I have an aircraft that is registered in EASA land and have a list of STC applicable. The problem I have is that some are USA STC and some are from the country of registration.
So for example – SA1437CE I believe is a USA STC but this – GWL 93-327 is a Dutch STC. The question is does it matter and if I does how do I find the equivalent EASA STC. I am very keen to have this all properly documented so I thought there is much better information from EuroGA that I would get from other sources.
The aircraft has a C of A and never had a problem with ARC being issued.
Thanks in advance..
This is how I understand it:
EASA, or more likely one of the now-EASA states issued your airworthiness certificate for your aircraft which says that it is in compliance with the Type Certificate which was also approved by EASA (or one of the now-EASA states)…. Any change to the Type Certificate Design Specifications is considered a Major change. If someone went through all the puss and pain of designing a major change they can apply to the TC issuer (EASA) for a Supplementary Type Certificate. The STC may be approved for multiple models of aircraft and an Approved Manufacturer List may be included with the STC….
In your case your aircraft is EASA reg and so the TC is EASA approved and it follows the only EASA approved STCs may be used. STCs issued by a non-EASA state (like the USA) are not acceptable on face value. The Dutch one would be acceptable.
The cross-recognition of Type Certificates between EASA and FAA has been in place for a few years now, but I don’t believe there is cross-recognition of STCs….yet…
I am no expert in this field, but I have read that these Technical Implementation Procedures for mutual STC recognition between EASA and FAA have entered into force in January 2016 for “Level 2” STCs. Unfortunately the PDF I linked to seems to be copy protected, so I can’t paste the relevant bits here. But you can look on page 127 under paragraph 8.6. to see what is considered a “Level 1” change, and everything that’s not listed will be “Level 2”.
Maybe this FAA FAQ on mutual recognition is clearer to understand as is usually the case for many questions. Somehow EASA always makes things even more complicated when they take such an agreement to re-word it, whereas the FAA actually makes an effort to produce human-readable material… Gotta love this question as well: “The U.S./EU Agreement is long. Do I need to read the whole thing?”
Use http://www.pdfunlock.com to unlock the pdf…
There are various PDF password removers but I use a screenshot program for this kind of stuff. It works for everything and the best one I have used so far is Faststone Screen Capture. Absolutely brilliant and the biggest timesaver of all things in IT 
Regarding FAA STCs on G-reg planes, it has for many years been a widespread misunderstanding that anything with an FAA STC can “just be installed”. This was of course always wrong and is still wrong now, AFAIK. It possibly originated from the relatively straightforward process for getting the old CAA (pre-EASA) approvals based on FAA STCs.
AnthonyQ wrote:
In your case your aircraft is EASA reg and so the TC is EASA approved and it follows the only EASA approved STCs may be used.
I think you forget grandfather rights. It depends on when the change was done and what the policy of the regulator was back then. A lot of the smaller countries just rubber stamped FAA STC before EASA came along.
tomjnx wrote:
I think you forget grandfather rights. It depends on when the change was done and what the policy of the regulator was back then. A lot of the smaller countries just rubber stamped FAA STC before EASA came along.
My point was along the same lines as Peter: even if the regulator “rubber-stamped” FAA STCs, they (being the TC issuer) still needed to “approve” them… It is this basic principle that changes to the Type Certificate (i.e. STC) must be approved by the TC issuer that I was trying to explain…. I think some people may misunderstand this point.
AnthonyQ wrote:
It is this basic principle that changes to the Type Certificate (i.e. STC) must be approved by the TC issuer that I was trying to explain….
How can an FAA issued STC be a problem if the airplane was on an FAA issued (rubber stamped) TC?
Most popular US built GA aircraft don’t even have an EASA TC. The Cessna 152 doesn’t, only the 172R and S have, of the PA-28 series, only the PA-28-181 has…
tomjnx wrote:
How can an FAA issued STC be a problem if the airplane was on an FAA issued (rubber stamped) TC?
As these STC’s are not automatically validated by EASA. A lot is changing now, in a positive way.
Fenland_Flyer wrote:
The question is does it matter and if I does how do I find the equivalent EASA STC. I am very keen to have this all properly documented so I thought there is much better information from EuroGA that I would get from other sources.
The key on this is when are these modifications done, if it was in the PRE-EASA era it would be ok, then you would have grandfather rights on these modifications for your aircraft.
Jesse wrote:
As these STC’s are not automatically validated by EASA.
Not for new installs, but my original point was that if the mod was done pre-EASA and the “competent” CAA approved it, it’s now grandfathered for that specific aircraft.
