Brazilian KC-390 Airlifter Type Certified for Hungarian Military Use

The Hungarian Defence Forces have completed the type-worthiness inspection of Embraer S.A.'s KC-390 military transport aircraft, which will be system tuned this year.

Hunagry bought two C-390s featuring an intensive care unit and air-to-air refueling capability in November 2020.

The over two-year long certification procedure was carried out by the State Aviation Department of the Ministry of Defence, which is responsible for the supervision of Hungarian state aviation, in accordance with the legal requirements for Hungarian state aviation. The type-worthiness procedure aims to determine the suitability of an aircraft type for safe air transport. This is crucial as an aircraft can pose risks to other actors in aviation, including other aircraft, its crew and passengers, and even those on the ground.

During the procedure, the authority's specialists jointly developed the type-worthiness inspection plan, which forms the basis of the procedure. Given that the KC-390 is a relatively new aircraft, with development beginning in the early 2000s and the first units delivered to the Brazilian Air Force in 2019, many investigations, particularly regarding its operation, were still ongoing at the start of the Hungarian procedure. Additionally, the Brazilian military aviation authority's type-worthiness inspection procedure was also in progress, with the aircraft type only receiving a temporary type certificate until March 2023. This led the Hungarian authorities to establish a relationship with the Brazilian military organization, which greatly facilitated the certification work.

The Brazilian authority provided effective assistance to the Hungarian authority, mainly through the transfer of test results and descriptions of test procedures. This exchange of professional experience and test results was enabled by a prior cooperation agreement between the two authorities on the KC-390 aircraft.

A key aspect of the investigation was the examination of the integration of equipment requested by the Hungarian Defence Forces, such as special on-board radios and an emergency medical unit, into the aircraft's on-board system. These items, tailored specifically to Hungarian needs, had not been previously certified by the Brazilian side.

The procedure reached its climax in April 2024, when immediately after the end of the manufacturer's test flights, the first Hungarian plane's type qualification flight was carried out at Embraer's manufacturing site in Gavião Peixoto, Brazil. This flight, conducted by the factory's test flight department with its pilots and on-board engineers, included representatives of the Hungarian military aviation authority. During the nearly two-hour flight, the main systems of the aircraft were checked for their proper and safe operation.