The domestic large aircraft C919 welcomes the solicitation of special conditions and exemption opinions, and many technologies have novel and unique design features.
On August 9, the Aircraft Airworthiness Certification Department of the Civil Aviation Administration of China issued a notice on soliciting opinions on the special conditions and exemptions for COMAC C919 aircraft.
According to the notice, based on the design features of the C919 aircraft and the application of COMAC, according to the provisions of Articles 21.3 and 21.16 of the "Regulations on the Certification of Civil Aviation Products and Parts", our company intends to issue special conditions and approval exemptions for this type of aircraft. flight requirements.
In accordance with the relevant requirements of Sections 3.5 and 4.5 of the administrative procedure "Procedures for Issuing Special Conditions and Approving Exemptions" (AP-21-AA-2018-21R1), an extensive industry and community consultation is being made on the 28 Special Conditions and 2 Exemptions , the comment period is 15 working days.
The C919 large passenger aircraft is a large civil jet aircraft developed by my country and has independent intellectual property rights. It adopts a single-aisle narrow-body layout, has 158 to 168 seats, and has a range of 4075 to 5555 kilometers. It is the most common Airbus in the international aviation market. 320, Boeing 737 models of the same level.
Due to the high industry barriers in the commercial large aircraft field, only a few countries were able to independently undertake the development and production of large aircraft, forming a duopoly of Boeing and Airbus.
Senior captain Chen Jianguo told The Paper that the solicitation of opinions on special conditions and exemptions is a normal routine procedure before the aircraft obtains airworthiness certification.
"It is part of the routine procedures, that is, the interpretation and explanation of the differences from the regulations during the review process."
Chen Jianguo told reporters that in the process of airworthiness review, when the design characteristics or actual characteristics of the aircraft are not completely consistent with the existing regulations, it may be necessary to apply for exemption or use special conditions. At this time, it is necessary to seek opinions in accordance with the requirements of civil aviation regulations.
Some are because the regulations are outdated, some because the real design cannot meet, or can be replaced by equivalent means to achieve the same level of safety.
"Collecting suggestions and assessments does not affect the entire airworthiness certification process." Chen Jianguo said that basically all aircraft designs have exemptions and special conditions at the end, it's just a matter of how many.
“More does not mean less safety, more and more new technologies are possible. After extensive evaluation and application of specific conditions or equivalent measures, safety can reach the overall level required by regulations. Some designs may be more Regulations require a higher level of safety, it’s just that the way it is achieved is different.”
Focusing on the special conditions and exemptions for the C919 aircraft, the reporter found that many technologies of the C919 have novel and unique design features, and the currently valid Airworthiness Standards for Transport Aircraft (CCAR-25-R4) do not include appropriate safety requirements .
For example, in PSC-25-023, the C919 aircraft is equipped with a side stick controller, which is designed for one-hand manipulation.
In PSC-25-026, the C919 aircraft adopts an automatic braking system.
In PSC-25-036, the C919 aircraft adopts an electronic flight control system (EFCS) that integrates multiple flight envelope protection functions.
In PSC-25-046, the rodless towing function of the C919 aircraft has a novel and unique design feature.
PSC-25-046_Front Wheel Steering and Rodless Traction_A Screenshot of the Draft for Comments on Special Conditions for Issuance
Industry insider Li Hanming told The Paper that the issuance of the exemption and special conditions to a certain extent introduced the first integrated technology adopted by China Civil Aviation during the research and development process of the C919.
In terms of the time node of airworthiness certification, Chen Jianguo said that there will be an evaluation after the collection of opinions, and all airworthiness review processes will be basically completed after the end.
"When you can get the airworthiness certificate depends on the specific exemption clauses. The exemption clauses can simplify the follow-up airworthiness work, but it may also bring risks." Qiao Shanxun, member of the Chinese Aeronautical Society and Secretary General of the Expert Committee of the Henan Aviation Industry Association Tell the surging news reporter that according to the previous time of COMAC's new regional aircraft ARJ21, if the process goes smoothly, C919 is expected to obtain the type certificate of the bureau from August to September.
After completing the forensic test flight, C919 also needs to obtain a production license (PC) and an aircraft airworthiness certificate (AC, airworthiness certificate), and obtaining the airworthiness certificate is equivalent to the bureau's recognition that the C919 is in a safe flight state, that is, airworthiness. state.
After all three certificates are obtained, the airworthiness certificate is all over.
On August 1 this year, the official website of COMAC announced that the domestic large aircraft C919 has completed the certification test flight.
On November 2, 2015, the first aircraft of C919 completed final assembly and rolled off the production line at Shanghai Pudong Base, marking the official completion of the docking of most parts of the body and the installation of airborne systems for the first aircraft of C919.
On May 5, 2017, the C919 completed its maiden flight at Shanghai Pudong Airport, which means that my country has the strength to produce trunk jets.
On May 14, 2022, the first flight test of the first C919 domestic large aircraft to be delivered was completed.
In terms of orders, according to COMAC's official website, C919 has accumulated 815 orders from 28 customers.