Small Airplanes

Supplemental Type Certificates (STCs) & Field Approvals – Guidance for Small Airplanes

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Supplemental Type Certificates

The Supplemental Type Certificates process, regulations, and policies are the same for small airplanes, transport category airplanes, and rotorcraft.

• Application-to-Issuance
• Establishment of Certification Basis
• Regulations & Policies
• Variants – “One-Only” and “Non-Interference”

Coordinated Field Approvals

FAA Order 8900.1, Flight Standards Information Management System (FSIMS) identifies types of alterations:

• that may be approved, under specific conditions, for field approval.
• that must either be evaluated by the FAA Aircraft Certification Engineering Division or the STC process

A field approval may require coordination or technical assistance from the Aircraft Certification Engineering Division or other technical personnel.  Ask your Flight Standards Aviation Safety Inspector (ASI) to coordinate with the Aircraft Certification Office (ACO) for needed technical assistance for a field approval.