EASA Aircraft Type Certificate Considerations
Introduction by Sofema Online (SOL) www.sofemaonline.com
The following abbreviated notes provide a summary of the key events related to the EASA Type Certification Process.
Type Certification
A type certificate is an approval made by a regulatory authority that an aircraft is manufactured according to an approved design, and that the design ensures compliance with airworthiness requirements.
• The type certificate (TC) implies that the aircraft is manufactured according to the approved design and can be issued an Airworthiness Certificate.
• To meet airworthiness requirements, the aircraft, related products (engine and propeller), parts, and appliances must be approved.
• Within the European Union (EU), implementation rules for type certification are laid down by the Commission Regulation (EU) No 748/2012 of 3 August 2012.
Note - A Type Certificate is not an Airworthiness Certificate.
EASA Part 21
Regulation (EU) No 748/2012 Laying down implementing rules for the airworthiness and environmental certification of aircraft and related products, parts, and appliances, as well as for the certification of design and production organizations.
• Part 21 specifically addresses “Certification of aircraft and related products, parts and appliances, and of design and production organizations”.
Type Certification-Process
• Application to EASA.
• Issue of Airworthiness Codes and Acceptable Means of Compliance by EASA.
• Issue of Type Certification Basis by EASA.
° Presentation of a Certification Programme by the applicant.
° Presentation of Type Design by the applicant.
° Inspections and Tests.
° Flight Tests.
° Issue of the Type Certificate by EASA.
Type Certification
Eligibility and Demonstration of Capability
• An organization applying for a type certificate, or a restricted type certificate shall demonstrate its capability by holding a Design Organisation Approval.
• The main duties of a design organization are as follows:
° To design.
° To demonstrate compliance with the applicable requirements.
° To check the statements of compliance independently.
° To provide support for continued airworthiness.
° To check the work performed by partners/subcontractors.
° To monitor the above functions independently.
° To provide the authority with the compliance documentation.
° To allow the authority to make any inspection and any flight and ground tests necessary to check the validity of compliance.
Design Assurance
A design organization should also have an established design assurance system for control and supervision of the design and design changes of the product covered by the application.
• This includes all the activities for
° The achievement of the type certificate,
° The approval of changes, and
° The maintenance of continued airworthiness.
Acceptable Means of Compliance
The AMC provides a means by which the certification requirements can be met by
those subject to the Regulation.
Some examples of means of compliance are as follows:
• Calculation/analysis.
• Reports for the evaluation of loads, strength, performance, flying qualities, or other characteristics.
Safety Assessment.
• Documents describing safety analysis philosophy and methods, safety evaluation plans, system safety assessment, zonal safety assessment and others.
Flight tests.
• Reports of flight tests written in the Flight Test Program and performed by a flight test crew.
Inspections.
• Conformity inspections to verify that materials, parts, processes, and fabrication procedures conform to the type design.
• Aircraft inspection to verify the compliance with the requirement, which cannot be determined adequately from the evaluation of technical data only.
Type Certification- Basis
The type certification basis for the issuance of a type certificate consists of:
• The applicable airworthiness code established by the Agency, effective on the date of application.
• Any special condition prescribed.
• An application for type certification of large airplanes and rotorcraft will remain effective for five years, and an application for any other type certification shall be effective for three years.
Type Certification- Programme
• The applicant for a type certificate shall show compliance with the applicable type certification basis and environmental protection requirements and shall provide the Agency the means by which such compliance has been demonstrated.
• The applicant shall provide the Agency with a certification program detailing the means of compliance demonstration.
• This document shall be updated during the certification process as necessary.
• The application shall record justification of compliance within compliance documents according to the certification program established above.
• The applicant shall declare that it has demonstrated compliance with the applicable type certification basis and environmental protection requirements according to the certification program established above.
Type Certification-Type Design
The type design consists of:
• The drawings and specifications necessary to define the configuration and the design features of the product shown to comply with the applicable type certification basis and environmental protection requirements;
• Information on materials and processes and on methods of manufacture and assembly of the product necessary to ensure the conformity of the product;
• An approved airworthiness limitations section of the instructions for continued airworthiness as defined by the applicable airworthiness code;
• The type design not only deals with the product configuration but with the production methods as well.
Note Every deviation from the type design is a change, which must also be approved. (To ensure that series products are not inferior to the prototype identified by the type design.)
Type Certification-Inspections and Tests
• The applicant shall perform all inspections and tests necessary to demonstrate compliance with the applicable type certification basis and environmental protection requirements.
• The applicant shall allow the Agency to make any inspection necessary to check compliance.
Type Certification-Flight Tests
• Flight testing for the purpose of obtaining a type certificate shall be conducted in accordance with conditions for such flight testing by the Agency.
• The applicant shall make all flight tests that the Agency finds necessary to determine compliance with the applicable type certification basis and environmental protection requirements.
• The flight tests shall include:
° For aircraft incorporating turbine engines of a type not previously used in a type certificated aircraft, at least 300 hours of operation with a full complement of engines that conform to a type certificate, and
° For all other aircraft, at least 150 hours of operation.
Issue of a Type Certificate
• The applicant shall be entitled to have a product type-certificate issues by the Agency after it is shown that:
° The product to be certificated meets the applicable type certification basis and environmental protection requirements;
° Any airworthiness provisions not complied with are compensated for by factors that provide an equivalent level of safety;
° No feature or characteristic makes it unsafe for the uses for which certification is requested; and,
° In the case of an aircraft type certificate, the engine or propeller, or both, if installed on the aircraft, have a type certificate issued or determined.
Next Steps
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