48
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between "Type Certificate" and "Certificate of Airworthiness" for an aircraft?
A Type Certificate is a certificate that the FAA gives the manufacturer of an aircraft, certifying the design of the aircraft. So for instance, Cessna Aircraft Company of Wichita, KS holds a Type ...
- 1,819
35
votes
Accepted
FAA Aircraft Registration Form AC 8050-3 doesn't exist
That's because 8050-1 is the Aircraft Registration Application, and 8050-3 is the Certificate of Aircraft Registration.
You submit 8050-1, and the FAA sends you 8050-3.
- 71.6k
32
votes
Accepted
What are the reasons for an installed engine to produce less thrust than an uninstalled engine?
No, these losses are well known and are called installation losses.
Their reasons are:
Intake losses. In a ground test the engine will be fitted with a screen to avoid foreign object damage, but ...
- 230k
32
votes
Why are wings load tested upside down?
A wing can be tested in any orientation as long as the load is applied correctly. The classic wing test photo is the 787 in a fixture showing its extremely flexible wings.
I thought it might be fun ...
- 19k
27
votes
Why are wings load tested upside down?
@PilotHead is correct, but to elaborate a bit on why traditionally weight was put on the bottom is largely because its just easier. If you are Boeing you can afford to build a rig large enough to hold ...
- 101k
23
votes
What is the maximal acceptable delay between pilot's input and flight control surface actuation?
Excessive phase lag is a direct contributor to Type I Pilot-Induced Oscillation (PIO). Phase lag comes from:
Rigid body dynamics of the aircraft (e.g. delay between elevator surface and pitch rate ...
- 11k
22
votes
Accepted
Why will the 777X be tested for crosswind handling with wingtips raised?
If you read the details in the Federal Register, you can see that this refers to crosswind handling on the ground, not in the air:
The folding wingtips and their operating mechanism must be designed
...
- 71.6k
22
votes
What makes a jet single pilot certified?
According to this blog:
Up until 1977, the FAA required all jets to be operated by two pilots. In ‘77, Cessna was given approval on a single-pilot variant of the Citation I, the Citation I-SP. The ...
- 11.1k
21
votes
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What's required for a plane certified to fly to Antarctica?
I'm not aware of any specific 'certification' for aircraft operating to/from Antarctica. The air operations to/from Antarctica varies greatly depending on the location of the airstrip and season.
...
- 100k
20
votes
Accepted
Would the Gee Bee be allowed to fly today, with so little forward visibility?
The reasons such aircraft (including Spirit of St.Louis as pointed out by @ymb) were allowed to fly are explained in another answer. Quoting from it:
You don't need a panoramic view to land, ... ...
- 100k
15
votes
What is the longest range single-pilot certified (FAA and/or EASA) business jet?
There aren't any civilian, current-production jets that come close to the range of the SJ30 for single pilot operations based on my research, although one or two turboprops have comparable ranges. I ...
- 6,725
13
votes
Would the Gee Bee be allowed to fly today, with so little forward visibility?
This YouTube video shows the view from an RC model of the plane.
In case the video is lost: It demonstrates very good visibility, well in excess of FAA regulations. ...
- 231
12
votes
Accepted
What is the longest range single-pilot certified (FAA and/or EASA) business jet?
There are only a hand full of single pilot jets in production currently and the SJ30x seems to have the longest range by far. The other competitors in the space, the Cessna Citation Mustang, The Honda ...
- 101k
12
votes
People say that modern airliners are more resilient to turbulence, but I see that a 707 and a 787 still have the same G-rating. Why is this?
Note that the 2.5 g limit is for load due to manoeuvring, not only for turbulence. The certification specification for large aircraft on the subject of turbulence and gusts has changed several times ...
- 82.9k
11
votes
Accepted
Why is FAA Aircraft Certification Service department named as AIR?
Because it's not an acronym. It's an administrative designation code for the office. While many are acronyms, others are not. The key is to make sure they are unique across the agency. They are in ...
- 19.4k
10
votes
Accepted
Are all US airline aircraft certified into known ice?
Title 14 CFR part 121.321 regulates scheduled airline operations in icing conditions. It requires airframe ice protection systems in order to operate in "conditions conductive to airframe icing&...
- 35.2k
9
votes
What is the the origin of 12,500 pounds in the FAA's definition of large aircraft?
The answer by pithblot is more or less correct. The 12,500 lb. limit was chosen as an approximate halving of the DC-3 gross takeoff weight.
Consider the following quote:
As noted earlier, when first ...
- 4,837
9
votes
What is the maximal acceptable delay between pilot's input and flight control surface actuation?
This is a classic problem in control system theory. The condition to be avoided at all costs is the case where the pilot's control actions get out of phase with the movements of the plane, so the ...
- 20.8k
9
votes
Would fitting a T-tail on the 737 Max make MCAS unnecessary?
No. A t-tail would worsen the characteristics of the airplane. While not necessarily a horrible idea in its own right, the already-nasty slow-flight/high alpha/stall characteristics of the aircraft ...
- 2,474
7
votes
Accepted
Why don't DO guidelines have examples?
RTCA documents are not FAA documents, although the FAA is usually a member of the Special Committee that creates the documents. If an example is to be added, it is the decision of the SC, not of the ...
- 82.9k
7
votes
Accepted
Is there a roadmap to satellite / inertial only based navigation?
I'm not aware of any program at present that does away with ground based infrastructure completely. Present plans are to have the ground based stations as a backup in case of a GNSS outage/...
- 100k
7
votes
Accepted
What is the procedure to turn a certified aircraft into an experimental aircraft?
You essentially convert it to Experimental Exhibition, not Experimental Amateur-Built. That means more restrictions, depending on the FSDO. For instance, your operating limitations may prohibit ...
- 8,392
7
votes
Accepted
Are there general accuracy requirements for aircraft power supplies?
Short answer:
Operational voltages on the 28 V bus may range from 22 V to 30 V.
Abnormal voltages on the 28 V bus may occur from 0 V to 60 V.
The detailed requirements depend on the manufacturer, ...
- 721
7
votes
Accepted
Has the F-35 Lightning II overheating problem been resolved?
As to the first question, it appears as fuel cooling of electronic components and other equipment is integral in the F-35 design, all branches of the armed services will not be able to remedy this ...
- 72.9k
7
votes
Accepted
Why don’t aircraft undergo contaminated-runway landing-distance and rejected-takeoff certification testing?
Baseline performance data was developed some years ago by an FAA test program called the Joint Winter Runway Friction Program to develop mathematical models of the effects of the different types of ...
- 126k
7
votes
Accepted
What happens if an aircraft goes above maximum altitude?
There is a variety of reasons for a maximum altitude:
Most common is insufficient engine performance to climb any higher. Then your question never arises. The aircraft simply cannot go higher.
For ...
- 230k
6
votes
What is the procedure to turn a certified aircraft into an experimental aircraft?
Canuk's answer provides a good summary of how a small piston aircraft might get an experimental airworthiness certification. This answer is intended to provide a more general view of what is needed.
...
- 71.8k
6
votes
Accepted
Which organizations and individuals are invited for a review before the first flight of a new aircraft?
The level of contribution is your potential contribution to the particular flight test.
There are several levels:
Who gets a place in the aircraft? This should be test pilot(s) and maybe an engineer ...
- 230k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible