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1 1 (March 25, 2019)

handle is hein.crs/govyza0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service Inforrn~ng the legislative debate since 1914 March 25, 2019 Delegation of Federal Aviation Administration Certification Authorities to Aviation Manufacturers The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certifies pilots, aircraft, and aircraft components, as well as airlines and charter flight operators. It requires that aircraft and component design specifications meet safety standards and comply with regulatory requirements. Once an aircraft design is type certified, a manufacturer must demonstrate that it can reliably reproduce that aircraft type to receive production certification to build deliverable aircraft. Every aircraft manufactured must undergo examinations, inspections, and tests to determine that it conforms to the certified type design and meets airworthiness standards before it receives airworthiness certification and can begin routine operations for an airline or other operator (see Figure 1). Figure I. Aircraft Certifications PRODUCTION CERTIFICATION AIRWORTHINESS CERTIFICATIONS Source: CRS. Since its beginnings in the 1950s, FAA has allowed aircraft and aircraft component manufacturers to conduct certain certification functions on its behalf, including some type certification and production certification activities as well as most airworthiness certification activities. Recently, FAA began certifying private entities that design and build production aircraft and aircraft parts under a formal framework allowing qualified companies to conduct certification work on behalf of FAA with limited supervision and direct oversight by FAA. 737 MAX Crashes Raise Certification Concerns While FAA's multistep certification process has historically been held in high regard worldwide, the relationship between FAA and regulated entities engaged in aircraft and aircraft component manufacturing has been brought into question following two crashes involving Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft within two years of the model's initial entry into operational service in May 2017. Initial findings regarding the October 29, 2018, crash of Lion Air flight 610 in Indonesia, and the March 10, 2019, crash of Ethiopian TYPE CERTIFICATION Airlines flight 302 in Ethiopia have raised concerns about the airplane's flight handling characteristics and its design and certification. Specific concerns have been raised about the 737 MAX 8's angle of attack (AOA) sensors that measure aircraft pitch angle and its Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), an automated flight control feature that is new to the Boeing 737 MAX. As a protection against aerodynamic stall, the MCAS will point the aircraft nose down when a high AOA is detected. Concerns have been raised that erroneous or faulty AOA indications might result in repeated nose down commands that may be difficult to counteract if appropriate procedures are not closely followed. Interest in the design approval of the MCAS system and the overall certification process for the 737 MAX have centered on the extent to which FAA was directly involved in the certification process, the certification activities that were delegated to Boeing, and the extent to which development and certification schedules and deadlines influenced certification evaluations, tests, and inspections. Additionally, questions have been raised about the results of systems safety analyses of flight control systems and risk assessments of AOA and MCAS system failures. On March 19, 2019, Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao requested that the Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General (DOT OIG) conduct an audit of the certification process for the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. FAA Delegation Authority 49 U.S.C. §44702(d) authorizes FAA to delegate certain certification functions to private entities, including aircraft and aircraft component manufacturers and aircraft repair facilities. Since 1956, this authority has been used to allow private companies to carry out various examinations, tests, and inspections needed to issue initial airworthiness certificates for production aircraft and aircraft engines upon manufacture. FAA has generally taken a more active role with respect to initial certification of newly designed aircraft types, new variants of those aircraft types, and new aircraft components. However, some elements of examination, testing, and inspection have historically been delegated to design and manufacturing organizations under FAA supervision and oversight. Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) In 2003, P.L. 108-176 directed FAA to develop a process for issuing design organization certificates. The resulting Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) process, which FAA created in 2005, provides the framework under which approved organizations are delegated certain certification responsibilities on behalf of FAA. ODA https:I/crsreports.congress~gc 0 Test Aircraft Manufacturing Facility Production Aircraft

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