Certificates and limitations

 

The container with Fire harness was successfully tested within the set of tests under the program

 

FAA TSO – C23d 

 

Fire Student - Student Harness & Container System and Fire Tandem - Tandem Harness & Container System accepted for general use by

  

British Parachute Association

 

The container with Fire harness was successfully tested within the set of tests of 

  

Airtec

  

The container with Fire harness was successfully tested at the testing laboratory of the

  

Research Institute of Fiber Treatment

 

Based on the results of the above-mentioned tests the following limitations were set: 

 

Maximum gross weight (fully equipped sportsman + parachute system)	136 kg (300 Lb)
Maximum allowed deployement speed (maximum allowed speed for container opening)	309 km\h (170 knots)

 

SWS Company does not set any operation time-limits or number of jumps for the container or the harness.

Successful check-up by a competent rigger is enough to provide permission for the further use of parachute system.

SWS Company requires to check up the system at process of assembling, every time before packing the Reserve (whether the equipment was deployed or not), after cases of suffering adverse conditions (for example, after soaking in water), and regularly – once in 6 months if the regulations of country where the equipment is used do not say otherwise.

ISO 9001:2015 “Quality management systems” Certificate

 SWS Company has successfully passed the certification for compliance the quality management systems requirements ISO 9001:2015 “Quality management systems”. Notification certificate SIC.MS.040.ISO9001.176 dated 29.03.2017.

PIA Membership

In 2017 SWS company has reinstated membership at Parachute Industry Association (PIA).

Why SWS still does not have TSO

 

After having completed our Fire container design we were planning to obtain the most exact certificate of those that were available at that moment, which was TSO-C23d that could provide the access to the biggest market of the USA.

Considering that fact that the program of dropping/jumping tests was exceeded almost twice we did not expect any general issues. We contacted the Aircraft Certification Office (ACO) of the Federal Aviation Administration of the USA (FAA) and initiated the process of TSO obtaining.

To obtain TSO a manufacturer of skydiving gear should provide the following documents (in English):

- full description of the skydiving gear with all the designs, materials and manufacturing process description;

- service instruction;

- assembly instruction and limitations for assembly/compatibility;

- test protocols according to the relevant test program;

- service instruction/overhaul manual, specifying the limitations for damages/deteriorations to be replaced;

- System of quality control, outgoing control, and the tracking system of the materials employed.

After having initiated the procedure of the certificate obtaining we provided the gear to be analyzed, test protocols and the completed list of manufacturing documents. After the materials were approved an issue of manufacturing certification was brought up.

The manufacturer can be certified only if:

There is a permanent representative office of FAA located in the country of a gear manufacturer,

The country is a member of EASA,

There is a bilateral agreement between FAA and local aviation administration regarding the transfer of authority of manufacturing control to the local aviation authorities.

For the Ukraine:

1. We have never had a permanent representative office of FAA in the Ukraine and it seems impossible in the near future,

2. The Ukraine is not a member of EASA (and it seems impossible in the near future as it will require to recertify ALL the aviation equipment according to EASA standards),

3. There is no any bilateral agreement.

Thus, TSO obtaining for a manufacturer located in the Ukraine that managed to meet all the test requirements and provided all the necessary documents is not possible.

We may play a trick by establishing a subsidiary company in a country where manufacturing certification can be obtained and perform the final assembly there in situ. This is what was done by PD by commissioning the manufacturing in Honduras but they perform the control inspection and lines installation in the USA. But this is the American company with production located in the USA and with totally different facilities and budgets.

An attempt to do that is not so advantageous for a foreign manufacturer: after having provided all the formal documentation it may be possible to obtain TSO. However, should FAA have any doubts in validity of manufacturing on the controlled territory TSO may be withdrawn. This can cause some disturbance among the consumers of this type of equipment if suddenly their equipment is banned for employment (this is what happened to a Slovenian manufacturer of lightweight aircrafts Pipistrel).

After having considered the situation and possible results for our clients we decided not to take risks and to abandon our attempts to obtain TSO.

At the moment we are in the process of the European certificate obtaining and the procedure is almost completed.

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