Canada’s Transport Minister, Steven McKinnon, says he’ll let aviation regulators on both sides of the border sort out a certification spate between the FAA and Transport Canada concerning Gulfstream’s new flagship aircraft. President Donald Trump threatened to “decertify” new Canadian-built aircraft and/or assess a 50% tariff on them in retaliation for Transport Canada’s failure to so far certify the G500, G600, G700, and G800. The 500 and 600 were certified in the U.S. in 2019. The 700 and 800 received conditional certification by the FAA in 2025, but the company must prove it has addressed potential fuel icing issues by the end of this year. The aircraft are flying on an exemption in the meantime. It’s not clear if that exemption also applies to the 500 and 600. Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Melanie Jolie, said Transport Canada’s certification process is “well under way,” but that’s apparently not fast enough for FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford.
Speaking to reporters at the Singapore Air Show, Bedford suggested other countries should accept FAA certifications essentially without question, including any exemptions it may extend. He further hinted there might be commercial factors at play rather than safety considerations. “Our concern is whether or not sufficient resources are being applied to U.S. products equal to the resources that we’re applying to certify foreign products,” Bedford said. “So we just want a level playing field.” Bedford didn’t say if the FAA intends to withhold certification of new aircraft coming into Canada. The agency recently certified the Bombardier Global 8000, the G800’s chief rival, after Transport Canada issued an unconditional certification in late November.
“Bedford suggested other countries should accept FAA certifications essentially without question”
Well we saw how well that went with the 737 MAX
—
Has Bedford ever practiced CRM? It’s called “trust but verify”….
Like a good puppy, Bedford does what he is told.
One issue the FAA and TCCA had to work through is highlighted in FAA Docket No. FAA-2023-2441; Special Conditions No. 25-853-SC:
“The Gulfstream Model GVIII-G700 and GVIII-G800 airplanes will incorporate the following novel or unusual design feature:
A high-incidence protection system that limits the angle of attack at which the airplane can be flown during normal low speed operation, prohibits the airplane from stalling, and cannot be overridden by the flightcrew. The application of this angle of attack limit influences the stall speed determination, stall characteristics, stall warning demonstration, and the longitudinal handling characteristics of the airplane. Existing airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate standards to address this feature.”
This, and similar design challenges incorporated in the 700 and 800 series airplanes, require a high level of cooperation and collaboration between Certifying entities to find a path forward that is safe, fundamentally sound by design, redundant, and offers a reasonable risk profile. To sweep any of this, and the myriad of other equally important new and novel technologies, into a transactional Certification process ignores the purpose of consensus and compromises safety protocols.
Equality of effort on both sides is certainly a reasonable expectation, but it takes the FAA, by its own admission, a minimum of 10 years to write or modify a prescriptive regulation. Introduce “new and novel” concepts in primary control features, as an example, and it will be longer. To expect other Certifying entities to accept what we ourselves have yet to fully settle seems reckless.
Strangely enough, there is a level playing field. It is defined by regulations. It’s the FAA who have dug up one side of the pitch.