Pacific Aerospace Gain Part 146 Certificate

Yesterday Flight Structures were delighted to receive the Pacific Aerospace Part 146, Design Organisation Certificate from the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand. Pacific Aerospace, Flight Structures and the CAANZ have been working on this through the last few months, including through lockdowns in the Waikato region.

Jon Kerr is the Chief Designer for Pacific Aerospace, Kyle Knight is the Programme Manager , and they are supported by a team from Flight Structures including Murray McGregor, Dave Roberts, Daniel Mossman, Basil Eldo, Hemi Jones and Adam Jones.

Regaining the Certificate is a major milestone in the progress by the new owners towards completing the Super PAC aircraft which the team are working on.

Merlin Labs Certification Milestone.

There has been an exciting announcement from Merlin Labs today, with a key step towards certification achieved with CAANZ (the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand). Flight Structures has been partnering with Merlin Labs as their Part 146 Organisation, with Daniel Mossman and Jon Kerr taking the lead for the Flight Structures part. Flight Structures has enjoyed working at the leading edge of certification on an autonomous flight project and we look forward to future stages.

Please read the linked article below for more information.

https://www.aviationtoday.com/2021/09/16/civil-aviation-authority-new-zealand-moves-toward-certification-autonomous-flight-system/

Flight Structures has Safety Management System approved....

Flight Structures is proud to announce that our system for Safety Management was approved last week. We were scheduled to have our on-site audit in April 2020 but that was delayed one year to April 2021 due to the Covid19 pandemic. We were pleased to gain this acceptance with no findings.

The advantage of the delay meant that the SMS has become embedded in our operation and culture. We are also pleased that Matthew Tighe was accepted as a Senior Person within our organisation, with responsibility for Quality and Safety matters across the organisation.

It is an important year for us, with our CAANZ 146 and 148 Certificates being up for renewal in 2021. We have passed stage one of this renewal (onsite audits of our facility and work packages), with no findings in either the design or manufacturing organisation.

Kudos needs to go to the whole team who have worked very hard to ensure we passed these important milestones, but in particular to our three Senior Persons under CAANZ, CEO and Delegate Jon Kerr, Delegate Duncan Wollen, Prototype and Manufacturing Manager Brett Purchase, and Quality and Safety Manager Matthew Tighe, who pulled it all together.

View fullsize

Flight Structures announces ongoing relationship with Pacific Aerospace.

Flight Structures has been selected to manage Pacific Aerospace’s Design Organisation. Flight Structures’ CEO Jon Kerr said “This is a fantastic opportunity to support and represent Pacific Aerospace (PAL) to CAANZ as they embark upon a rebuilding phase.  Operators of and maintainers of PAL aircraft will be able to go to FSL for repairs and modifications and receive OEM level support. “

Flight Structures Ltd is a CAANZ Certificated Part 146 Design and Part 148 Manufacturing Organisation that started in 2003.  With 17 staff including two delegates we have extensive experience working across agricultural, utility, aeromedical and General Aviation in NZ.  We specialise in aircraft design, certification and manufacturing projects.

PAL has a proud history in the Waikato dating back to 1949 with aircraft operating across the world in agricultural, skydiving, utility and training roles.  Their aircraft include the 750XL, E-350, Cresco, Fletcher and CT-4.