Originally Posted by
Genghis the Engineer
Flight testing is Annex 1, formerly Annex 2 - which is aircraft specifically not covered by the basic regulation, as are historic aircraft, microlights, etc.
It absolutely does not mean that no safety regulations apply, but generally they are applied by national authorities outside of the EASA structure. However, generally EASA is involved anyhow, as they are likely to be the eventual approving authority for whatever is being tested, and many European authorities have de-skilled in flight testing, so are deferring to EASA on that. Plus, EASA has defined both TP and FTE qualifications.
So yes, this is still an EASA competence, but no it probably isn't covered in most parts by the basic regulation. Which indeed makes it all a bit unclear.
G
Thanks for your Answer!
Flight testing does indeed seem to be quite an unclear topic within EASA and national regulations....it seems to me that EASA has tried to implemet more applicable regulations in recent years, e.g.
(EU) 2015/1039 introduced the new Appendix XII to Part 21 with flight test categoriation and requirements...however that also only applies to aircraft with MTOM less than 2000 kg. Lighter aircraft flight testing should then be regulated on a national basis, however at last here in Austria it is hard to find specific regulations (at least ones that are current and not from back in 2006 that seem outdated compared to the recent EASA publications...).