Building very reliable aircraft continuously tops as safety measure

If an aircraft is used to carry passengers for hire or is operated for hire (as in flight instruction), it also must have either an annual or 100-hour inspection within the preceding 100 hours of time in service

It is the responsibility of an aircraft manufacturer – and the maker of each and every aircraft part – to ensure that an airplane is made without any design or manufacturing defects. The manufacturer is responsible for aircraft manufacturing or design defects if the defect causes harm to others.

The FAA is very clear in its intent that only airworthy aircraft should be operated. The regulation places responsibility on the pilot in command by stating, "The pilot in command of a civil aircraft is responsible for determining whether that aircraft is in condition for safe flight. The pilot in command shall discontinue the flight when un-airworthy mechanical, electrical, or structural conditions occur."

Defective design is when an aircraft or a component part is manufactured correctly but something about the design makes the aircraft or component part unreasonably dangerous. A design defect often affects an entire product line, not just a single product. The Boeing 737 MAX aircraft is a good example of a design defect. As per a congressional report, Boeing’s development of MAX “was marred by technical design failures.” This contributed to the crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.

An aviation manufacturing defect is when an aircraft or one of its components is manufactured differently from its original design or specifications and becomes unreasonably dangerous.

For instance, a critical part might not be machined exactly to design specifications and be installed on the aircraft. If the part is not a perfect fit, as required by the specifications, and it fails and causes a crash, the manufacturer is responsible even if it did everything it was required to do to try to make the part correctly. This concept is called “strict liability.”

Airworthiness of an aircraft is the fitness of an aircraft for flight in all conditions for which it has been designed, and to which it may therefore be exposed. This means that during the whole lifecycle of the aircraft, for all types of operations and in all environments, the structure of the aircraft must remain unchanged.

To that end, every aircraft must first be certified. The certification process, also known as initial airworthiness, is carried out in the EU by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on behalf of the Member States.

Under FAR 91.409(a), an aircraft must undergo an annual inspection every 12 calendar months to be legal to operate. If an aircraft is used to carry passengers for hire or is operated for hire (as in flight instruction), it also must have either an annual or 100-hour inspection within the preceding 100 hours of time in service. It's important to remember that while an annual can serve as a 100-hour inspection, a 100-hour inspection will not substitute for an annual. Remember that for an annual, the period of 12 calendar months extends from any day of any month to the last day of the same month in the following year.

Airworthiness is the fundamental requirement for an aircraft to be operated. Ownership and management of aircraft assets demand the fulfillment of numerous legal and technical requirements. With our CAMO (Continuing Airworthiness Management Organization) team, we are able to offer services supporting aircraft owners – in particular lessors and banks as well as VIP aircraft owners – in meeting these requirements.

Lessors and banks – the largest customer group typically assigning airworthiness management related tasks to independent, approved CAMO's (Continuing Airworthiness Management Organizations) – often need more than the aircraft's paperwork to be in order. Thus, we offer a range of complementary services which relieve aircraft owners of the numerous burdens associated with a change of operators. Based on its capability to put an aircraft on the temporary German register easily, for example, the CAMO team can provide all kinds of support necessary to perform a complete aircraft transition, including technical operation of the aircraft.

The challenges that aircraft owners are confronted with from plenty of previous projects with customers worldwide and hence are able to offer a solution for virtually every issue. Lufthansa Technik CAMO is the reliable partner from the smallest of issues up to taking the lead on complex lease returns, transitions, aircraft purchases and end-of-life management.

What's more, a dedicated CAMO team for VIP aircraft makes us a strong and experienced partner at the owners' side, relieving them of all hassles in complying with all the regulatory requirements applicable to their individual planes.