Originally Posted by
atakacs
Very informative posts.
Time to throw in the EASA. Did they actually certify the 737 MAX or did they actually took the FAA aka Boeing review as gospel ?
Starting with (IIRC) the 777,
all new or major Boeing derivatives have been jointly certified by both the FAA and the JAA/EASA. What EASA typically does is pick out various 'areas of interest' - usually (but not always) areas where the FARs and JAR/CS differ. This starts out with a series of meetings between Boeing and EASA where they agree to a list of 'significant regulatory differences' (i.e. the regulations where showing compliance to the FARs won't necessarily show compliance with the corresponding CS) and this is documented by EASA in a "CRI" (Certification Review Item). Every CS in this CRI needs to be certified with EASA - not the FAA - although the process of how that certification occurs is very similar to how it's done with the FAA - and yes EASA will delegate some compliance activities to either the FAA or Boeing. Areas of specific interests with result in additional CRI's issued by EASA (very similar to the Issue Paper process with the FAA). Like Issue Papers, all CRIs must be agreed to and closed prior to Type Cert.
As a general rule, the certification of on-going changes/improvements after Type Cert are delegated to the FAA (Boeing still needs to show compliance with the applicable CS, but the FAA certifies the change without direct EASA involvement). Of course, there are exceptions...