Avionics News November 2013 - 17

CANADA

News & Regulatory Updates
Transport Canada Addresses Members
at AEA Canada Regional Meeting
Transport Canada Civil Aviation staff provided information, updates and discussions on several topics during the AEA
Canada Regional Meeting in Ottawa on Aug. 27. Martin Eley,
director general of the TCCA, opened the meeting with a welcome address to the attendees.
David Turnbull, director of National Aircraft Certification,
provided a presentation on level of involvement to help address
concerns expressed by AEA members. LOI has been applied
inconsistently across the country, and Turnbull is leading ongoing discussion with regional team leads, along with a plan to
visit the regions for one-on-one discussion this fall. He reiterated that LOI is an oversight activity and is a risk-based, scalable activity that must be completed prior to the issuance of a
design approval. A delegate can establish parameters that would
determine when no TCCA LOI is required and would not need
to involve TCCA during a fully delegated certification program.
The LOI process is the same regardless of the type of program
and whether it is carried out in the regions or headquarters. A
concern expressed by AEA members was that TCCA would use
the LOI requirement when the activity was most likely training.
TCCA is currently working with original equipment manufacturers to determine policy that will cover the training of TCCA
staff during certification programs.
Simon Nadeau, assistant chief of Technical Program
Evaluation and Coordination, provided an update on the
TCCA's surveillance program. The surveillance program has
changed from an audit type process to a program validation
of a certificate holder's quality system. There also is a process
inspection, whereby TCCA may select a specific process to
review in-depth. However, the systems-based surveillance is the
primary tool used for oversight. A risk-based and data-driven
approach is used in planning the quality system surveillance
activities. This is done by reviewing each certificate holder's
information, history and other indicators to come up with a
risk profile. Based on this, a surveillance interval is determined
that could be from one to five years. The focus of the program
validation is to determine whether or not the holder is in compliance with the regulations and that the systems in place will
ensure compliance is maintained. The TCCA has developed
a set of expectations that set out the intent of the regulations
by which TCCA staff will determine how well a certificate
holder meets the expectations. For further details, refer to Staff

Instruction SUR-001, which is available online at www.tc.gc.
ca/media/documents/ca-opssvs/Surveillance_Procedures.pdf.
Jeff Phipps, chief of Operational Standards, provided a
briefing on NPA 2004-049, Major Modifications and a revision to the Maintenance Implementation Procedure with the
FAA.
NPA 2004-049 covering SMS and fatigue risk management
has been put on hold, as TCCA goes through a validation process of all outstanding NPAs. The AEA provided information
to TCCA regarding this subject and why it was not appropriate to issue. TCCA has acknowledged this and is planning to
utilize AEA input to revise the approach to SMS and FRMS.
The TCCA is reviewing the major and minor modification
process, including the approval of data by delegates for major
modifications. The Operation Standards group is working
with the Aircraft Certification Standards group to coordinate
regulations and policy regarding this issue. The current proposal is to develop a system to allow delegates to approve
data similar to that of a field approval in the U.S. and the old
AE-100 forms that were used many years ago by delegates
for this purpose. It would be limited to 523 and 527 type aircraft and would eliminate the need to issue serialized STCs in
some cases.
The TCCA will be meeting with the FAA (AFS-300) to
begin discussions on revising the maintenance implementation procedure. This revision will address organizations located outside the defined territory, modification requirements,
rebuilt engines and import/export requirements. There also
will be discussion with the FAA and the European Aviation
Safety Agency regarding the standardization of the release
certificate, which would allow for a triple release of a product
to be accepted under all three jurisdictions.
These briefings by the TCCA generated a lot of discussion around the inequities in the major modification
industry. It appears the U.S. industry has an easier time
modifying Canadian aircraft, thereby taking business away
from Canadian industry. It was noted that the TCCA holds
Canadian industry to a higher standard by the virtue of not
reviewing field approvals issued in the U.S. A request was
made by AEA members that the TCCA work toward closing
the gap seen in the process. The TCCA advised AEA members that the FAA has been changing the field approval process. Improvements in the types of field approvals and quality
should be seen. If anyone does come across a field approval
that does not meet the new FAA requirements, or appears to
be a modification that would require more work in Canada,
please notify the TCCA and these issues can be addressed
with the FAA.
Continued on following page

avionics news

november

2013

http://www.tc.gc.ca/media/documents/ca-opssvs/Surveillance_Procedures.pdf http://www.tc.gc.ca/media/documents/ca-opssvs/Surveillance_Procedures.pdf

Avionics News November 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News November 2013