Avionics News June 2012 - 46

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INDUSTRY PROFILE

Meet DAVID TURNBULL,
Transport Canada Director, National Aircraft Certification
B Y J O S E P H E . ( J E B ) B U R N S I D E

avid Turnbull is in charge of regulating aircraft certification for the Transport Canada Civil Aviation agency. In that role, he is responsible for establishing and enforcing certification standards for aeronautical products designed and operated in Canada, and ensuring their continued airworthiness. His responsibilities also include participating in development and implementation of various bilateral agreements and arrangements established with foreign countries or authorities, plus determining the extent to which, if any aeronautical products manufactured outside Canada may be certified. Each year, more than 1,500 new and modified aeronautical products built or operated in Canada are approved by TCCA’s National Aircraft Certification branch. He recently participated in a Q&A with Avionics News to help the AEA membership learn more about his work. What is your background: hometown, education, previous positions? My family lived in Ridgetown, Ontario, which is about halfway between London and Windsor, when I was born in 1964. At the age of 5 months, my father, a civil engineer specializing in agricultural engineering – farm structures – took a job with the federal government’s Department of Agriculture in Ottawa. I grew up in the Ottawa area, where I attended Carleton University. In 1987, I graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering, focusing on aeronautics and turbomachinery. I was recruited from the university to work for Ontario Hydro Nuclear Division and spent three years at the Pickering Nuclear Station, with engineering responsibilities for various station systems. I then made the move to the aeronautical industry to take a position at Pratt & Whitney Canada where
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I worked in experimental engineering – building and testing engine component rigs for aerodynamic data collection. In 1992, I returned to Ottawa to join Transport Canada as a powerplants engineer in the Aircraft Certification Branch in Civil Aviation. I held several positions, including Aircraft Certification Project Management team in 1998, chief of the Project Management Division in 2005 and became director of National Aircraft Certification in October 2009. When you began your career, what was your ideal job? I wanted to make use of my engineering knowledge. Having a particular interest in aircraft and aeronautics in general throughout my schooling made it somewhat inevitable that my first full-time job would be in that field. What is your role in Canada’s aircraft certification process? As director of the National Aircraft Certification Branch for Transport Canada Civil Aviation, my team is responsible for the type certification and continuing airworthiness surveillance of aeronautical products produced by Bombardier Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney Canada, Bell Helicopter Textron Canada and CMC Esterline Electronics. These companies are considered the four large aeronautical product enterprises in Canada. We also conduct initial type certification and continuing airworthiness oversight of foreign aeronautical product type designs. Additionally, we provide engineering, flight test, project management and continuing airworthiness support to Transport Canada Civil Aviation’s Regional Aircraft Certification offices as well as subject matter expertise support to the Standards Branch here in Ottawa. The aerospace industry in Canada is experiencing unprecedented growth. Annual sales of Canadian aerospace

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2012

Avionics News June 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News June 2012