Certification Standards
Certification standards applicable to the airworthiness of an aircraft contain many requirements. Some of these requirements can only be met by specifying a maximum weight for the aircraft, and demonstrating that the aircraft can meet the requirement at all weights up to, and including, the specified maximum. These requirements include:
- structural requirements – to ensure the aircraft structure is capable of withstanding all the loads likely to be imposed on it during maneuvering by the pilot, and gusts experienced in turbulent atmospheric conditions.
- performance requirements – to ensure the aircraft is capable of climbing at an adequate gradient with all its engines operating; and also with one engine inoperative.
At the MTOW, all aircraft of a type and model must be capable of complying with all these certification requirements.
Read more about this topic: Maximum Takeoff Weight
Famous quotes containing the word standards:
“A generation which has passed through the shop has absorbed standards and ambitions which are not of those of spaciousness, and cannot get away from them. Everything with them is done as though for sale, and they naturally have in view the greatest possible benefit, profit and that end of the stuff that will make the best show.”
—Alexander Herzen (1812–1870)