Export package prep
Export-airworthiness documentation review for the export package
This review confirms that the export-airworthiness evidence set is complete and internally consistent before an export certificate is applied for. It is run by or for the exporting party once export is decided, against the specific requirements the importing authority has stated. It covers the export application, the importing authority's special conditions, the status summaries the certificate rests on, and the supporting records behind each summary line. You receive an evidence map from each requirement to its document, a gap list, and a request set for the items that must be in hand before submission.
When this review is needed
- An export certificate of airworthiness is being applied for and the evidence set has to hold together.
- The importing authority has issued special conditions the export package must answer line by line.
- Status summaries cited in the application need to be tied back to their underlying records.
- A prior export attempt stalled on a documentation query and the exporter wants to avoid a repeat.
The problem
An export certificate application leans on status summaries that the operator treats as authoritative because they drive daily operation. The importing authority does not accept the summary; it accepts the record the summary was built from. When the special conditions ask for the evidence behind a compliance line, the exporter discovers whether that evidence was ever filed or only ever summarized. A summary with no record behind it looks fine until someone reads for the record.
What gets reviewed
- The export application checked against the importing authority's stated requirements
- Special conditions mapped to the specific document that answers each one
- Status summaries in the application tied back to their source records
- Supporting records for compliance claims present and legible in the package
- The evidence set read as a whole for internal contradiction before submission
Scope this review
Tell us the asset, the event, and the evidence in scope, and we will outline a focused first engagement.
Send a representative, redacted record set and we will scope the review.
What gets validated
- Each special condition maps to a document that answers it on its face
- Every status summary in the application traces to the record it was built from
- Compliance claims in the export application carry the accomplishment evidence behind them
- No two documents in the package assert contradictory status for the same item
- Superseded summaries are removed so the application cites only the current position
Evidence normally required
- The draft export certificate application
- The importing authority's special requirements or acceptance conditions
- Status summaries cited in the application
- The underlying records supporting each summarized position
Common discrepancies
- A special condition with no document in the package that answers it
- A status summary that no longer matches the record it was drawn from
- A compliance claim asserted in the application without accomplishment evidence attached
- Two summaries in the package that state a different position for the same system
What is at stake
A special condition the exporter cannot answer holds the export certificate, and the aircraft cannot legally transfer to the new register until the item clears. Every week the certificate sits open carries positioning, insurance, and storage cost, and a late-discovered gap can force a status to be reworked under the receiving authority's rules rather than the exporter's.
How the work runs
Read the receiving requirements
Extract the importing authority's special conditions and treat them as the checklist to answer.
Map conditions to documents
Tie each condition to the specific record that satisfies it, not to a summary.
Trace the summaries
Confirm every cited status summary still matches its source record.
Close the answer set
List unanswered conditions and the documents needed before the application is filed.
What the buyer receives
- An evidence map from each importing-authority requirement to its supporting document
- A gap list of requirements the package does not yet answer
- A document request set for the records that must be recovered before submission
Who uses the output
- Export package assemblers confirming each special condition is answered before filing
- Continuing-airworthiness leads responding to importing-authority documentation queries
- Asset managers tracking the certificate application toward a firm transfer date
How the work fits into the transaction or program
This review sits between the decision to export and the certificate application, so gaps surface while the exporter can still recover documents on its own timeline. The evidence map becomes the response file if the importing authority queries a line, and the gap list drives the recovery that has to finish before the package goes in.
Start with a single asset
Confirm the status list matches the underlying evidence.
Jurisdiction-specific considerations
An importing authority sets its own special conditions, and what satisfies an FAA export certificate is not automatically what an EASA or TCCA receiving side will accept. The review reads the application against the receiving requirements specifically, not against the exporting authority's baseline alone.
Regulatory limits
This review assembles and checks the export-airworthiness evidence. It does not issue the export certificate of airworthiness, grant the importing authority's acceptance, or make an airworthiness determination. The certificate and the acceptance rest with the exporting and importing authorities.
What this review does not cover
- Issuing or applying for the export certificate on the exporter's behalf
- Securing the importing authority's acceptance decision
- Any airworthiness determination on the aircraft
Specific to this review
- The importing authority accepts records, not summaries, so a compliance line with no underlying document is the most common export hold.
- Special conditions are jurisdiction-specific, so a package built for one receiving authority rarely transfers to another without rework.
- An open export certificate accrues positioning and storage cost daily, which makes a late documentation gap unusually expensive.
Sources
U.S. Government (eCFR). Export airworthiness approval requirements and special requirements of an importing authority.
U.S. Government (eCFR). Records an owner or operator must keep, including total time in service, current status of life-limited parts, and AD compliance.
European Union / EASA. EASA design and production certification, STCs, ETSO authorizations, and EASA Form 1 release.
International Civil Aviation Organization. International standards for the airworthiness of aircraft and the framework states use for type and continuing airworthiness.
Frequently asked questions
The status summaries are current in our tracking system. Why check the underlying records?
A tracking summary can be current while the record it was built from is missing from the file. The importing authority reads the record, so the review confirms the evidence exists in the package itself, rather than only in the system it was exported from.
Relevant glossary terms
Related pages
Where this fits
Talk to an engineer who has done this work
We will walk through your current state, the records or evidence involved, and a scoped first engagement.
Talk through the aircraft, records, evidence, deadline, and next useful step.