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133 

Federal Aviation Administration, DOT 

§ 21.3 

(1) 

Airworthiness approval means a 

document, issued by the FAA for an 
aircraft, aircraft engine, propeller, or 
article, which certifies that the air-
craft, aircraft engine, propeller, or ar-
ticle conforms to its approved design 
and is in a condition for safe operation, 
unless otherwise specified; 

(2) 

Article  means a material, part, 

component, process, or appliance; 

(3) 

Commercial part means an article 

that is listed on an FAA-approved 
Commercial Parts List included in a 
design approval holder’s Instructions 
for Continued Airworthiness required 
by § 21.50; 

(4) 

Design approval means a type cer-

tificate (including amended and supple-
mental type certificates) or the ap-
proved design under a PMA, TSO au-
thorization, letter of TSO design ap-
proval, or other approved design; 

(5) 

Interface component means an arti-

cle that serves as a functional interface 
between an aircraft and an aircraft en-
gine, an aircraft engine and a propeller, 
or an aircraft and a propeller. An inter-
face component is designated by the 
holder of the type certificate or the 
supplemental type certificate who con-
trols the approved design data for that 
article; 

(6) 

Product means an aircraft, aircraft 

engine, or propeller; 

(7) 

Production approval means a docu-

ment issued by the FAA to a person 
that allows the production of a product 
or article in accordance with its ap-
proved design and approved quality 
system, and can take the form of a pro-
duction certificate, a PMA, or a TSO 
authorization; 

(8) 

State of Design means the country 

or jurisdiction having regulatory au-
thority over the organization respon-
sible for the design and continued air-
worthiness of a civil aeronautical prod-
uct or article; 

(9) 

State of Manufacture means the 

country or jurisdiction having regu-
latory authority over the organization 
responsible for the production and air-
worthiness of a civil aeronautical prod-
uct or article. 

(10) 

Supplier  means a person at any 

tier in the supply chain who provides a 
product, article, or service that is used 
or consumed in the design or manufac-

ture of, or installed on, a product or ar-
ticle. 

[Doc. No. FAA–2006–25877, Amdt. 21–92, 74 FR 
53384, Oct. 16, 2009; Doc. No. FAA–2013–0933, 
Amdt. 21–98, 80 FR 59031, Oct. 1, 2015; Amdt. 
21–98A, 80 FR 59031, Dec. 17, 2015; Docket 
FAA–2015–0150, Amdt. 21–99, 81 FR 42207, June 
28, 2016; Docket FAA–2018–1087, Amdt. 21–105, 
86 FR 4381, Jan. 15, 2021] 

§ 21.2

Falsification of applications, re-

ports, or records. 

(a) A person may not make or cause 

to be made— 

(1) Any fraudulent, intentionally 

false, or misleading statement on any 
application for a certificate or ap-
proval under this part; 

(2) Any fraudulent, intentionally 

false, or misleading statement in any 
record or report that is kept, made, or 
used to show compliance with any re-
quirement of this part; 

(3) Any reproduction for a fraudulent 

purpose of any certificate or approval 
issued under this part. 

(4) Any alteration of any certificate 

or approval issued under this part. 

(b) The commission by any person of 

an act prohibited under paragraph (a) 
of this section is a basis for— 

(1) Denying issuance of any certifi-

cate or approval under this part; and 

(2) Suspending or revoking any cer-

tificate or approval issued under this 
part and held by that person. 

[Doc. No. 23345, 57 FR 41367, Sept. 9, 1992, as 
amended by Amdt. 21–92, 74 FR 53384, Oct. 16, 
2009; Amdt. 21–92A, 75 FR 9095, Mar. 1, 2010] 

§ 21.3

Reporting of failures, malfunc-

tions, and defects. 

(a) The holder of a type certificate 

(including amended or supplemental 
type certificates), a PMA, or a TSO au-
thorization, or the licensee of a type 
certificate must report any failure, 
malfunction, or defect in any product 
or article manufactured by it that it 
determines has resulted in any of the 
occurrences listed in paragraph (c) of 
this section. 

