Services
Four disciplines. One compliance argument.
Every approval runs on a common thread: an applicable set of requirements, defensible means and methods of compliance, and evidence produced under the appropriate level of rigor. That holds whether the outcome is a civil type certificate or a military flight release.
01
Certification & Airworthiness Approval
Programs planned and executed end to end, from the certification basis through compliance closure, for civil certificates and military flight releases.
A certification program is a structured argument: applicable rule, the means and methods by which compliance is shown, the evidence produced, and the finding that closes it.
Planning & strategy
- Certification basis development and applicability analysis
- Project-Specific Certification Plans (PSCP)
- Area Compliance Plans (ACP)
- Means and methods of compliance selection and justification
- Compliance checklists and compliance matrices
- Certification schedule and critical-path analysis
Execution & evidence
- Conformity Inspection Plans (CIP) and conformity strategy
- Compliance report authoring and review
- Test plan review against the stated means of compliance
- Type Certificate, Amended TC, and Supplemental TC programs
- Changed product rule analysis for derivative designs
- Certification data package assembly and gap closure
Compliance closure
Evidence accumulates faster than closure does, and the gap between them is usually discovered late.
- Compliance status tracking — closed, substantiated but open, and not yet addressed
- Gap analysis against the compliance checklist
- Independent review of whether a requirement is genuinely closed or only partially supported
- Evidence package assembly and traceability audit
- Disposition of open items, deviations, and conditional findings
- Readiness assessment ahead of authority submittal
Military airworthiness release
A different approval architecture from civil certification, built on the same underlying discipline.
- Military Type Certificates (MTC)
- Military Flight Releases (MFR)
- Military Permits to Fly (MPTF)
- Specific Purpose Flight Permits (SPFP)
- Special Airworthiness Certificates (SAC)
- MIL-HDBK-516C MACC certification basis and compliance reports
- Airworthiness Program Plans (AWPP) and delegation plans
Scope covers civil aircraft under 14 CFR Part 23 and Part 25 — with the associated Part 33, 34, 36, and 38 interfaces where a program requires them — and manned and unmanned military air systems released under U.S., U.K., and Canadian airworthiness authorities.
02
Regulatory Strategy
The mechanisms for certifying a design that does not fit traditional airworthiness standards, and the engagement model for the authorities that must accept it.
Novel configurations, new propulsion architectures, and highly integrated systems routinely land outside the plain text of the airworthiness standards.
Regulatory pathways
- Special conditions — identification, drafting support, negotiation
- Equivalent Level of Safety (ELOS) findings
- Exemption petitions under 14 CFR Part 11
- Issue paper strategy, positions, and resolution
- Novel and emerging technology certification pathways
- Applicability and grandfathering analysis
Authority engagement
- FAA ACO and Aircraft Certification Service engagement planning
- EASA and bilateral validation strategy
- Military technical airworthiness authority engagement — U.S., U.K., Canada
- ODA interface strategy, delegation and DER coordination
- Level of involvement negotiation and management
- Preparation for technical meetings and design reviews
03
Development Assurance & Qualification Strategy
Equipment qualification requirements are not arbitrarily selected. They are derived by rigorous requirements decomposition from aircraft-level functions, down through system architecture, to the item.
Development assurance validates that the requirements are correct and complete, and verifies that the implementation meets them. The rigor required of both is set by the assurance levels the safety assessment produces.
Requirements & development assurance
- ARP4754B development assurance planning
- Requirements decomposition — aircraft, system, and item level
- Requirements management, traceability, and allocation
- Validation and verification planning
- Development assurance level derivation and rationale
- Interface and installation requirement definition
Qualification strategy
- Qualification Summary Plans (QSP) and Summary Reports (QSR)
- Installation requirement derivation, including environmental categories
- Assessment of prior qualification evidence against a new installation
- TSO article installation assessment
- Gap analysis and disposition planning
- Qualification as a stated means of compliance
We define and manage the qualification and development assurance framework. Execution of DO-160 environmental testing and DO-178C or DO-254 development is performed by the equipment supplier or a specialist test house; we set the requirements those activities are run against and assess the results.
04
System Safety
Identification and classification of failure conditions, and derivation of the development assurance levels the program builds to.
Failure condition severity drives development assurance levels; those levels drive the rigor required of system, software, and hardware development; that rigor drives cost and schedule.
Safety assessment
- Aircraft and System Functional Hazard Assessment (AFHA, SFHA)
- Preliminary Aircraft and System Safety Assessment (PASA, PSSA)
- Aircraft and System Safety Assessment (ASA, SSA)
- Failure condition identification, classification, and severity
- FDAL and IDAL derivation and rationale
- ARP4761A process planning, scope, and sequencing
Analysis & planning
- Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) and dependence diagrams
- FMEA and Failure Modes and Effects Summary (FMES)
- Common Cause Analysis — particular risks, zonal, and common mode
- System Safety Program Plans (SSPP) and Safety Program Plans (SPP)
- 14 CFR 25.1309 and 23.2510 compliance planning and evidence structure
- MIL-STD-882 system safety alignment for military programs
Capability index
The full list.
Certification planning
- Certification Basis
- Project-Specific Certification Plan (PSCP)
- Area Compliance Plan (ACP)
- Compliance Checklist (CCL)
- Conformity Inspection Plan (CIP)
- Airworthiness Program Plan (AWPP)
- MIL-HDBK-516C MACC certification basis and compliance report
- Delegation Plan
- Detailed Design Specification (DDS) Collector
- Certification schedule and critical-path analysis
Compliance & evidence
- Means and methods of compliance selection and justification
- Compliance matrices and status tracking
- Compliance Reports
- Issue Papers (IPs)
- Test plan review against stated means of compliance
- Request for Conformity (Form 8120-10)
- Statement of Conformity (Form 8130-9)
- Evidence package assembly and traceability audit
- Gap analysis and closure readiness assessment
Development assurance & qualification
- ARP4754B development assurance planning
- Requirements decomposition — aircraft, system, item
- Requirements management and traceability
- Validation and verification planning
- Development assurance level derivation
- Qualification Summary Plan (QSP)
- Qualification Summary Report (QSR)
- Installation requirement derivation
- Prior-qualification assessment and gap analysis
- TSO article installation assessment
System safety
- Functional Hazard Assessment (AFHA, SFHA)
- Preliminary Safety Assessment (PASA, PSSA)
- System and Aircraft Safety Assessment (SSA, ASA)
- Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)
- FMEA and FMES
- Common Cause Analysis — particular risks, zonal, common mode
- System Safety Program Plan (SSPP)
- FDAL and IDAL derivation
- 14 CFR 25.1309 and 23.2510 compliance planning
- MIL-STD-882 system safety alignment
Engagement models
Scaled to the problem.
Advisory
Ongoing regulatory counsel to a program or leadership team. Strategy, positions, and risk assessment on call, without adding headcount.
Embedded
Sustained, hands-on certification leadership inside your program for a defined period — owning deliverables and driving results.
Deliverable
A discrete, scoped product: a certification plan, a compliance report, a safety analysis, or a qualification gap analysis.