Now when it comes to commercial aircraft, everyone knows that airworthiness certification is a threshold level certificate. Only by obtaining this certificate can commercial aircraft have the basic qualifications to enter commercial operations. To pass airworthiness certification, a large number of ground and flight tests must be completed, a considerable number of them are risk subjects. But time has gone back a hundred years. Have you ever seen the airworthiness certificate at that time? I guess many people will shake their heads. That's right, you heard it right. The United States began airworthiness certification a hundred years ago. However, the certification work at that time was relatively simple, not professional and standardized, and there was no strict scientific theories and experimental means to support it. However, this is not the most bizarre thing. The most bizarre thing is that these certifications are not carried out by government agencies, but are done by a commercial company called Underwriters’ Laboratories (UL), which is translated into Chinese and is "insurer lab."
Although Wright brothers completed the first continuous controllable flight of human power in 1903, human commercial transportation operations came late after more than 10 years. In 1921, the total number of civilian aircraft pilots in the entire United States was about 1,200. In that year, the United States did not have FAA (FAA), so there was no organization to manage private flight activities. This situation is not a problem in the era of personal adventure and exploratory flight. Anyway, life and death are all the business of the pilots themselves, but once commercial transportation operations have an industrialization trend, this anarchy becomes a big problem.
With the aviation technology level at that time, the occurrence of safety accidents will cause a catastrophe to air transport companies. If airlines want to operate, they must try to reduce the inherent risks of . Therefore, airline companies came to insurance companies and asked the latter to provide commercial insurance for air transport activities. Of course, insurance companies want to make money, but according to the insurance business logic, there are no basic statistics for reference for the newly born commercial aviation activities, and insurance companies do not understand the technical problems and risk factors behind commercial aviation, so they have no way to determine how dangerous the flight is. To put it bluntly, insurance companies cannot evaluate the balance between premiums and claims, and they cannot confirm whether the underwriting is a blessing or a disaster for them.
In 1920, the National Aircraft Underwriters Association (NAUA) found the insurer lab for help. UL was founded in 1894. It is an old-fashioned product safety certification enterprise with many professional knowledge in engineering and technology fields, and should be able to solve this problem. As early as a few years ago, UL developed technical means to assess vehicle risks for the National Automobile Underwriters Conference, thus establishing its technical reputation in the field of transportation safety.
Aircraft registration certificate issued by UL in 1922. Many aircraft-related technical information need to be filled in above.
Soon, UL gave its own solution, which is to review and register the insured aircraft. In July 1920, NAUA formally decided to adopt the "services provided by the insurance commercial laboratory in aircraft inspection and the establishment of appropriate (aircraft) manufacturing standards." Since July 1921, all members of NAUA unanimously agreed that any aircraft that insured fire, theft, impact, stranding and sinking in the NAUA member unit in the United States must first be registered with UL. Therefore, UL became an institution that protects the insurance industry of American Airlines . This move actually gave UL the opportunity to provide registration and certification services for aircraft. Later, pilot registration work was also included - the insurance industry only accepts insurance requirements for qualified aircraft and qualified pilots. In August 1921, UL issued a booklet called "Aviation Code", which is also the first text material in the United States on the basic norms of civil aircraft.
On July 1, 1921, UL officially established the aviation business department, which is specifically responsible for aircraft registration business.From 1921 to 1925, UL Aviation Division registered 47 pilots, which hoped to exclude unqualified pilots from air transport through registration activities, ensuring that pilots who are unable to be identified as able to safely operate the aircraft will not be given commercial insurance.
1921 registration certificate issued by UL to pilots, and this certificate is valid for 12 months.
