Airworthiness (An Introduction to Aircraft Certification and Operations)

Airworthiness
An Introduction to Aircraft
Certification and Operations

This is the Third Edition of a book I have started many years ago; a book I wish I had when, as a young engineer, I began tackling the complex realities of the aviation industry. This is why I hope this book will guide young engineers and generally be a reference for aviation professionals in what it is now more than ever an evolving and exciting time for the industry

Technology and regulations have evolved so fast and in so many ways that it has been necessary to revisit the entire content of the previous edition. It was also necessary to expand this content in consideration of the growing application of unmanned systems, autonomous flight, sport flight, and space technology. Aviation regulations are in fact a continuously evolving domain, they will evolve and will keep changing. However, the philosophies behind airworthiness regulations and their very nature have not substantially changed: airworthiness, ultimately, is about safety. The safety of people, the environment the economy

This book covers the airworthiness regulations of the two most advanced ruling authority: EASA and FAA. ICAO Annexes are the basis for these regulations as well of all regulations in more than 180 contracting States. In this Third edition, I focus on this very subject. Many other regulations are based on this very framework and the current Chinese edition of the book already confirms the increasing interest on this domain outside Europe or the United States

This book therefore is not a certification manual: the scope of this book is to provide guidance on the philosophies and processes behind the certification process and related regulations

Sometimes, starting a new job feels like to be at the foot of a hill without knowing what there is on the other side. If you reach the top of the hill, you can have an overview of the valley but if you want to explore a particular site you have to descend the hill and visit it. In other terms, to become an expert in a particular topic, you will have to go beyond this book and go explore. Similarly, I often report only titles or excerpts from standards and advisory material to provide guidance on their content: when this material is approached for practical purposes, I suggest the good practice of reading the original text