Definition
A formal agreement between two countries that allows their civil aviation authorities to accept each other's approvals of aeronautical products, design certifications, maintenance work, and airman certificates. It removes the need for each country to repeat the other's safety inspections and approvals from scratch.
Plain English
A deal between two countries where each one agrees to trust the other's aviation safety checks, so an aircraft, part, or repair approved in one country can be accepted in the other without being fully re-tested.
Context Anchor
Seen in discussions of imported aircraft, aircraft parts, maintenance approvals, aircraft certification, and FAA international aviation policy.
Derivation
Bilateral comes from Latin bi- (two) and latus (side) -- literally 'two-sided.' The agreement has two sides: two countries, each accepting the other's safety work.
Why Pilots Care
Reduces duplicate inspections and paperwork when operating or maintaining aircraft in partner countries, lowering cost and delay for international flights.
Grounding Statement
If an aircraft part was approved in another country, a Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement may be one reason the FAA can accept that approval instead of starting the approval process over.
Intuition Check
Do not read this as a simple agreement between two pilots, companies, or schools. Here it means an official country-to-country aviation safety agreement between national authorities.
Example Sentence 1
Because of the Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement between the United States and Canada, the FAA accepted the Canadian airworthiness approval on the imported aircraft.
Example Sentence 2
Thanks to the Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement, type certificates issued by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency are valid for import into the United States.