(b) The holder of a type certificate 

(including amended or supplemental 
type certificates), a PMA, or a TSO au-
thorization, or the licensee of a type 
certificate must report any defect in 
any product or article manufactured by 
it that has left its quality system and 

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134 

14 CFR Ch. I (1–1–24 Edition) 

§ 21.3 

that it determines could result in any 
of the occurrences listed in paragraph 
(c) of this section. 

(c) The following occurrences must 

be reported as provided in paragraphs 
(a) and (b) of this section: 

(1) Fires caused by a system or equip-

ment failure, malfunction, or defect. 

(2) An engine exhaust system failure, 

malfunction, or defect which causes 
damage to the engine, adjacent aircraft 
structure, equipment, or components. 

(3) The accumulation or circulation 

of toxic or noxious gases in the crew 
compartment or passenger cabin. 

(4) A malfunction, failure, or defect 

of a propeller control system. 

(5) A propeller or rotorcraft hub or 

blade structural failure. 

(6) Flammable fluid leakage in areas 

where an ignition source normally ex-
ists. 

(7) A brake system failure caused by 

structural or material failure during 
operation. 

(8) A significant aircraft primary 

structural defect or failure caused by 
any autogenous condition (fatigue, un-
derstrength, corrosion, etc.). 

(9) Any abnormal vibration or buf-

feting caused by a structural or system 
malfunction, defect, or failure. 

(10) An engine failure. 
(11) Any structural or flight control 

system malfunction, defect, or failure 
which causes an interference with nor-
mal control of the aircraft for which 
derogates the flying qualities. 

(12) A complete loss of more than one 

electrical power generating system or 
hydraulic power system during a given 
operation of the aircraft. 

(13) A failure or malfunction of more 

than one attitude, airspeed, or altitude 
instrument during a given operation of 
the aircraft. 

(d) The requirements of paragraph (a) 

of this section do not apply to— 

(1) Failures, malfunctions, or defects 

that the holder of a type certificate 
(including amended or supplemental 
type certificates), PMA, TSO author-
ization, or the licensee of a type cer-
tificate determines— 

(i) Were caused by improper mainte-

nance or use; 

(ii) Were reported to the FAA by an-

other person under this chapter; or 

(iii) Were reported under the accident 

reporting provisions of 49 CFR part 830 
of the regulations of the National 
Transportation Safety Board. 

(2) Failures, malfunctions, or defects 

in products or articles— 

(i) Manufactured by a foreign manu-

facturer under a U.S. type certificate 
issued under § 21.29 or under an ap-
proval issued under § 21.621; or 

(ii) Exported to the United States 

under § 21.502. 

(e) Each report required by this sec-

tion— 

(1) Must be made to the FAA within 

24 hours after it has determined that 
the failure, malfunction, or defect re-
quired to be reported has occurred. 
However, a report that is due on a Sat-
urday or a Sunday may be delivered on 
the following Monday and one that is 
due on a holiday may be delivered on 
the next workday; 

(2) Must be transmitted in a manner 

and form acceptable to the FAA and by 
the most expeditious method available; 
and 

(3) Must include as much of the fol-

lowing information as is available and 
applicable: 

(i) The applicable product and article 

identification information required by 
part 45 of this chapter; 

(ii) Identification of the system in-

volved; and 

(iii) Nature of the failure, malfunc-

tion, or defect. 

(f) If an accident investigation or 

service difficulty report shows that a 
product or article manufactured under 
this part is unsafe because of a manu-
facturing or design data defect, the 
holder of the production approval for 
that product or article must, upon re-
quest of the FAA, report to the FAA 
the results of its investigation and any 
action taken or proposed by the holder 
of that production approval to correct 
that defect. If action is required to cor-
rect the defect in an existing product 

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135 

Federal Aviation Administration, DOT 

§ 21.4 

or article, the holder of that produc-
tion approval must send the data nec-
essary for issuing an appropriate air-
worthiness directive to the FAA. 

