Agreements advancing safety cooperation

In a news release, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) welcomed the signing of two new agreements between the FAA, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), and Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA) at the annual Certification Management Team (CMT) Meeting in Ottawa, Canada, in which the Brazilian civil aviation regulator also participated.

The pacts “form the first major steps in the implementation of the CMT Collaboration Strategy, published in 2016, to increase the level of safety cooperation among aviation safety regulators from the European Union, the United States and Canada,” GAMA said of the results of the semiannual regulators’ meeting.

One agreement, a revision of EASA-FAA Technical Implementation Procedures for airworthiness and environmental certification, “is a significant milestone toward a risk-based approach to reduce and further eliminate redundant authority involvement,” GAMA said.

A revision of the EASA-TCCA Technical Implementation Procedures “increases cooperation during certification and validation projects, and increases data sharing for in-service aircraft.”

“These are landmark agreements that significantly improve the acceptance of aviation products and approvals among our industry’s key safety regulators,” said GAMA President Pete Bunce. “The global general aviation manufacturing industry will benefit from these new provisions, which will reduce costs and delivery lead-times for aircraft exports in both directions across the Atlantic, while maintaining the highest levels of safety.”

“This will further accelerate the globalization that we have witnessed in the aviation industry, and the cooperation of the various agencies will be critical to harmonize their respective systems,” said David Oord, AOPA senior director of regulatory affairs.

Oord added, “What it could mean for aircraft owners will be access to a worldwide aircraft market with innovative designs and technologies that would have been cost prohibitive to incorporate in the past. Hopefully, they will also have improved price points and be both easier and safer to operate.”

GAMA said it will work to ensure that a six-month implementation period for the agreements brings about a smooth transition, Bunce said, noting that GAMA hopes to see similar provisions “enacted with other bilateral partners, such as Brazil’s National Civil Aviation Agency.”