General Civil Aviation Authority issues Validation Certificate of A380 to Airbus

The GCAA started validating foreign Type Certificates for Aircraft in Year 2006. The Type Acceptance of Airbus A380-800 was the biggest project of its kind obviously due to size and complexity of the aircraft.

The Type Validation effort of A380-800 started in year 2007 and was headed by Mr. Ismaeil Al Balooshi, Chief of Airworthiness with teams from Airworthiness, Flight Operations and Aerodrome Standards in the GCAA. The GCAA team worked closely with Airbus and EASA (European Aviation Safety Authority) to achieve validation of A380-800 Type Certificate in the UAE.

Commenting on the significance of the issuing the Type Acceptance Certificate to Airbus, H.E Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, Director General of GCAA said on this occasion:

"We are honored to be part of the historical delivery of A380 to Emirates Airline, the GCAA and EASA teams jointly completed Cabin Compliance Inspection of the first A380-800 delivered to Emirates Airlines."

"The main objective of certification is to ensure safe operation of such aircrafts and to demonstrate that the safety level of the aircraft and its different versions (including the definition, manufacturing and assembly) satisfies under all operating conditions defined by the regulator," he added.

During the course of Type Validation, various technical aspects of the aircraft were reviewed for compliance with the UAE requirements. As part of the Type Validation exercise the GCAA staff acquired necessary training for effective in service support of the aircraft.