UL Before the certification work was involved, insurance companies had many risks to the insurance actions of pilots and aircraft. Insurance companies usually ask the pilot to fill out a situation description. However, pilots are not so honest when filling out their flight experiences, and insurance companies cannot confirm the authenticity of their reported content. Many pilots will try to fill in it in a more beneficial way. They will inflate the number of flight hours, conceal flight accidents, or rewrite their flight records, so that they can get insurance services more easily.
and in UL, the situation changes. Applicants are required to submit a very detailed flight history report. These include the number of flight hours, nature of flight (private flight or commercial flight), aviation school situation, wartime experience, whether there is any aerobatic flight experience, accident situation, etc. Applicants also need to undergo medical examinations to confirm that the eyes, heart, lungs and other organs are in good health. Finally, the applicant must provide two certifiers from the aviation industry, and UL will write a letter to ask whether the applicant is honest and reliable. Only after receiving a positive reply can the application be confirmed to be valid. Pilots who meet all the conditions will receive a registration certificate, valid for one year. Once an accident occurs in a pilot during flight, the registration certificate will be invalid immediately.
1921-1925, UL also provided registration for 44 aircraft. Each aircraft will receive a certificate that will be valid throughout the life of the aircraft. The aircraft will also obtain a 5-digit registration number, sprayed on both sides of the fuselage. Aircraft registration applicants need to provide information such as the aircraft owner, pilot and manufacturer. The technical parameters of the aircraft, such as weight, fuel carrying capacity, wingspan, rated speed and instrumentation status. Aircraft registration requires a $5 handling fee, because the registration certificate is very long, and this money is equivalent to the file storage placeholding fee.
Aircraft registered with UL will receive a five-letter registration code
1921/1922, UL also formulated the "Airworthiness Certificate Plan". This program is one step further than simply registering aircraft and pilots, and has actually entered the core task of airworthiness testing and certifying aircraft safety. The plan stipulates that aircraft applying for airworthiness certification must undergo certified flights once a year, and are inspected by aviation engineers sent by UL to confirm that they are stable in mechanical and structural performance. UL employs 33 prosecutors to provide certification services nationwide.
The inspection of airworthiness certification is strict and meticulous: UL assigned aviation engineers will conduct a comprehensive inspection of the aircraft, then fill out a 17-page document to evaluate the performance of each component and system of the aircraft. The pilot then needs to fly the plane to perform a demonstration flight for the inspector, who will keep watching on the ground for safety reasons. During flight, the pilot needs to observe his airspeed, oil pressure, water temperature and other working data. If the aircraft meets the conditions, a temporary airworthiness certificate will be issued immediately (valid for 30 days). When all inspection reports are approved, UL will issue a formal airworthiness certificate, which is valid for 12 months. However, UL's airworthiness certification business is not as successful as aircraft and pilot registration work - from 1922 to 1925, only 11 aircraft passed the airworthiness certification. Temporary airworthiness certificate issued by
UL, valid for 30 days. The aviation division of
UL did not exist for a long time, and lasted from 1921 to 1925. The reason why ended was not surprising: at that time, people were increasingly aware that no matter how UL's aviation registration and certification activities were standardized, the US government needed to directly intervene in the management of commercial aviation activities, so that this industry could have greater room for development.To develop commercial aviation, the United States needs to build many routes and airports, and also formulate compulsory air traffic regulations. , and these are obviously not something that UL can do independently.
1922 Airworthiness Certificate issued by UL to Astel's Luoning Aircraft in
1924 Airworthiness Certificate issued by UL to Boeing Seaplane. If you look at the above content carefully, you will find many important historical information.
In 1926, the U.S. Congress passed the Federal Aviation Business Act, which is the historical "Aviation Act of 1926". The core content of the bill is to establish an Aeronautics Branch in the Department of Commerce to manage commercial aviation affairs in the United States. This aviation branch has changed several times and became the later Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
UL's exploratory work in aircraft and pilot registration and aircraft airworthiness certification has a special status in history because this technology-based enterprise is ahead of the US government. In these tasks, UL's philosophy is not much different from today, it is to strive to create a safer and more effective commercial aviation operation environment. However, the full implementation of this concept can only be implemented by authoritative public institutions such as the government, and cannot be implemented by commercial enterprises.
