Airplane Projects

Having been involved in the majority of significant propulsion system installation projects undertaken in Canada this century, both as a Transport Canada National Aircraft Certification technical expert and as an Industry Consultant, manager, and employee, our DAR, Chris Baczynski, stands ready to help YOU!

Certified Sep 2023 AVD Turbo-Beaver

The Avionnerie Valdor (AVD) Turbo-Beaver was derived from the venerable DHC-2 Beaver bush plane. It combines a clean-sheet design engine installation based on the reliable PT6A-34 engine, a new glass-cockpit Engine Indicating and Crew Alerting System (EICAS), a "wet" wing design, modified empennage, Wipline 6100 amphibious floats, and a host of other secondary changes.

BAC Aerospace was responsible for the propulsion work package and, halfway through the project, took on the role of multidisciplinary integration and program management. Partners included DECA Aviation Engineering, SDC Consulting, and Avionics Design Services.

Bombardier Global Express

Chris began his career at Bombardier in 1997, during the crucial final phase of the original Global Express certification process, before moving to the Dash 8-400 team following the completion of the Global Express work.

He returned to the program, this time working at TCCA, by taking over the Transport Canada Powerplant oversight of the Global Express platform in early 2010. Projects during his tenure included the Global Vision Flight Deck, the Steep Approach project, and engine and engine software improvements on the Global 5000 and 6000 aircraft.

Bombardier Global 7500

From the beginning of the certification process until mid-2017, Chris was the lead Transport Canada engineering specialist for the APU installation, acoustic certification, and fire detection and extinguishing system (FIDEX) top-level integration, as well as #2 specialist for the engine installation on the Global 7500.

In addition to the usual oversight of engineering substantiation and testing, he has worked closely with EASA and FAA to facilitate concurrent validation of this aircraft in US and European jurisdictions.

Bombardier Challenger 350

Chris was Transport Canada engineering lead for the propulsion area (engine installation & integration) of the program for its entire duration, overseeing and working closely with the Bombardier team developing the aircraft. He was the TCCA approver of the major analyses and testing as part of Transport Canada Level Of Involvement, including engine-airframe integration testing performed at Honeywell Aerospace.

He was also responsible for oversight of post-certification changes to the predecessor aircraft, Challenger 300.

Mitsubishi Regional Jet (Spacejet)

Taking a sabbatical from Transport Canada, Chris deployed to Nagoya, Japan, for 2 years to work on the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ), returning to TCCA in September 2019.

At Mitsubishi, Chris worked as an engineering manager and aircraft certification Compliance Expert, leading certification activities of the 60-people "fire team". The scope included powerplant and cabin FIDEX systems, as well as aircraft level fire protection of structure and systems. He also became a delegate with Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB), under the Mitsubishi design approval organization.

New General Aviation Aircraft

As one of National Aircraft Certification experts with prior industry experience in both large transport and general aviation, Chris has been assigned as a lead propulsion specialist on some innovative general aviation aircraft.

Seeing first-hand the difficulties these companies encountered making their design certifiable to the point of abandoning their efforts in Canada, prompted Chris to return to the industry side in 2020 as a Design Approval Representative (DAR), in order to guide and help similar efforts achieve successful type certification of their designs.

Airbus A220 (Bombardier C-series)

The biggest aircraft certification program undertaken on Canadian soil, Airbus A220 was originally certified as the Bombardier C-series.

Starting with the Initial Type Board in 2009, Chris was originally the #3 TCCA propulsion specialist for the first 2 years of the program, before moving on to head several major programs on his own.

He later returned to support the C-series, lending help, supporting and witnessing fire testing.

Embraer Legacy 500 & 450

Chris was a part of the Transport Canada team charged with certification of this Brazilian-origin aircraft in Canada (Level 3 foreign validation), personally responsible for the propulsion, acoustics, and auxiliary power unit disciplines.

