ICAO ANNEX 8 PDF

FOREWORD

Historical background

Standards and Recommended Practices for the Airworthiness of Aircraft were adopted by the Council on 1 March 1949 pursuant to the provisions of Article 37 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago 1944) and designated as Annex 8 to the Convention.

The Annex contained, in Part II, general airworthiness procedures applicable to all aircraft and in Part III, minimum airworthiness characteristics for aeroplanes provided, or to be provided, with certificates of airworthiness classifying them in an established ICAO category. Part I contained definitions.

At its fourth session, the Airworthiness Division collaborating with the Operations Division made recommendations concerning the use of a performance code as an alternative to the one contained in the Annex, in which the climb values had the status of Recommended Practices. Further, the Airworthiness Division made recommendations concerning certain aspects of the certification in ICAO categories. As a result of those recommendations, the Council approved the incorporation of the alternative performance code as Attachment A but stated its belief that since agreement had not yet been reached on Standards covering performance, there existed no basis for certification in ICAO Category A. It urged the Contracting States to refrain from such certification pending the becoming effective of Standards on performance or until such time as the Council decides on the basic policy on airworthiness.

The Assembly at its seventh session (June 1953) endorsed the action already taken by the Council and the Air Navigation Commission to initiate a fundamental study of ICAO policy on international airworthiness and directed the Council to complete the study as rapidly as practicable.

In pursuing such study, the Air Navigation Commission was helped by an international body of experts designated as the "Airworthiness Panel", which contributed to the preparation of the work of the Third Air Navigation Conference.

As a result of these studies, a revised policy on international airworthiness was developed and it was approved by the Council in 1956. According to this policy, the principle of certification in an ICAO Category was abandoned. Instead, Annex 8 included broad Standards which defined, for application by the competent national authorities, the complete minimum international basis for the recognition by States of certificates of airworthiness for the purpose of the flight of aircraft of other States into or over their territories, thereby achieving, among other purposes, protection of other aircraft, third persons and property. It was considered that this met the obligation of the Organization under Article 37 of the Convention to adopt International Standards of airworthiness.

It was recognized that the ICAO Standards of airworthiness would not replace national regulations and that national codes of airworthiness containing the full scope and extent of detail considered necessary by individual States would be necessary as the basis for the certification of individual aircraft. Each State would establish its own comprehensive and detailed code of airworthiness or would select a comprehensive and detailed code established by another Contracting State. The level of airworthiness defined by this code would be indicated by the Standards, supplemented, if necessary, by Acceptable Means of Compliance.

In application of those principles, the Annex was declared as constituting the minimum standards for the purpose of Article 33. It was also recognized that the Annex might, at the time of adoption, not include technical Standards for all classes of aircraft or even for all classes of aeroplanes, if the Council felt that no technical Standards were required at that time to render Article 33 operative. Furthermore, adoption or amendment of the Annex declared to be complete for the purpose of Article 33 did not constitute the end of ICAO's work in the airworthiness field, as there was a need to continue international collaboration in airworthiness matters.

A revised text for Annex 8 consistent with the above principles was prepared on the basis of the recommendations made by the Third Air Navigation Conference (Montreal, September–October 1956). Part III of the Annex was limited to broad Standards stating the objectives rather than the methods of realizing those objectives. However, to indicate by examples the level of airworthiness intended by some of the broad Standards, specifications of a more detailed and quantitative nature were included under the title "Acceptable Means of Compliance". These specifications were intended to assist the Contracting States in the establishment and application of comprehensive and detailed national airworthiness codes.

To adopt a code giving an appreciably lower level of airworthiness than that given in an Acceptable Means of Compliance was considered to be a violation of the Standard supplemented by that Acceptable Means of Compliance.

The revised text for Annex 8 was included in the Fourth Edition of the Annex, which superseded the First, Second and Third Editions.

Another recommendation of the Third Air Navigation Conference led to the establishment by the Council in 1957 of the Airworthiness Committee, consisting of airworthiness experts with broad experience and selected from those Contracting States and International Organizations willing to contribute.