This subject, even as it applies to those areas which are the direct or partial responsibility of the test pilot, is a comprehensive one, and it is not intended to embrace it completely. Specifically this paper will touch only on the area in which the pilot is principally involved. Further, it is not the intention to catalogue the tests required for certification or to describe all of them in detail, but rather to discuss the whole certification process in more general terms.

The purpose of Certification is to establish a minimum safety standard, but when forming that standard, sight cannot be lost of the feasibility of achieving it, both practically and commercially. Inevitably, therefore, the discussions or arguments that arise over establishing the standards against which aircraft are going to be assessed must centre around the problem of where the balance between safety and cost should be struck. As previously implied, absolute safety is not only probably impossible to achieve, but quite clearly commercially impractical. The constructor's task must be, therefore, a process of resolving the often conflicting ideas of the various bodies and agencies that attempt to define the “balance” and within that definition offer a commercially attractive aircraft. If he strays widely from the prevailing definition, even in the interests of increased safety, he is in danger of pricing himself out of business. This fact is rather obvious, but no excuse is given for stating it since it is thought to be so fundamental to the subject under discussion, and one that is often overlooked, particularly perhaps by those who are not so involved with the day-to-day operation of aircraft.