In the process, he has developed excellent working relations with the Brazilian regulatory authorities and technical experts. After having worked out issues associated with regulatory interpretation differences between TCCA and ANAC, Canada accepted the type design of Legacy in December of 2016.

Post-certification Modifications

Throughout his tenure with Transport Canada, Chris was also charged with oversight of numerous design modifications affecting the powerplant area. These fall under 3 distinct categories:

Various modifications undertaken by major OEMs to their products
Technical review of 3rd party large STC programs
Providing support and technical guidance to Regional TCCA airworthiness engineers working on smaller scope STCs

Canadian Certification of Foreign Aircraft Designs

As per international agreements between Transport Canada, FAA, and EASA, large transport aircraft designed in the USA or Europe do not get automatic approval in Canada. Instead, they are subject to a Level 2 foreign validation process, which includes a long and detailed engineering examination of their design, with a key focus on the areas of risk and emerging issues..

Chris has been assigned as the powerplant specialist validating Hawker 4000 and Saab 2000 propulsion installations, as well as Boeing 737MAX engine type design.

Various STC Projects

Prior to his tenure with TCCA, Chris worked as a consultant and aerospace engineering service provider, co-founder of Phoenix Aero Aviation Engineering Ltd. (2003), and later operating as his own company Pirx Aerospace, until 2009.

During that timeframe alone, he had worked on 90 STC projects in technical fields, including propulsion, structures and cabin interior changes. Approximately half of these projects were fixed-wing aircraft, ranging from small Cessnas and Beechcraft, through business jets, all the way to large transports like Dornier DO-328 and Airbus A330.

Orenda Engine Air Tractor AT-401 STC

Chris has worked for Orenda Recip Inc., as part of the company's in-house engineering applications team, developing and certifying new propulsion system installations based on the Orenda OE600A liquid-cooled piston V8 engine.

The first of these, OE600A-engined Air Tractor AT-401 received Transport Canada STC and FAA STC.

Later, both the engine program and the Air Tractor STC were sold to Trace Engines LP, based in Midland, Texas.

Orenda DHC-2 Beaver Re-engining Program

One of the most promising of the Orenda in-house projects was the OE600-engined DHC-2 Beaver. As was the case for several other Orenda aircraft programs, Chris worked on design engineering, aircraft-engine integration, engineering analysis and airworthiness substantiation.

The design was completed, and the prototype aircraft build was nearly finished by April 2003, when Magellan Aerospace (Orenda's parent company) decided to liquidate and sell the entire engine program and stop all STC work, citing post-9/11 changes in the industry.

Other Orenda Engine Change Programs

Other Orenda Recip in-house aircraft STC programs that Chris worked on include:

OE600A engine installation on the King Air C90

OE600A engine installation on Chinese Hongdu N5B, with the firewall forward design outsourced by the aircraft OEM to Orenda

Design of the mechanical engine controls system for the OE600-engine Vickers Vimy transatlantic flight

Support to other Orenda Recip customer prospects, including the TAI Ziu and the Zlin Z400 Rhino

Unfortunately, the decision to liquidate the engine program to make space for additional F404 fighter engine MRO capacity effectively put an end to all the promising Orenda programs, somewhat reminiscent of the cancellation of the Avro Arrow aircraft and its Orenda Iroquois engine.

Airbus A330
Beechcraft 1900C
Beechcraft 1900D
Beechcraft Super King Air B200
Bombardier Challenger 601
Cessna 172 Skyhawk
Cessna C208 Caravan
Cessna C501 Citation

Other Aircraft Worked On

Dasault Falcon 10
Dassault Falcon 7X
Dassault Falcon 900
Dassault Falcon 900EX
de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter
de Havilland Canada DHC-8-400
Dornier DO-328-300
Hawker 4000

Hawker Beechjet 400
Hawker Beechjet 400A
IAI 1125 Westwind Astra
Piper Aerostar 601P
Piper PA-28 Cherokee
Piper PA-39 Twin Comanche
Saab 2000

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