FAA to TCCA transition
FAA to TCCA export airworthiness documentation transition review
This review checks the export airworthiness package assembled on the US side against what a Canadian import will actually ask for. It is run for the importing party, or the seller readying the handover, before the aircraft leaves the US register. The work reads the export airworthiness approval, the special requirements the Canadian side attaches to the import, the status summaries the approval rests on, and the records those summaries cite. You receive an evidence map tied to the import requirements, a gap list of conditions the package does not yet satisfy, and a request set for the documents the export assumes but does not carry.
When this review is needed
- A US-registered aircraft is leaving for the Canadian register and the export package has to satisfy the import.
- The Canadian side has attached special requirements and the records behind them must be gathered before arrival.
- A buyer wants the export documentation read before it relies on the US export approval.
- The export approval has been issued and the importer needs to know what it does and does not cover.
The problem
An export airworthiness approval is a finding, not a complete file. The US side issues it against a set of assumptions and any special requirements the Canadian side raised, but the records that substantiate those assumptions stay in the aircraft file and are rarely gathered together. On the Canadian side the import turns on whether those special requirements are met by evidence, and an export that reads clean can still rest on records nobody has assembled to prove it.
What gets reviewed
- The export airworthiness approval and the statements it makes about the aircraft
- Canadian special requirements on the import and the evidence each one needs
- Status summaries the approval rests on, checked back to their source records
- Any deviations or open conditions the export notes for the importer
- The chain from the US finding to the records that support it
- Items the export leaves for the importer to close after arrival
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 Canadian special requirement maps to a specific record that satisfies it
- Status summaries cited on the export approval reconcile to the underlying records
- Deviations noted on the export are identified with their Canadian treatment stated
- The export's effective scope matches the configuration being transferred
- Items the export leaves open are listed so none is assumed closed that is not
Evidence normally required
- The export airworthiness approval together with its attachments
- The Canadian import special requirements or the correspondence carrying them
- The status summaries the export approval points to
- The underlying airworthiness records feeding those summaries
- Any deviation or open-condition note appended to the export
Common discrepancies
- A Canadian special requirement that nothing in the package speaks to
- A status figure on the approval that will not reconcile back to its source
- A deviation flagged on the export that lands on the importer to resolve after arrival
- An export scope that has drifted from the configuration now offered for transfer
What is at stake
An export package thin on the underlying evidence leaves the aircraft grounded while the importer rebuilds what the approval assumed. Special requirements unaddressed at arrival become the importer's to close, sometimes with the outgoing side no longer engaged, and an import that stalls on a missing status summary costs far more than confirming the package before the aircraft moves.
How the work runs
Scope the approval
Set down what the export approval asserts and the configuration behind its issue.
Unpack the requirements
Take each Canadian special requirement and identify the evidence that closes it.
Tie summaries to records
Follow the status figures on the approval back to the documents underneath them.
Surface the open items
Mark the requirements and deviations the importer must resolve and call for the missing records.
What the buyer receives
- An evidence map tying each Canadian requirement to the record that meets it
- A gap list of import conditions the package has yet to satisfy
- A pull list for the supporting records the export leans on but does not include
Who uses the output
- Acquisition teams judging whether the export package can be relied on
- Continuing-airworthiness staff sequencing what has to close before and just after arrival
- Records teams gathering the evidence the Canadian import will call for
How the work fits into the transaction or program
The work bridges the US export approval and the Canadian import, giving the importer a clear view of what the approval covers and what it leaves open ahead of arrival. The gap list runs the pre-arrival recovery, and the evidence map becomes the file presented against the import conditions.
Start with a single asset
Confirm the status list matches the underlying evidence.
Jurisdiction-specific considerations
The US authority certifies to its own findings, whereas the Canadian import hangs on its special requirements and its own recordkeeping expectations. The review marks where a US finding is taken as it stands and where the receiving side wants the records underneath it rebuilt into a form its process reads.
Regulatory limits
The review measures the export package against the import requirements and reports where it falls short. It neither issues nor endorses an export approval, meets a special requirement for any authority, nor renders an airworthiness finding. The import decision belongs to TCCA.
What this review does not cover
- Issuing, amending, or endorsing the export airworthiness approval
- Physical inspection or survey of the airframe for export
- Any import or airworthiness decision made by the receiving authority
Specific to this review
- The approval captures the US finding, but the Canadian import rides on the special requirements and their evidence, and that evidence does not travel inside the approval itself.
- The recurring failure is a requirement with no matching document, sitting behind an approval that otherwise reads complete.
- The outgoing side tends to step back once the aircraft leaves the US register, which is why an open item closes far more cheaply before departure than after.
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
If the export approval is clean, will the Canadian import be straightforward?
Not by itself. The import depends on whether the Canadian special requirements are met by evidence in the file. The approval can be issued correctly while the package is still short a document one requirement needs, and surfacing that is the point of the review.
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.