is designated as commander by the operator or, if there is no such designation, the pilot in command of the aircraft;

“Hague contracting state” means a state in which the Hague Convention is for the time being in force;

“the Hague Convention” means the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft done at The Hague on the 16th day of December, 1970, of which the text is set out in the Second Schedule to this Act;

“Irish controlled aircraft” means an aircraft—

(a) which is for the time being registered in the State, or

(b) which is not for the time being registered in the State but which satisfies for the time being the requirements for such registration specified in Article 7 of the Air Navigation (Nationality and Registration of Aircraft) Order, 1963, or

(c) which—

(i) is registered in another state,

(ii) is for the time being chartered by demise, let or on hire, and

(iii) could but for paragraph (2) of the said Article 7 be registered in the State under paragraph (3) of that Article;

“the Minister” means the Minister for Transport and Power;

“operator”, in relation to an aircraft, means the person who for the time being has the management of the aircraft;

“pilot in command”, in relation to an aircraft, means the person who for the time being is lawfully in charge of the piloting of the aircraft without being under the direction of any other pilot in the aircraft;

“state aircraft” means aircraft of any state used in the military, customs or police services of that state;

“Tokyo contracting state” means a state in which the Tokyo Convention is for the time being in force;

“the Tokyo Convention” means the Convention on Offences and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft done at Tokyo on the 14th day of September, 1963, of which the text is set out in the First Schedule to this Act.

(2) The period during which an aircraft is in flight shall be deemed to include—

(a) for the purposes of this Act, any period from the moment when power is applied for the purpose of take-off until the moment of take-off and any period from the moment of touchdown until the moment when the landing run (if any) ends, and

(b) for the purposes of sections 3, 5, 7 and 11 of this Act—

(i) any further periods from the moment when all external doors of the aircraft are closed following embarkation for a flight until the moment when any such doors are opened for disembarkation after that flight, and

(ii) if the aircraft makes a forced landing, any period thereafter until the time when the competent authorities of the state in which the forced landing takes place assume responsibility for the aircraft and for the persons and property on board the aircraft (being, in the case of a forced landing which takes place in the State, the time when a member of the Garda Síochána arrives at the place of landing),

and any reference in this Act to an aircraft in flight shall include a reference to an aircraft during the period when it is on the surface of the sea or land but not within the territorial limits of any state.

(3) A certificate under the seal of the Minister that, at a time or during a period specified in the certificate, any state specified in the certificate is or, as the case may be, is not a Tokyo contracting state or is or, as the case may be, is not a Hague contracting state or is both or, as the case may be, is neither shall be evidence until the contrary is shown of the fact so stated.

(4) Where a notice communicated to the State under Article 18 of the Tokyo Convention or Article 5 of the Hague Convention states that any two or more states each of which is either a Tokyo contracting state or a Hague contracting state—

(a) have established a joint air transport operating organisation, or international operating agency, which operates aircraft which are subject to joint or international registration, and

(b) have designated for each aircraft so operated the state among them which shall be the state of registration for the purposes of the Tokyo Convention or the Hague Convention, or both, the Minister—

(i) may by order declare that the aircraft aforesaid (which together with the states referred to in the notice, shall be specified in the order) shall be treated for the purposes of this Act and of the Tokyo Convention and the Hague Convention or either of those Conventions as being registered in the state designated as aforesaid (which shall be specified in the order), and

(ii) may by order amend or revoke any order under this subsection.

(5) References in this Act to the state of registration of an aircraft in the case of an aircraft—

(a) which is for the time being registered in the State, or

(b) which is not for the time being so registered but which satisfies the requirements for registration in the State specified in the said Article 7,

are references to the State.