Civil aviation authority

A civil aviation authority (CAA) is a national or supranational statutory body that oversees the regulation of civil aviation, including the maintenance of an aircraft register.

Due to the inherent dangers in the use of flight vehicles, national aviation authorities typically regulate the following critical aspects of aircraft airworthiness and their operation:

Depending on the legal system of the jurisdiction, a CAA will derive its powers from an act of parliament (such as the Civil or Federal Aviation Act), and is then empowered to make regulations within the bounds of the act. This allows technical aspects of airworthiness to be dealt with by subject matter experts and not politicians.

A CAA may also be involved in the investigation of aircraft accidents, although in many cases this is left to a separate body (such as the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) in Australia or the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in the United States), to allow independent review of regulatory oversight.

A CAA will regulate the control of air traffic but a separate agency will generally carry out air traffic control functions.

In some countries a CAA may build and operate airports, including non-airside operations such as passenger terminals; the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines being among such authorities. In other countries, private companies or local government authorities may own and operate individual airports.

Civil aviation authorities do not regulate military aviation. Military aviation will typically have a completely separate personnel licensing system. In the United Kingdom, military aviation is regulated by the Military Aviation Authority.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) refers to civil aviation authorities as National Airworthiness Authorities (NAA), particularly when referring to an authority in its capacity as an airworthiness authority; or sometimes as National Aviation Authorities (also NAA). EASA refers to them as National Aviation Authorities.