Company Overview

Vision

At DART Aerospace, we strive to become the leader in aerospace mission-critical equipment, related services and replacement parts and tools. We define the future of safety-enhancing and cost-effective equipment in an evolving aerospace industry.

Mission

We are a passionate team of professionals who design, certify, manufacture and service aerospace mission-critical equipment of the highest value for aircraft OEMs and operators. We deliver on operational excellence by offering superior customer experience while partnering with OEMs, operators and maintenance providers. We offer solutions that increase safety and help operators stay mission ready.

Core Values

We love what we do, we are ambitious and we go the extra mile to make things happen.

We are 100% accountable to meet our internal & external customer commitments.

We adapt to our ever-changing business environment.

We express honor and transparency in everything we do.

We work together with combined expertise to achieve common goals.

History & Timeline

Dart Capabilities

Design and Manufacturing

Designing and manufacturing parts and systems for helicopters and commercial airliners is part of DART's DNA

Our Global Centers of Excellence have been designing, manufacturing, installing, testing, inspecting, repairing, and certifying products for over 40 years.

Throughout the years, DART has become the world’s largest rotorcraft accessories provider, offering the most comprehensive and diversified product portfolio in the industry.

Facilities

Our facilities are located in:

CANADA

  • Montreal, Quebec (Headquarters)
  • Hawkesbury, Ontario (Parts & Accessories: Manufacturing, Engineering, Servicing)
  • Calgary, Alberta (Engineering)
  • Delta, British Columbia (SEI industries)

USA

  • Portland, Oregon (Fire Attack Systems, Spray Systems: Manufacturing, Design, Engineering & Servicing)
  • Broussard, Louisiana (Servicing, Repair & Overhaul Services)
  • Tallassee, Alabama (FPT Industries, Manufacturing)

MEXICO

  • Chihuahua (Float Systems, Manufacturing)

EUROPE

  • Amsterdam, Netherlands (Servicing. Repair & Overhaul Services)
  • Portsmouth, UK (FPT Industries, Manufacturing)

Industry-leading Certification Expertise

DART knows the optimal path to achieve certification. DART has received over 1,500 Supplemental Type Certificates (STC) since 1975 and issues on average 50 new STCs annually. With vast experience through a wide range of products, DART certifies primary structures as well as interior & exterior, minor & major modifications.

Successfully collaborating with over 10 local and foreign authorities such as TCCA, FAA and EASA, DART has an extensive certification portfolio to meet your aircraft needs.

With 3 full-time delegated engineers (DE), DART performs in-house capabilities such as:

  • Building certification & testing plans, qualification & stress reports, finite elements & computational fluid dynamics analysis
  • Certification and technical documentation
  • Testing capabilities including flight tests, drop tests, flammability & structural testing, bird strike & functional testing.

Certification & Expertise

CERTIFICATION DEMYSTIFICATION

Let us help you demystify the different certification DART can offer.

TC: A Type Certificate (TC) is a design approval by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), aka FAA, when an applicant demonstrates that a product—airframe, engine, propeller—complies with applicable regulations. The TC normally includes type design, operating limitations, a Type Certificate Data Sheet (TCDS), relative regulations and other CAA conditions or limitations, and is the basis for other approvals, including production and airworthiness approvals*.

STC: A Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) is issued by the FAA approving a product modification. The STC defines product design change, how the modification affects an existing type design, and lists serial number effectivity. It also identifies the certification basis listing specific regulatory compliance for the design change.* *http://www.aerofiles.com/STC-Group2.html


PMA & PDA :

In the FAA system, PMA has two meanings:
a. A Parts Manufacturing Approval
b. An approval for a Replacement Part


Interesting Facts

  • A PDA (Parts Design Approval) is a TCCA (Transport Canada) approval for a replacement part. Under the TCCA system, there is no difference in the certification work required to obtain a PDA vs an STC. However, at the end of the process, the final documentation one receives is different for a PDA than for an STC.
  • A PDA can only be issued for a non-critical replacement part. Therefore, while we can obtain a PDA for a wearplate (landing gear sub-component), TCCA will not issue a PDA for a crosstube or a skidtube (primary/structural components).
  • Once DART obtains a TCCA PDA, it is automatically accepted by the FAA and EASA without validation through the respective bilateral agreements. However, some operators are still uncomfortable with the PDA concept since the vehicle to certify a replacement part within their region is an STC, not a PDA or a PMA. To accommodate this matter, DART has started to obtain STC’s for some of its PDA parts.

OEM Partnerships

Partnering with customers to develop new solutions is at the heart of the DART Aerospace philosophy.

DART has extensive experience partnering with helicopter OEMs to design, develop and supply mission critical components. Major helicopters OEMs such as Airbus, Bell, Leonardo and Sikorsky, have trusted DART to collaborate on systems such as flotation, life rafts, landing gear and cable cutters. In many cases, the OEM requests DART to support schedule-sensitive helicopter deliveries where product certification is not just required by FAA or EASA, but where a foreign validation is also mandatory and DART’s certification expertise is the critical enabler to meet the deadline.

In partnership with the OEM, DART has worked both Type Certificate (TC) solutions and Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) solutions. In certain cases, an OEM may elect to engage DART on an STC project baseline because the certification path is much shorter than developing as a TC project, which would require OEM resources which may not be readily available.

To date, DART has designed and developed approximately 20 systems in collaboration with helicopter OEMs. We are always ready to consider both new OEM project ideas and structure win-win OEM partnerships so please do not hesitate to contact us.