Development of Regulations
As an ex-TCCA specialist, our DAR has extensive experience developing new regulations and guidance, Special Conditions of Airworthiness and regulatory harmonization. This experience is an invaluable asset to companies planning to certify aircraft that need to comply with these new & upcoming requirements.
Aircraft certification regulations and design standards are constantly evolving to address and mitigate safety issues and keep up with technological advancement. For example, FAR 25 requirements have been amended on nearly 150 occasions since their inception, each amendment introducing dozens, if not hundreds, of changes.
Part of Chris’s job at TCCA National Aircraft Certification was actively participating in the regulatory development process as one of the government technical experts in his assigned field. This experience can be of tremendous value to a client working on a brand new design or a design change deemed
to be “significant”, as aeronautical products falling into that category are required to comply with the most current published rules.
Who better to help you certify your product to the latest regulations than someone who helped write them!
Properly addressing the new regulations – and only where they need to apply under the Changed Product Rule – can mean a difference between achieving successful certification or throwing money down the drain. Many attempts by small companies have failed, as their engineering teams have designed the products to meet requirements superseded by newer ones decades ago.
The reasons for the evolution of requirements and standards come from the following:
-
Accidents where a weakness of the design was the primary or contributing cause
-
New operational regimes, which lead to uncovering of new threats and modes of failure
-
Harmonization of standards between the different regulatory authorities (e.g. TCCA, FAA, EASA, etc.)
-
Introduction of new technologies and innovative designs
Chris had first-hand involvement in all the above cases, working with his FAA and EASA counterparts and other TCCA colleagues to establish the necessary regulatory changes and their text before their official publication. He was also reviewing and providing comments – where required - on the aircraft certification guidance and other materials (Advisory Circulars, Special Conditions of Airworthiness, etc.) circulated internally between the regulators prior to their public release.