Case concerning the rejection of an application for airworthiness certificate

An airworthiness certificate (AWC) issued for an aircraft is similar to a vehicle inspection certificate, but is much more serious in terms of the requirements for both the aircraft and the documents.

Moreover, different requirements apply to standard and non-standard aircraft, and are regulated by different federal aviation regulations (FAR): in the first case, it is FAR-519, and in the second, it is FAR-273.

The difficulty in getting an AWC occurs due to the fact that the Federal Air Transport Agency (FATA, also commonly known in Russian as Rosaviatsiya) imposes requirements on aircraft for which documents are submitted in accordance with FAR-273, as on standard aircraft that obtained a type certificate abroad.

It is even more difficult to get an AWC in accordance with FAR-273 for helicopters that obtained a type certificate abroad.

In this case, FATA’s position is that both the aircraft designer and the manufacturer of the engine installed on it determine the service life not only in terms of operating hours, but also in terms of time ("calendars"). Exceeding these limits inevitably entails the need for costly overhaul repairs and, in some cases, extension of the service life by certified organisations.

In other words, the provisions of FAR-273, which allow (under certain circumstances) the independent development of aircraft operating documentation and its operation in accordance with such documentation, are misinterpreted (or ignored).

The disputes are quite complex and overloaded with technical information from the FATA and its local organisations.

One of my cases: one of the FATA’s local organisations refused to accept an application for an AWC for a Robinson R-44 helicopter in accordance with FAR-273, stating that the calendar terms of the resource of the aircraft’s engine and other units (the list consisted of 6 items with the words "etc.") had expired, and the aircraft owner did not have the right to set them independently.

One of the district courts in Moscow ruled that this refusal was unlawful and ordered that the application be accepted for consideration.

It should be noted that such cases are not considered quickly.