[Amdt. 21–36, 35 FR 18187, Nov. 28, 1970, as 
amended by Amdt. 21–37, 35 FR 18450, Dec. 4, 
1970; Amdt. 21–50, 45 FR 38346, June 9, 1980; 
Amdt. 21–67, 54 FR 39291, Sept. 25, 1989; Amdt. 
21–92, 74 FR 53385, Oct. 16, 2009; Doc. No. 
FAA–2018–0119, Amdt. 21–101, 83 FR 9169, Mar. 
5, 2018] 

§ 21.4

ETOPS reporting requirements. 

(a) 

Early ETOPS: reporting, tracking, 

and resolving problems. The holder of a 
type certificate for an airplane-engine 
combination approved using the Early 
ETOPS method specified in part 25, Ap-
pendix K, of this chapter must use a 
system for reporting, tracking, and re-
solving each problem resulting in one 
of the occurrences specified in para-
graph (a)(6) of this section. 

(1) The system must identify how the 

type certificate holder will promptly 
identify problems, report them to the 
responsible Aircraft Certification Serv-
ice office, and propose a solution to the 
FAA to resolve each problem. A pro-
posed solution must consist of— 

(i) A change in the airplane or engine 

type design; 

(ii) A change in a manufacturing 

process; 

(iii) A change in an operating or 

maintenance procedure; or 

(iv) Any other solution acceptable to 

the FAA. 

(2) For an airplane with more than 

two engines, the system must be in 
place for the first 250,000 world fleet en-
gine-hours for the approved airplane- 
engine combination. 

(3) For two-engine airplanes, the sys-

tem must be in place for the first 
250,000 world fleet engine-hours for the 
approved airplane-engine combination 
and after that until— 

(i) The world fleet 12-month rolling 

average IFSD rate is at or below the 
rate required by paragraph (b)(2) of this 
section; and 

(ii) The FAA determines that the 

rate is stable. 

(4) For an airplane-engine combina-

tion that is a derivative of an airplane- 
engine combination previously ap-
proved for ETOPS, the system need 
only address those problems specified 
in the following table, provided the 
type certificate holder obtains prior 
authorization from the FAA: 

If the change does not require a new airplane type certificate 

and . . . 

Then the Problem Tracking and Resolution System must ad-

dress . . . 

(i) Requires a new engine type certificate ..................................

All problems applicable to the new engine installation, and for 

the remainder of the airplane, problems in changed systems 
only. 

(ii) Does not require a new engine type certificate .....................

Problems in changed systems only. 

(5) The type certificate holder must 

identify the sources and content of 
data that it will use for its system. The 
data must be adequate to evaluate the 
specific cause of any in-service problem 
reportable under this section or § 21.3(c) 
that could affect the safety of ETOPS. 

(6) In implementing this system, the 

type certificate holder must report the 
following occurrences: 

(i) IFSDs, except planned IFSDs per-

formed for flight training. 

(ii) For two-engine airplanes, IFSD 

rates. 

(iii) Inability to control an engine or 

obtain desired thrust or power. 

(iv) Precautionary thrust or power 

reductions. 

(v) Degraded ability to start an en-

gine in flight. 

(vi) Inadvertent fuel loss or unavail-

ability, or uncorrectable fuel imbal-
ance in flight. 

(vii) Turn backs or diversions for fail-

ures, malfunctions, or defects associ-
ated with an ETOPS group 1 signifi-
cant system. 

(viii) Loss of any power source for an 

ETOPS group 1 significant system, in-
cluding any power source designed to 
provide backup power for that system. 

(ix) Any event that would jeopardize 

the safe flight and landing of the air-
plane on an ETOPS flight. 

(x) Any unscheduled engine removal 

for a condition that could result in one 

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