ACCG Services; Summary of Events
As mentioned many times throughout the site, you must become thoroughly
familiar with your manuals. The way ACCG works with it's clients to accomplish
this is during the manual preparation. A typical scenario: After we input
the information for your air charter company into the statement of compliance
(the first of the large documents), it will be sent to you for review
followed by necessary or desired changes. Then that copy is sent to the
FAA for their initial review. Should the FAA request changes, and they
usually do, the process is reversed so that you remain in the information
loop.
More FAR Part 135 Certification Guidance
Note: This information is from an FAA Principle Operations Inspector
(no name was attached). Their are many similar guidance reviews available
on local FSDO web sites, however this is one of the best that I have found
to date.
This guide is intended to present, in a logical sequence, the steps which
you must go through in obtaining your FAR part 135 Air Carrier Operating
Certificate.
The complexity of the process depends primarily on the complexity of
your proposed operation, and ranges from a simple single pilot operation
using a single engine airplane or helicopter under VFR to a complex charter
operation employing many pilots and operating numerous turbine powered
aircraft. Scheduled Commuter operations or those involving aircraft of
more than nineteen passenger seats are considered beyond the scope of
this guide.
The FAA classifies operators into 4 classes, depending on
its complexity
These classes are:
1. Single Pilot Operator. An operator using only one pilot. This is typically
an owner-pilot operation using a single engine airplane or helicopter
under VFR. It could also include a single pilot operation using a light
twin under IFR with an approved autopilot in place of a second pilot.
2. Single Pilot-in-Command Operator. An operator that uses only a single
crew for an aircraft requiring two pilots. Only one pilot may be pilot
in command. Any other pilots, up to a maximum of three, must be only second-in-command.
3. Basic Operator. A Basic Operator is one that has a fairly simple operation
without multiple bases of operation or other complicating factors and
employs five pilots or less, and operates five aircraft or less.
4. Standard Operator. Any operator that employs more than five pilots
or conducts operations of a complex nature involving more than one aircraft
base or pilot domicile.
The Certification Process
Regardless of the complexity of your operation, the step by step process
toward obtaining your certificate is essentially the same. It involves
gaining a clear understanding of what you must do, submission of documents
to the FAA for review and approval, training your personnel, having your
facilities, record keeping system, and aircraft inspected by the FAA,
having pilots complete competency checks by the FAA, and finally, receiving
your certificate.
The first step - Pre-application Statement of Intent
The first formal action that you will take is submitting to the FAA a
Pre-application Statement of Intent. It uses FAA form 8400-6, and is a
broad and general description of your proposed operation. It identifies
your key personnel and contact telephone numbers, and describes in a general
way the complexity of your operation.
This Pre-application Statement of Intent is what gets the machinery in
motion toward certification. Upon receiving it, the FAA Flight Standards
District Office will assign which inspectors will be your Principal Inspectors.
There will be a Principal Operations Inspector, a Principal Airworthiness
Inspector, and a Principal Avionics Inspector. Generally, any one of the
three Inspectors could be your primary contact person at the FAA during
the certification process. The Principal Operations Inspector will be
responsible for your manual, training program, and pilots. The Principal
Airworthiness Inspector will be your contact person for matters relating
to the aircraft, airworthiness and maintenance programs, and the Principal
Avionics Inspector will be the person who makes sure that requirements
relating to the installation and maintenance of aircraft avionics equipment
are dealt with.
Pre-application Meeting
After the FAA District Office receives your Pre-application Statement
of Intent, You will be contacted and an appointment made for a meeting
at the FAA District Office. It will be at this meeting that details of
your operation will be discussed, specific requirements decided upon,
and a timetable for certification steps established. All your key management
personnel, including the Chief Executive Officer, Director of Operations,
Chief Pilot, and Director of Maintenance should plan on attending this
meeting. Depending on the complexity of your operation, further meetings
with appropriate members of your management team may be required to deal
with specific matters.
Preparation of Documents
Once the requirements for your particular operation have been established,
you will be preparing various documents, manuals, and establishing management
systems as required for your individual situation. You will be preparing
your Letter of Compliance. During this period, you and your management
personnel will have frequent contact with the Principal Inspectors to
iron out the details and obtain approval and acceptance of specific requirements.
Training programs must be approved, manuals reviewed and accepted, and
various aircraft maintenance programs and procedures must be approved.
The contents of your Operations Specifications will be finalized. You
must also submit registration documents and proof of insurance to the
Department of Transportation in Washington.
Preparation for Certification
After your training program has received initial approval, you will be
training your pilots in accordance with this program. If you have company
check airmen, they will be observed by the FAA while conducting initial
checks of other pilots. If you do not have company check airmen, the FAA
will conduct the competency checks after the training has been completed.
During this period, you will be making the initial training records for
your company personnel, bringing your aircraft up to standards including
re-weighing of aircraft if required, and ensuring that all provisions
of your maintenance program have been complied with.
