Aircraft Safety Certification

Abstract The first heavier‐than‐air flight occurred in December 1903 and began aviation as we know it today. For more than 20 years after the Wright brothers flight access to aviation was unencumbered by the need for licenses. There were no national standards for aircraft design, maintenance, or operation, nor standards for pilot qualifications. It was not until passage of the Air Commerce Act of 1926, which created the Aeronautic Branch within the Department of Commerce, that civil aviation was regulated. Today, in the United States the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has the statutory responsibility to promote aviation safety. This is done by prescribing and administering compliance with safety standards governing the design, production quality, and airworthiness of civil aeronautical products. The FAA has developed an infrastructure of procedural and technical Federal Aviation Regulations, Advisory Circulars, and Directives to support their safety certification program. The certification program includes the aviation products type design, production and quality control system, and the airworthiness of each individual aircraft. The FAA monitors the aviation product throughout its life cycle under the auspices of its continued operational safety program.