135 

Federal Aviation Administration, DOT 

§ 21.17 

§ 21.15

Application for type certificate. 

(a) An application for a type certifi-

cate is made on a form and in a manner 
prescribed by the FAA and is sub-
mitted to the appropriate aircraft cer-
tification office. 

(b) An application for an aircraft 

type certificate must be accompanied 
by a three-view drawing of that air-
craft and available preliminary basic 
data. 

(c) An application for an aircraft en-

gine type certificate must be accom-
panied by a description of the engine 
design features, the engine operating 
characteristics, and the proposed en-
gine operating limitations. 

[Doc. No. 5085, 29 FR 14564, Oct. 24, 1964, as 
amended by Amdt. 21–40, 39 FR 35459, Oct. 1, 
1974; Amdt. 21–67, 54 FR 39291, Sept. 25, 1989; 
Amdt. 21–92, 74 FR 53385, Oct. 16, 2009] 

§ 21.16

Special conditions. 

If the FAA finds that the airworthi-

ness regulations of this subchapter do 
not contain adequate or appropriate 
safety standards for an aircraft, air-
craft engine, or propeller because of a 
novel or unusual design feature of the 
aircraft, aircraft engine or propeller, 
he prescribes special conditions and 
amendments thereto for the product. 
The special conditions are issued in ac-
cordance with Part 11 of this chapter 
and contain such safety standards for 
the aircraft, aircraft engine or pro-
peller as the FAA finds necessary to es-
tablish a level of safety equivalent to 
that established in the regulations. 

[Amdt. 21–19, 32 FR 17851, Dec. 13, 1967; as 
amended by Amdt. 21–51, 45 FR 60170, Sept. 
11, 1980] 

§ 21.17

Designation of applicable regu-

lations. 

(a) Except as provided in §§ 23.2, 25.2, 

27.2, 29.2, and in parts 26, 34 and 36 of 
this subchapter, an applicant for a type 
certificate must show that the aircraft, 
aircraft engine, or propeller concerned 
meets— 

(1) The applicable requirements of 

this subchapter that are effective on 
the date of application for that certifi-
cate unless— 

(i) Otherwise specified by the FAA; or 

(ii) Compliance with later effective 

amendments is elected or required 
under this section; and 

(2) Any special conditions prescribed 

by the FAA. 

(b) For special classes of aircraft, in-

cluding the engines and propellers in-
stalled thereon (e.g., gliders, airships, 
and other nonconventional aircraft), 
for which airworthiness standards have 
not been issued under this subchapter, 
the applicable requirements will be the 
portions of those other airworthiness 
requirements contained in Parts 23, 25, 
27, 29, 31, 33, and 35 found by the FAA 
to be appropriate for the aircraft and 
applicable to a specific type design, or 
such airworthiness criteria as the FAA 
may find provide an equivalent level of 
safety to those parts. 

(c) An application for type certifi-

cation of a transport category aircraft 
is effective for 5 years and an applica-
tion for any other type certificate is ef-
fective for 3 years, unless an applicant 
shows at the time of application that 
his product requires a longer period of 
time for design, development, and test-
ing, and the FAA approves a longer pe-
riod. 

(d) In a case where a type certificate 

has not been issued, or it is clear that 
a type certificate will not be issued, 
within the time limit established under 
paragraph (c) of this section, the appli-
cant may— 

(1) File a new application for a type 

certificate and comply with all the pro-
visions of paragraph (a) of this section 
applicable to an original application; 
or 

(2) File for an extension of the origi-

nal application and comply with the 
applicable airworthiness requirements 
of this subchapter that were effective 
on a date, to be selected by the appli-
cant, not earlier than the date which 
precedes the date of issue of the type 
certificate by the time limit estab-
lished under paragraph (c) of this sec-
tion for the original application. 

(e) If an applicant elects to comply 

with an amendment to this subchapter 
that is effective after the filing of the 
application for a type certificate, he 
must also comply with any other 
amendment that the FAA finds is di-
rectly related. 

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