Type Certificate Data Sheets (TCDS)

A type certificate data sheet (TCDS) is the document in which an aviation authority records what a type certificate covers: who holds it, which models it includes, the airworthiness standards each model was certified against, and each model's main technical characteristics and limitations, from engines and fuels to speeds, masses and seating. EASA and the FAA both publish data sheets under that name.

For pilots the data sheet is the link between certification and the flight manual. It explains why two aircraft of one type can have different maximum masses or seat counts, which engines a model may carry, and which figures are a demonstrated capability rather than an approval. In EASA's data sheets it also records the flight crew data that set the minimum syllabus for type rating training. The certification process behind it is described in type certification.

Type certificates and their data sheets

A type certificate (TC) approves a design. Under ICAO Annex 8 it is issued by the State of Design; each aircraft built to the design then receives its own certificate of airworthiness from its State of Registry (see aircraft certificates and flight permits). The type certificate holder is the organization responsible for the design, named on the first page of the data sheet: Airbus S.A.S. in Blagnac for the A318 to A321, The Boeing Company for the 737, Airbus Canada Limited Partnership in Mirabel, Québec, for the A220. A certificate can change hands. The A220's, first held by Bombardier, was transferred to C Series Aircraft Limited Partnership in 2017, a company renamed Airbus Canada Limited Partnership in 2019, and the data sheet's change record logs each step.

One certificate can cover many models over decades. EASA's IM.A.120 covers every 737 from the 737-100, first type certificated by the FAA on 15 December 1967, through the Next Generation 737-600 to 737-900ER to the MAX models; EASA.A.064 covers every A318, A319, A320 and A321, ceo and neo. Each data sheet is revised as the certificate changes and carries an issue number and date on every page: Issue 62 of A.064 dates from June 2026, Issue 29 of IM.A.120 from December 2025. EASA marks copies as uncontrolled and tells readers to confirm the revision status on its website.

Some information sits in companion documents. Noise levels have a separate type-certificate data sheet for noise (TCDSN) (see aircraft noise and emissions). Engines have type certificates of their own, and the airframe data sheet refers to the engine data sheet for engine limitations: EASA.E.110 for the LEAP-1A and EASA.IM.E.093 for the PW1100G-JM on the A320neo, E.004 for the 737 NG's CFM56-7B and E.115 for the MAX's LEAP-1B. For the A320 family, Annex I publishes selected special conditions, equivalent safety findings, deviations, elect-to-comply items and reversions, and Annex II the areas reassessed for significant changes such as the neo.

EASA and FAA TCDS

EASA's data sheets for airliners such as the A320, the 737 and the A220 follow a common layout, repeated for each series or model:

An administrative section closes the sheet with abbreviations, the type certificate holder record and the change record.

For a design certified abroad, EASA validates the foreign certificate and issues its own data sheet, which names the original certifying authority and gives both sets of dates. The 737 and 787 sheets name the FAA, the A220 sheet Transport Canada Civil Aviation. The 737-8 received its FAA type certificate on 8 March 2017 and its EASA validation on 27 March 2017; the A220-100, its Canadian certificate on 17 December 2015 and EASA's on 15 June 2016. The A320 family moved the other way: certified in France under DGAC type certificate 180, it passed to EASA's A.064, first issued on 21 December 2005, which replaced TC 180's content.

The FAA issues data sheets under its own numbers, A16WE for every 737 model and T00021SE for the 787, and EASA's data sheets quote them; the 737 sheet refers to A16WE for additional information. Each authority records its own certification basis. For the 737-8 the FAA's is 14 CFR Part 25 at Amendments 25-0 through 25-137 plus 25-141, except where modified by an FAA issue paper; EASA's is CS-25 at Amendment 11 with listed exceptions, plus CS-AWO, from a reference date of 30 June 2012. The flight crew side differs too: the EASA data sheet names the approved flight crew data, which give the pilot type rating, while in the United States the pilot type rating, B-737 for every 737, comes from the FAA Flight Standardization Board report (see class and type ratings).

Models and engine variants

Section I lists each model designation the certificate covers, and the model, not the marketing name, is what the certificate approves. The A320 data sheet marks "A320 CEO", "A320 NEO" and "ACJ320 NEO" as commercial designations only. The A220-100 and A220-300 are certified as the BD-500-1A10 and BD-500-1A11 (see A220 family and limitations), and, in Issue 29 of IM.A.120, the 737 MAX models as the 737-8, 737-9 and 737-8200.