Formal Application
Once all systems are in place and all documents have been approved or
accepted, and after your aircraft meet all requirements and your pilots
have been trained and checked, you are ready to make formal application
for certification. This is done on FAA form 8000-6, and is your statement
that you meet all requirements to hold an Air Carrier Operating Certificate.
Final Inspection
After receipt of your application form, the FAA district office will
schedule a final inspection. This inspection will cover your record keeping
systems, a physical inspection of your aircraft and its records, and will
ensure that all systems and methods of compliance are actually in place.
During this time, the FAA will be preparing your Operations Specifications,
and upon successful completion of the inspection, these Operations Specifications
and your Operating Certificate will be given to you.
Other Specific Requirements
Following are some of the requirements for certification which may merit
special attention. It is by no means a complete list.
Letter of Compliance
During the preparation for certification, you will be asked to compose
a Letter of Compliance. This is a document that serves to create a common
understanding between you and the FAA that you have the ability and mechanisms
in place to conduct an operation in full compliance with all the appropriate
regulations. It serves to ensure that you are aware of and have considered
each portion and part of the regulation as it applies to your particular
operation. This document is a list of each regulation, starting with FAR
135.1 and continuing to the end. Each regulation is listed together with
your company's individual method of meeting the requirement of that regulation.
It is up to you and you only to establish the means and method to address
each requirement. A sample Letter of Compliance, appropriate to a typical
Basic Operator is included as Appendix A at the end of this guide.
Operations Manual
Unless you are a single pilot or single pilot-in-command operator, you
must develop an operations manual for your use in telling your employees
what procedures must be followed by them in conducting the company's operations.
This manual may contain any policy or procedure guidance that you wish,
but MUST contain detailed procedures for a number of specific areas which
are set forth in FAR 135. The required subjects are given in FAR 135.23,
135.79, 135.123, 135.173 and 135.175. We have included a checklist of
manual contents as appendix B to this guide.
Flight Locating Procedures
You are required to establish procedures to ensure that if a flight becomes
overdue, timely notification is given to search and rescue authorities
so that a search for the overdue aircraft can begin as soon as possible.
While filing of a FAA Flight Plan will accomplish this in many cases,
there are still some circumstances where the filing or closing of a flight
plan may not be practical. These procedures must be written and must be
explicit. The name or position of the person responsible for flight progress
monitoring, the method that the pilot uses in notifying this person of
the flight's progress, and the exact steps for the designated person to
take should a flight become overdue must be given. Note that this procedure
must ensure the same level of safety and timeliness that would be achieved
if a FAA flight plan was filed. It must provide for the same information
to be recorded as a FAA flight plan as specified in FAR 91.83. This procedure
may be contained in the operations manual, but if your company is not
required to have a manual, this procedure must still be written and furnished
to the FAA district office for review and acceptance. A sample written
Flight Locating procedure is included as Appendix D. Management Personnel.
FAR 135.37 requires that each certificate holder have a Director of Operations,
a Chief Pilot, and a Director of Maintenance. FAR 135.39 gives the required
qualifications for these persons. If you are a single pilot operator,
you are not required to have these personnel. A Single Pilot-in-Command
and a Basic Operator may combine these positions into two and in some
circumstances, one position, but the person designated as holding the
combined positions must meet all the requirements for all of the positions.
The main requirement, in addition to holding the required certificates,
is that the person must have three years experience as pilot-in-command
IN FAR 135 OPERATIONS in the case of Director of Operations and Chief
Pilot, and three years experience as a mechanic maintaining the same category
and class of aircraft in the case of Director of Maintenance. While the
regulations allow for the FAA to approve a deviation from these requirements,
this deviation is usually approved only if the person comes quite close
to meeting the requirements AND has significant other pertinent experience.
Persons Having Operational Control
FAR 135.77 requires that each certificate holder exercise Operational
Control of each flight. This means that the company itself, not individual
pilots, customers, or others, must actively make the necessary decisions
regarding dispatch of flights, compliance with regulations, etc. You may
designate whatever company personnel you wish to exercise this operational
control, but their names must be specifically listed in the operations
manual.
Hazardous Materials
All certificate holders, whether or not they have a pilot training program,
and whether or not they elect to transport hazardous materials, must have
a written hazardous material training program. This program may be fairly
simple for a single pilot operator who does not carry hazardous materials.
limited simply to a program dealing with how to recognize hazardous materials
should they be presented by a customer for shipment. For a operator who
decides to offer the service of carriage of these materials, the training
program must include all of the subjects listed in FAR 135.333. This written
training program will be evaluated by the FAA Regional Office hazardous
materials specialist who is assigned to the Air Transportation Security
division.
I'm ready, How do I get started?
Provided you have an airplane, a pilot, and a basic plan of your air transportation service, your ready to get started on your paperwork.
Enlisting ACCG to assist you with your certification requires a simple form about your company and down payment for us to get started. You can get Customer Order Forms here; or
Email or give us a call (561-373-5962) today!
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