Purpose
This Advisory Circular (AC) describes an acceptable means of compliance for approval as a test pilot for experimental flying or testing of a prototype aircraft.
Related rules
This AC relates specifically to Civil Aviation Rule Part 19 Miscellaneous Rules Subpart I, and Part 21 Certification of Products and Parts, Subpart B.
Change notice
Revision 2:
- updates the name of Part 19 to Miscellaneous Rules to align with redrafted rules under the Civil Aviation Act 2023 (CA Act)
- deletes a section outlining the changes made in Revision 1
- moves several long footnotes into the body of the text, and
- makes stylistic and formatting changes to the AC to align with the current style.
In addition, to incorporate changes to the test pilot approval process to require approval of the test plan for Category 1-3 flight-testing activity before application, this Revision makes changes throughout, including:
- adding new sections:
- 6.1, Oversight by Part 146 or Part 148 organisations
- 6.3, Test Pilot Approvals for combined Flight Test Crew, and
- 6.5, Flight Test Activity subject to foreign National Airworthiness Authority (NAA) approval
- adding a process flow diagram, Experimental flight test applications overview, in Section 5, and updating and re-ordering some content.
- adding information to
- Section 1, Introduction, about unmanned aircraft (UA) and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and
- 4.6.2, Approval of Company Test Pilots
