Why have an Airworthiness Technical Activity Committee (AirTAC)? Well, airworthiness is a cornerstone of safety in the aviation industry with many facets to it - a subject worthy of technical discussion and debate. It is relevant to the design, manufacture, maintenance, repair, operation and regulation of both military and civil aircraft. 

The technical complexities and the large financial outlay involved with modern military or civil aircraft, make airworthiness and safe operation as important today as any time in the last hundred years.

AirTAC sets out to provide a number of participative forums {modern youth and Bill Gates wont understand fora} to discuss current issues both at the industry working level and as an introduction for students.

What is 'airworthiness'?

According to the OED Supplement the first known use of the term airworthy was early on in the 19th century: "The airliner has time in all cases, assuming that the air-car is airworthy, to conduct proper means for his safe descent" (Mech.Mag. XI, p181, 1829). An example of an operational safety consideration.

Developments in these early days laid down the fundamentals of airworthiness as it is understood today namely that an aircraft should both be shown to conform to an acceptable design standard and also be in a condition for safe flight.

Literal definitions of airworthiness vary. The simplest is fitness to fly in Webster's 1913 Dictionary. The OED Supplement gives a longer definition of airworthy “in a safe condition to travel through the air” [check words]. More inclusive is a military definition of airworthiness: "The ability of an aircraft or other airborne equipment or system to operate without significant hazard to aircrew, ground crew, passengers (where relevant) or to the general public over which such airborne systems are flown”.
 
It is perhaps more useful to consider airworthiness as the combination of the following five elements:

The History of Airworthiness

Airworthiness policy considerations for United Kingdom aircraft has its origins in the early days of military flying. Aircraft design data started to be recorded prior to1910 at Teddington and Farnborough (for balloons) and a design requirement pamphlet was produced in 1916 by the Royal Aircraft Factory. The initial stages of design record keeping and requirement writing.

An early example of safety regulation was the 1911 the Aerial Navigation Act which empowered the Home Office to prohibit flying in populated areas.

A decade later the Royal Aircraft Factory as part of the Air Ministry had established an Airworthiness Department with technical officers checking design calculations – primarily stressing and strength. The beginnings of the procedures for company approval and approved data.

In the USA in 1926 an act “to encourage and regulate the use of aircraft in commerce” stated that “the (US) Secretary of Commerce may require, before the granting of registration for any aircraft … full particulars of the design and of the calculations upon which the design is based and of the materials and methods used in the construction.”

In 1938 this was modified by an act "To create a Civil Aeronautics Authority, and to promote the development and safety and to provide for the regulation of civil aeronautics” stated in Section 603(c) Airworthiness Certificate that "The registered owner of any aircraft may file with the Authority an application for an airworthiness certificate for such aircraft. If the Authority finds that the aircraft conforms to the type certificate therefore, and, after inspection, that the aircraft is in condition for safe operation, it shall issue an airworthiness certificate." In parallel to the setting up of the Authority a set of airworthiness regulations (CARs) was developed.

By the mid 1930s in the UK similarly there were moves to set up separate military and civil safety regulation that lead to the formation of the Air Registration Board in 1937. However due to the intervention of the Second World War it was not fully functional with its own complete set of airworthiness requirements (BCARs) until about 1950.

International standardisation on aviation safety regulation has its origins in the Chicago Convention of 1944 which lead to the formation of ICAO. Today ICAO standards provide the framework for standardisation in airworthiness for civil aviation.
 
In the UK the ARB became the Airworthiness Division of the Civil Aviation Authority in 1972 and then part of the CAA Safety Regulation Group working closely with JAA. In 2003 civil aviation airworthiness responsibilities has nominally passed to EASA the European Aviation Safety Agency.

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