United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority

Check Flight Handbook - Second Edition
 N CAP 1038

Annotation

Introduction – The purpose of check flights

The ICAO Airworthiness Manual, Volume 1, states the purpose of airworthiness Check Flights is to ensure that the aircraft’s flight characteristics and its functioning in flight do not differ significantly from the normal characteristics for the type and to check the flight performance against the appropriate sections of the flight manual.

The principles and safety considerations that follow are applicable for both required and elective Check Flights for continuing airworthiness management. These Check Flights do not include maintenance Check Flights for specific items; these are being covered by EASA through its rulemaking task (MDM.097 (a) & (b))1.

The purpose of this Handbook is to advise owners and operators and organisations involved in the management of the airworthiness of UK registered aircraft of the current CAA policy for flight-checking both EASA and non-EASA aircraft. It is only intended as an aide-memoire/refresher for pilots who have already been briefed: it is not a stand-along briefing document. This Chapter gives a summary overview of the present policy for import and the continued airworthiness requirements for aircraft on the UK Register. More detail on particular flight-checking techniques and requirements is given in the rest of this Handbook.

For the purpose of this Handbook, applicable EC Regulations will be referred to as the EASA Regulations and aircraft subject to these Regulations will be referred to as EASA aircraft. For non-EASA aircraft (which are defined in Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 216/2008), British Civil Airworthiness Requirements (BCAR) remain applicable (see below).

1  https://www.easa.europa.eu/document-library/notices-of-proposed-amendments/npa-2012-08