Before a Certificate of Airworthiness (CofA) can be issued for an aircraft registered in Gibraltar, the GCAA must establish that the aircraft conforms to an accepted Type Certificate (TC) and the associated Type Certificate Data Sheet (TCDS). This process is referred to as Type Acceptance.
Accepted Authorities
The Gibraltar Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) accepts Type Certificates (TCs) and the associated Type Certificate Data Sheets (TCDSs) issued by the following authorities:
- Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) – United States
- European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)
- Transport Canada (TCCA)
- UK Civil Aviation Authority (UK CAA)
- National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) – Brazil
Aircraft certificated by any of the above authorities may be registered in Gibraltar and issued with a Certificate of Airworthiness (CofA) without requiring modification to comply with the certification standards of another State of Design.
Supplemental Type Certificates (STCs)
All Supplemental Type Certificates (STCs) embodied on the aircraft at the time of the initial CofA application are accepted by the GCAA without further technical assessment.
Any STC or other design change embodied after the initial CofA has been issued must:
- conform to the aircraft’s accepted certification basis; and
- be accepted by the GCAA before embodiment.
Further guidance on design changes is provided in CAP AIR 02, Section 18.
Airworthiness Directives
Following Type Acceptance, the aircraft remains subject to the Airworthiness Directives (ADs) issued by the authority that issued the accepted Type Certificate.
For example, an aircraft accepted on the basis of an FAA TC will continue to comply with FAA ADs. Compliance with Airworthiness Directives issued by other certification authorities is not required unless otherwise specified by the GCAA.