Turkey Discusses Airworthiness Certification for Indigenous Air Platforms

STM General Manager Mr. Davut Yılmaz made the opening remark of the event organized again by STM and stated that the certification issue that stood for “airworthiness” in aviation was still regarded as a problem and added that they have been taking concrete steps to overcome this issue. Mr. Yılmaz said, “Vecihi Hürkuş built his own aircraft through his own resources and managed to fly it approximately eighty years ago. Then he applied to the relevant authority known as the ministry of economy for the certification of that aircraft. The ministry declined his approval for there were not enough personnel capable of coping with the technical capabilities of the aircraft and Hürkuş had to go to former Czechoslovakia. Thus, the certificate was granted by the Czechoslovakian authorities before Turkey. Actually, this problem has not been solved since the Vecihi Hürkuş’ case. Despite the last 85 years, we are still regarding certification as an issue and discussing it. On this very point, we have to initially criticize ourselves as a country; from the private sector to governmental organizations, from universities to private training centers. We may use the deceleration, halt and sometimes retardation of the developments in aviation during the last 85 years as an answer to the criticisms. Yet, the developments in this area, especially in the last ten years, give us no excuses. A little time is remaining regarding the numerous aerospace platforms such as the regional aircraft project that started recently, or is about to start soon, the Indigenous Fighter Jet Project, “Anka” and Hürkuş” and the eco-system of the private sector, government and universities have to take immediate and concrete actions to this end. Actually, the term ‘concrete steps’ is the keyword here”.

All institutions should be organized and systematic

Mr. Davut Yılmaz underlined that “human resources” was the keystone of the aviation eco-system and continued: “Focusing of all the shareholders on this issue is of vital essence. As STM, we are currently providing services to the sector with our engineers who are also certification experts. We aim to increase the number of our engineers who are experts on certification by fifty percent within the next year. Meanwhile, we started trainings at the STM Academy. With in 2016, we will be offering training in 40 different areas by our experts on certification. Offering training on 40 different areas of certification is a severe attempt and service. Still, this initiative we take as STM is not sufficient. Many more institutions, associations and universities’ approach to this issue in an organized and systematic manner is required”.

Civil Aviation General Manager Mr. Bilal Ekşi pointed out that Turkey was considered amongst the most rapidly growing countries in the airway arena in recent years. Mr. Ekşi mentioned that this development has assigned additional tasks to the sector and stressed the need of the sector’s existence not merely as a consumer but also as a manufacturer. Mr. Ekşi expressed that the military and civil aviation projects transformed the certification studies/activities to a requirement and added that with the certificates granted in Turkey, it was possible to fly all around the globe, yet regarding the commercial context, the international certificates were still required. Mr. Ekşi stated that there were no legal deficiencies in the legislative infrastructure considering the certification subject although improvement in technical competence was still required.

Deputy Undersecretary for the Defence Industries Dr. Celal Sami Tüfekçi stated that as the main focus was on the immediate accomplishment of the helicopter and aircraft platforms, the certification subject was neglected and thus the development in civil aviation still did not reach the sufficient level. Dr. Tüfekçi insisted that the same amount of time and effort should be given to the certification process, as much as the design process and said that even though national certificates were deemed sufficient for flying, international certificates were still regarded as essential for the exports that are considered to be the cornerstone of the development of the industry.