Background on certification
Type certification  To ensure the safe operation of an aircraft, the airworthiness authorities require that each type of aircraft go through a type certification process, in which the safety of the type of aircraft is proven. Only after this certification process, an operator is allowed to fly the aircraft. The type certification of an aircraft is an extensive product examination. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is responsible for certification of aircraft. EASA establishes technical and operational regulations and requirements for different categories of aircraft, based on weight and utilization. Examples are VLA (Very light aircraft), EASA CS-23 (aircraft up to 5700 kg) and CS-25 (above 5700 kg). In the USA similar and largely harmonized airworthiness requirements are laid down in FAR-23 and FAR-25. The EASA CS-23 requirements apply to the Brevity. Type certification under EASA supervision has the big advantage that the type certificate will be directly accepted in the 23 member countries. Furthermore, since the EASA requirements are largely identical to the United States FAR-23 requirements, a FAR-23 certification program could be executed in parallel. With this, the aircraft will be accepted in nearly all the world. Type certification is a laborious and expensive process. It involves tests such as load tests, flutter tests, test flying, material tests and a life-cycle test. Certification of aircraft design and production organizations Under the recently introduced EASA procedures, the type certification of aircraft has been placed in a larger context. Apart from the requirements for the aircraft itself, the design organization and the production organization are also required to have a certificate. The applicable requirements are EASA part-21 Design Organization Approval (DOA) and Production Organization Approval (POA). The principles behind these requirements is to delegate the approval role of the authority via well established and transparent procedures and organization as well as highly skilled engineers (Compliance Verification Engineers). The EASA part-21 DOA and POA certificates are a prerequisite to start production. Only few European manufacturers have these certificates. Under USA FAA regulation a similar approach can be taken under Delegation Option Approval for design. The Brevity Seaplane LLC is seeking cooperation with such certified companies to avoid the cost of setting up such an organization itself.   © 2009 Brevity LLC / GRA-CV.