Canada may be holding back on certifying the Gulfstream 700 and 800 because they aren’t fully certified by the FAA. As we reported on Thursday, President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on Canadian aircraft and to “decertify” Canadian aircraft (not retroactively, the White House said on Friday) if Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA) didn’t immediately certify the newish business jets. The FAA allowed deliveries of the aircraft in late 2023 with an exemption to allow the company three years to show it had addressed potential issues with fuel icing. “The petitioner has requested a partial exemption from the affected sections of 14 CFR for a period of 3 years, in order to develop and conduct a full-scale test of the fuel system to show that the fuel system icing threat has been adequately mitigated for the Model GVIII-G700 and Model GVIII-G800 airplanes,” the FAA’s notice issued in December of 2023 said. The deadline to satisfy the terms of the exemption is the end of 2026.
The FAA did not respond to our email request for clarification on the president’s post or the fuel icing issue. TCCA’s press office sent us straight to the top and referred us to the official statement from Transport Minister Steven McKinnon issued Friday: “Last night, I spoke with Bombardier’s CEO, and earlier today I had a call with senior leadership at General Dynamics. We will remain in close contact. Transport Canada officials are in communication with their U.S. counterparts, and our government is actively working on this situation. Canada’s aviation industry is safe and reliable. We will stand behind it.”
On February 16, 2024, GlobalAir.com published an update on FAA Certification of the G700 and G800 business jets (Haley Davoren). In the post, Davoren correctly identified “new and novel” features of both the 700 and 800 aircraft flight control systems. “New and Novel” is another way of saying FAA regulations do not extend far enough to include such designs and “special conditions” must exist to allow continued Certification efforts to proceed.
Davoren goes on to state that EASA approved the 700 and 800 design in September 2023. This is an important milestone for those seeking FAA and TCCA approval as EASA is generally considered a “performative” approval process with a focus on form, fit, and function.
The FAA and the TCCA both are stuck with Certification of products producing “new and novel” concepts to regulations that fail to cover the scope, detail, and statistical risk assessments of traditional aircraft and aircraft system designs. To fault either for not keeping up is to misunderstand the hurdle.
Thanks for the added clarification.