In the A320 family the model number identifies the engine fitted:

The engine section goes down to variants and the modifications that introduce them, and it records which variants may be mixed on one aircraft. On the A320-214, for instance, a CFM56-5B "non-P" engine may be paired with a /P engine, but an engine with the thrust bump function may not be paired with one without. The data sheet even distinguishes usual names from certified ones: the engine commonly called the CFM56-5A1 is certified as the CFM56-5. Section III also lists the eligible fuels; the 737 MAX sheet prohibits any wide-cut fuel such as Jet B or JP-4.

Weights, speeds and seating limits

Section III gives the maximum certified masses, which A.064 calls maximum certified weights:

These are the highest values certified for the model. A.064 sends the reader to the flight manual for configuration-specific mass limits and for which weight variant an aircraft is eligible for, and the 787 sheet warns that its masses may be further limited by center of gravity, fuel density and fuel loading limits. One typical A320ceo weight variant limits takeoff to 77,000 kg, landing to 64,500 kg and zero fuel mass to 61,000 kg (see maximum structural and regulated masses).

How many speeds a data sheet gives varies. A.064 lists VMO 350 kt and MMO 0.82, a VFE for every flap configuration, VLE 280 kt or M 0.67, VLO 250 kt extending and 220 kt retracting, and a tire limit of 195.5 kt ground speed. The 737 sheet leaves airspeed limits to the flight manual for every model, while giving the NG and MAX a maximum operating altitude of 41,000 ft; the 787 sheet gives only VMO/MMO, 350 KEAS and M 0.90.

The maximum passenger seating capacity (MPSC) is given with the exit arrangement and the minimum number of cabin crew used to show compliance with the evacuation requirements; other rules may call for more cabin crew. The A320 was originally certified for 180 passengers. Modifications crediting over-performing exits raise the certified maximum to 195, but the data sheet stresses that they define a virtual cabin envelope, not an authorization for more than 180 seats, which needs a separate approval. On the 737-8200, passengers and cabin crew together are limited to 207 by the air conditioning ventilation rate per occupant (see emergency evacuation). The minimum flight crew of all these types is two pilots.

Notes and special conditions

A special condition is an additional airworthiness standard prescribed for a novel or unusual feature that the certification code does not adequately cover. The data sheet lists each one in section II with the requirements it affects. The 737 MAX carries special conditions on towbarless towing, engine cowl retention, the airplane-level effects of a fan blade loss, operation in falling and blowing snow, lithium-ion batteries and the security of aircraft systems and networks. On the A220, the steep approach special condition appears only in the A220-100's section, the only model certified for steep approaches.

Deviations can carry deadlines. One time-limited deviation for the 737-8 and 737-9, from the engine cowl retention special condition, was extended by EASA to 30 June 2022; after that date, an individual aircraft's certificate of airworthiness became invalid unless Boeing Service Bulletin 737-71-1894 Revision 1 or later had been incorporated.

The notes at the end of each section record conditions that apply to individual aircraft. On the A320, CAT IIIB precision approach needs a modification on some models, such as MOD 21038 on the A320-211 and -212, while the -214, -215, -216, -232 and -233 are qualified in their basic design. On the 737-8 and 737-9, Boeing Service Bulletin 737-21-1217 lets the cabin be held at 6,500 ft instead of the standard 8,000 ft at 41,000 ft. The 737 notes add that the cabin interior and seating configuration must be approved.

Several entries record a finding rather than an approval, and the sheet says so. Each A320 model, the 737-8 and 737-9 and the 787 were found capable of, or suitable for, extended operations, but the finding "does not constitute" approval to conduct ETOPS, which the operator must obtain from its authority (see ETOPS).

Reading a TCDS: worked examples

A 737-8 and a 12 kt tailwind. Section 12.2 of the 737 MAX data sheet lists a maximum takeoff and landing tailwind component of 15 kt. Its footnote explains that takeoffs and manual and automatic landings were demonstrated with tailwinds up to 15 kt, and that this finding is not an operational approval for tailwind components above 10 kt. Without such an approval, the crew applies the limit of the flight manual and the operator's procedures; the 737 NG FCOM limitations, for comparison, give 10 kt.

Seats on a 737-800. An operator wants 189 seats. The data sheet allows 189 passengers for emergency evacuation with special condition JAA/737-700/SC/D-14 applied, otherwise 180, with the exits arranged I, III, III, I. From 151 to 189 passengers, four cabin crew were used to show evacuation compliance, three from 101 to 150 and two for 100 or fewer. The maximum for each delivered aircraft is in its interior layout drawing, and its seating configuration must still be approved.

An A320neo at 79 tonnes. Every A320neo model shows a maximum certified takeoff mass of 79,000 kg, but the data sheet itself refers to the flight manual for each aircraft's weight variant. Load planning uses the limits of the weight variant the aircraft holds, which may be lower than the data sheet maximum.

Library articles are written for study and exam preparation. They do not replace your aircraft's approved documentation, your operator's procedures or the regulations themselves.