FAA to TCCA import
FAA to TCCA equipment list and configuration records transition review
This review checks whether an FAA-registered aircraft's equipment list and configuration records will stand up when Transport Canada examines the import. A records specialist runs it before the acceptance package is submitted, working from the buyer or importer side. It reconciles the recorded equipment list against installation records, release paperwork, and the modification approvals that put each item on the aircraft, then flags anything a Canadian reviewer is likely to question. You receive an equipment-to-approval map, a gap list keyed to the import questions, and a document request set that tells you exactly what to chase.
When this review is needed
- An aircraft coming off the N register is being imported to Canada and the equipment list has to match what is actually installed.
- A buyer has signed and now needs the configuration file assembled before the TCCA acceptance submission.
- Equipment was added under FAA field approvals or STC installations that a Canadian reviewer will want traced.
- The recorded equipment list and the weight-and-balance configuration disagree and the import package cannot go out until they reconcile.
The problem
An equipment list built under FAA practice reads cleanly to an FAA reviewer and still leaves questions for Transport Canada, because the approval basis for a given installation is documented differently between the two systems. Items get added over an aircraft's life through field approvals, minor alterations, and STC embodiments, and the record of what supports each one drifts from the list itself. By the time an import is underway, nobody is certain every installed item traces to data the receiving authority will accept.
What gets reviewed
- The recorded equipment list checked line by line against installation records for this serial number
- Each installed item traced to the STC, field approval, or minor alteration that authorized it
- Configuration entries reconciled to the current weight-and-balance and loading data
- Optional and buyer-furnished equipment confirmed as recorded and supported
- Items whose approval basis is FAA-specific flagged for the Canadian reviewer
- The equipment list compared against the type design to catch unrecorded changes
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
- Every item on the equipment list is backed by an installation record naming the approval it was fitted under
- STC and field-approval installations carry the approved data a Canadian reviewer can rely on
- The equipment list agrees with the weight-and-balance configuration and the loading manual in force
- Serial numbers on installed equipment match the removal and installation history on file
- No item is installed on the aircraft that the recorded configuration fails to list
Evidence normally required
- The current equipment list and configuration status for the serial number
- Installation records, work orders, and release paperwork for added equipment
- STC certificates, field approvals, and minor alteration records for embodied items
- Current weight-and-balance report and loading data
- Any TCCA import correspondence or special conditions already raised
Common discrepancies
- An item on the equipment list with no installation record naming an approval basis
- An FAA field approval whose supporting data does not travel with the aircraft
- Equipment installed and flying that the configuration record never captured
- A weight-and-balance configuration that lists equipment the master list omits
What is at stake
If the equipment list goes into the acceptance package unreconciled, Transport Canada comes back with questions per item and the import stalls while someone reconstructs the approval basis under deadline. An installation that cannot be traced to acceptable data may have to be removed or re-substantiated before the aircraft can be accepted, which is far costlier once the airplane has been repositioned.
How the work runs
Pull the recorded configuration
Assemble the equipment list, weight-and-balance, and configuration status the records assert for the serial number.
Trace each item to its approval
Match every installed item to the STC, field approval, or alteration that authorized it.
Reconcile against the airframe history
Confirm the list, the loading data, and the installation records tell the same story.
Build the gap and request set
Log each unsupported item and name the document that closes it for the Canadian reviewer.
What the buyer receives
- An equipment-to-approval map linking each installed item to the data that authorized it
- A gap list organized around the questions a Canadian reviewer will raise
- A document request set naming the missing records and where to source them
Who uses the output
- Importers assembling the TCCA acceptance package and answering its questions
- Records teams reconciling the equipment list before the aircraft repositions
- Asset managers pricing the cost of any installation that cannot be traced
How the work fits into the transaction or program
Equipment-list reconciliation sits early in the import sequence, before the acceptance package is submitted and often alongside the AD and modification-status reviews that touch the same installations. What it produces becomes part of the configuration evidence Transport Canada examines, and its gap list drives the document chase that has to close before the aircraft can be accepted onto the Canadian register.
Start with a single asset
Confirm the status list matches the underlying evidence.
Jurisdiction-specific considerations
The equipment itself does not change on import, but the way its approval is evidenced does. Transport Canada accepts installations on their own approval basis and asks how each was authorized under the exporting system, so an item fitted under an FAA field approval needs its supporting data assembled in a form a Canadian reviewer can follow, not just a line on a list.
Regulatory limits
This review reconciles the recorded equipment against its approval evidence and prepares that evidence for examination. It does not approve any installation, issue or validate an STC, or determine that the aircraft is airworthy in its imported configuration, which remain decisions for Transport Canada.
What this review does not cover
- Physical inspection or configuration survey of the installed equipment
- Developing or obtaining new approval data for an unsupported installation
- Submitting the import application or corresponding with the authority on your behalf
Specific to this review
- The equipment list is where FAA field approvals most often fail to travel, because their supporting data lived in the operator's files rather than with the aircraft records.
- A configuration that reconciles to the equipment list but not to weight-and-balance is a common source of import questions, since Transport Canada reads both.
- An installation flying legally under the N register can still stall a Canadian import if its approval basis was never documented in a portable form.
Sources
U.S. Government (eCFR). Maintenance recordkeeping content and approval-for-return-to-service requirements, including 43.9, 43.11, and Appendix B.
Federal Aviation Administration. Completion and use of FAA Form 8130-3, Authorized Release Certificate, for new and used parts.
European Union / EASA. Continuing airworthiness, maintenance records, CAMO responsibilities, and the airworthiness review process in the EASA system.
U.S. Government (eCFR). Export airworthiness approval requirements and special requirements of an importing authority.
European Union / EASA. EASA design and production certification, STCs, ETSO authorizations, and EASA Form 1 release.
Frequently asked questions
Why does an equipment list that satisfied the FAA raise TCCA questions?
The equipment is the same, but Transport Canada asks how each installation was approved and wants that basis evidenced in a form it can follow. FAA field approvals in particular often lived in operator files rather than with the aircraft, so the supporting data has to be assembled before the import package will hold.
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.