Certification Basis (CB)

Introduction

An Aerodromes Certification Basis (CB) is an agreed set of requirements that an aerodrome must be compliant with, in order to be issued an Aerodrome Certificate. The CB for a Defence Aerodrome will normally be based on recognised credible and defensible standards captured within Section 6 of the Defence Aviation Safety Design Requirements Manual (DASDRM), and tailored taking the operating intent of the aerodrome into consideration. The CB may also include any special detailed technical requirements that are needed to address unique issues beyond the scope of the design requirements contained in the DASDRM. A CB thus comprises of:

• applicable design requirements prescribed in the relevant chapter of Section 6 of the DASDRM;
• any tailoring to the above design requirements to meet an aerodrome’s operating intent; and
• any additional technical requirements that are needed to address unique issues beyond the scope of design requirements in Section 6 of the DASDRM.

To achieve an Aerodrome Certificate, an Applicant must demonstrate compliance to the design requirements that the Authority agrees are needed to support safe flight operations at the aerodrome, that is, the design requirements that are captured within an aerodromes CB.

The Authority has developed Certification Basis Templates, for land based aerodromes intended primarily for use by fixed wing aircraft; land based heliports, and shipborne heliports. These templates contain all the design requirements from Chapter 2, Chapter 3, and Chapter 4 of Section 6 of the DASDRM respectively, and can be used by the applicant, in developing a CB and tracking certification activities. A user guide on how to use this template to create the provisional CB is available (see templates and guides area below for details). 

For shipborne heliports the CB will normally be established as part of the Projects Material Seaworthiness Requirement Set (MSRS) as defined in the N-Library. Notwithstanding the Seaworthiness system requirements, the subset of a Projects MSRS related to aerodrome certification (those requirements based on the DASDRM design requirements) – the shipborne heliport CB requires Authority agreement.

Operating Intent informing the Certification Basis

Design requirements for Defence aerodromes are contained in Section 6 of the DASDRM. As the operations taking place at each Defence aerodrome are unique, not all the requirements contained in the DASDRM are applicable to every aerodrome. To help identify those requirements that are relevant and those requirements which are not, a clear understanding of the operations taking place at an aerodrome is needed. It is not likely that the design, construction and certification of an aerodrome can be achieved without a good understanding of the operations taking place at an aerodrome. As such a documented operating intent is critical to establishing a CB and gaining certification. A documented operating intent is also likely to help inform development of compliance demonstration programs and support on-going safe flight operations at the aerodrome.

A high level description of the facilities and operations at an aerodrome are often captured in a Statement of Operating Intent (SOI) (or similar documents – similar documents may include the Statement of Operating Intent and Usage (SOIU) and the Operating and Support Intent (OSI)) for an aerodrome). While the DASA does not mandate the development or update of a specific document for Defence aerodromes (such as a SOI), it is important to have this information documented before commencing the development of the CB.

A documented operating intent therefore, is used to tailor the DASDRM requirements when developing a CB, justifying the removal of different requirements that are not relevant to the aerodrome and identifying the need for special technical requirements to be added as needed.

The Certification Basis Templates for Chapter 2, Chapter 3, and Chapter 4 of Section 6 of the DASDRM provide the functionality to capture the justification of tailoring of the design requirement set. This is explained further in the CB Template Guide (see templates and guides area below).   

Certification Basis Tailoring

The provisional CB represents the ‘target’ aerodrome design and construction requirements (note – the term ‘provisional CB’ is used simply because additional tailoring may still be identified as the design and production process develops). During design and construction of an aerodrome, it is unlikely that all the design requirements of a provisional CB will be able to be complied with. These shortfalls require management to ensure any risks posed by the non-compliances are eliminated or otherwise minimised SFARP. Addressing these shortfalls will result in changes to the CB. These changes need to be done through the Military Aerodrome Certification Review Item (MACRI) where either alternate requirements are used which have been demonstrated to achieve an equivalent level of safety or limitations/treatments are applied to the CB requirement to eliminate or otherwise minimise risks SFARP to safe flight operations.

Tailoring of the CB must be based upon:

• A safety argument that demonstrates an equivalent level of safety can be achieved through a tailored design requirement, or
• A detailed SRM (normally in the form of an Aerodrome Issue Paper (AdrIP)) if compliance with the design requirement would adversely affect Defence capability, and risks to aviation safety can be eliminated or otherwise minimised SFARP through alternate means.

The Certification Basis Templates can be used to identify the tailoring has occurred and reference all the supporting documentation. The CB Template user guide has further information (see templates and guides area below).   

What We Do

The DASA has developed a set of factsheets, templates and user guides to help in the development of a CB.

Aerodrome CBs and any changes to established CBs are approved by the DASA. The provisional CB for an aerodrome can be approved through either a formal standalone approval of the CB or it may be combined with the Certification Program (CP) which then must include the entire CB.

Updates to a CB can be approved through a formal standalone process similar to that undertaken for a provisional CB or it may be combined with the CP for the change. For a change only the affected CB elements need to be identified for approval.

The DASA must approve all tailoring of the CB prior to the application of the aerodrome certificate.

How Do I Apply?

To seek DASA approval of an aerodrome CB, the applicant must request DASA approval via minute submitted via the dasa.aerodromes@defence.gov.au mailbox.

I Want To Learn More…

If you want to learn more about Aerodrome Certification Basis, please consult the DASR 139 (Aerodrome) Regulations at DASR 139 Aerodromes and the following resources:

Support

If you have questions about this topic please contact dasa.aerodromes@defence.gov.au

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

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