Airworthiness Directives

Introduction

An Airworthiness Directive (AD) is a document mandating actions to be performed on an aircraft in a specific timeframe to restore an acceptable level of safety, when evidence shows that the level of safety level may otherwise be compromised.

When an AD has to be issued to correct a deficiency in the approved design, the holder of the relevant design approval must propose the appropriate corrective actions and submit details of these proposals to DASA for approval. Upon approval, the design approval holder must make available to all Defence operators the affected aircraft appropriate descriptive data and accomplishment instructions to correct the unsafe condition in the affected aircraft.

If an approval holder or the operator of a Defence aircraft becomes aware of an unsafe condition in a Defence aircraft, they should immediately take action to eliminate the risk so far as is reasonably practicable (SFARP), or if the risk cannot be eliminated, minimise the risk SFARP. Approval holders or operators of Defence aircraft should not wait for DASA to issue an AD before taking action to correct a known unsafe condition.

What We Do

DASA will issue ADs to address unsafe conditions resulting from:

1. A deficiency in the approved design of a product (including an approved change or repair), or
2. Non-conformities of an aircraft with an approved design (including an approved change or repair) likely to exist or develop in other aircraft due to manufacturing or maintenance deficiencies.

DASA does not directly adopt ADs (or other instructions of a mandatory nature) from other civil or military airworthiness authorities. If ADs (or other mandatory instructions) issued by other civil or military airworthiness authorities are determined to be applicable to Defence aircraft, DASA will issue its own AD to mandate any  action to aircraft on the Defence register.

I Want To Learn More…

If you want to learn more about Military Permits to Fly and Flight Conditions, please consult the following resources:

Support

If you have questions about this topic please contact DASA.TypeCert@defence.gov.au

For DASR queries please submit a DASR Query Form (DQF) Form 110

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