ABSTRACT
Aircraft maintenance, engineering and continuing airworthiness keep the aircraft serviceable and may be divided into separate departments for each type of maintenance activity. This chapter examines the processes involved in the certification of an aircraft. Certification process is complex, convoluted and requires a broad understanding of all the interrelated facets to enable the task to be completed with the minimum of risk, disruption and cost. Evolution of the certification standards enabled Boeing to convince the Federal Aviation Administration that all B747 models, including the B747–400, should be considered derivatives for certification purposes. The chapter explains the major airworthiness codes, making a brief examination of two systems, the USA Federal Aviation Regulations and the European Aviation Safety Agency Regulations. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council published the first ICAO standards and recommendations for the airworthiness of aircraft in 1949 as Annex 8 of the Convention.
