Part 135 & Part 145 Compliance Services: DCTs, SOCs and Certificate Builders
Five services, two ways to work with us. For certificate holders: inspector-ready DCTs, Statements of Compliance, and manual gap closure — fast, flat-fee, traceable to the regulations and your manual suite. For applicants: two partnership-model Builders that stand up a Part 135 air carrier certificate or a Part 145 repair station from a blank page, with Delta Bravo at the table as your growth and financial-structuring planning partner from the first working session through your first year of operations.
DCT Completion
The FAA's SAS Element-Design Data Collection Tools sit at the heart of every Certificate Holder's certification and surveillance events. Done right, they translate your operator manual suite into a clean, defensible compliance picture. Done wrong, they generate weeks of back-and-forth with your inspector.
Delta Bravo Aviation completes DCTs with chapter-and-verse citations to your manuals, scoped to the OpSpecs you actually hold, the peer group you sit in (135B, 135C, 135D or 135E), and the operations you actually conduct. Every answer is traceable; every “Not Applicable” comes with a documented rationale; every package passes a blind, inspector-style counsel review before it is rendered.
In most cases, the acceptable completion of an Applicant's or Certificate Holder's DCTs takes months (or longer in some cases). Delta Bravo Aviation can complete your DCTs in as little as one day.
What's included
- ✓ Operator-scope analysis (OpSpecs, fleet, ops type, peer group)
- ✓ Element-by-element answers with manual citations (Sect. X.Y.Z)
- ✓ 14 CFR / AC / 8900.1 cross-reference traceback against a corpus refreshed weekly
- ✓ “Not Applicable” rationales drafted in operator voice
- ✓ Blind inspector-style counsel review before rendering
- ✓ Branded, FAA-inspector-ready PDF with hyperlinked TOC and DCT revision/date on every section
- ✓ Gap callouts where manuals don't yet support an answer
Statement of Compliance
When the FAA wants more than answered DCTs — when an inspector is asking for a complete compliance demonstration — Delta Bravo Aviation prepares a Statement of Compliance (SOC) package.
An SOC is a regulation-by-regulation traceback that shows how your operation, as documented in your manual suite, meets the underlying requirements end-to-end. It's the document that turns “we comply” into “here's exactly how, paragraph by paragraph.”
For applicants the SOC moved to the front of the line: since FAA Notice N 8900.766 (January 2026), a compliance statement sized and scoped to the intended operation is part of the readiness package every Part 135 applicant files before the FAA places it on the Applicant List. SOCs remain the right instrument for major OpSpec amendments and surveillance events where the inspector wants the whole picture in one package.
Typical scope
- ✓ Regulation-by-regulation compliance traceback
- ✓ Manual suite ↔ regulation cross-mapping
- ✓ AC and 8900.1 references where applicable
- ✓ Built to the N 8900.766 applicant readiness checklist for new certificates
- ✓ FSDO / AIS Services submission-ready package
- ✓ Bundled discount when paired with a DCT engagement for the same operator
Manual Gap Suggested Edit Report
During a DCT or SOC engagement, gaps are sometimes surfaced in an operator's manual suite — places where the manuals don't yet fully support a defensible answer. Delta Bravo Aviation captures every one of those gaps in a single, consolidated Manual Gap Suggested Edit Report: each recommended amendment is drafted in operator voice, ready to be inserted directly into the relevant manual.
The report gives the Certificate Holder or Applicant one document to work from — no scattered emails, no back-and-forth, no guessing at where each fix belongs. And once the amendments are incorporated, Delta Bravo Aviation re-runs the related DCT at no additional charge, so you finish the loop with a verified, compliance-closed DCT package.
What's included
- ✓ One consolidated, single-source amendment report
- ✓ Each amendment drafted in operator voice, ready to paste in
- ✓ Covers GOM, GMM, training, hazmat, security, ERP, EFB and other suite volumes
- ✓ Cross-volume consistency review
- ✓ Aligned to current 14 CFR / AC / 8900.1
- ✓ Complimentary DCT re-run after amendments are incorporated
For full GOM, Training Manual, or GMM rewrites of an existing certificate holder's suite, Delta Bravo Aviation refers clients to its manual-development partner, Black River Aerospace. New certificates built through the Part 135 Certificate Builder receive their complete manual suite from Delta Bravo directly.
Part 135 Certificate Builder
Build the certificate around the business — not the business around the certificate. Most certification help is transactional: manuals are delivered, hours are billed, and the hard business decisions are left on the owners' desk. The Builder is different. Delta Bravo Aviation sits on your side of the table as a growth and financial-structuring planning partner, and builds a new FAA Part 135 air carrier certificate from a blank page around the business you intend to run.
It starts with the plan, not the paperwork: what you will fly, for whom, where, and at what scale at 12, 24 and 36 months. From that plan we derive the certificate — peer group (135B/C/D/E), classification (standard, basic, single PIC or single-pilot), the OpSpec set you need now and the ones you will add later, and the manual suite that supports all of it. Then we plan the money and the people against the FAA's own gates, so the aircraft lease, the hangar and the key hires land when the FAA's schedule needs them, not months early while you wait in line.
Only then do we build: every manual, written from a blank page and kept synchronized through a single operator ground-truth register; the compliance statement the FAA now requires up front under N 8900.766; the proposed OpSpecs; the DOT, TSA, drug-and-alcohol and PRD registrations; and the applicant-completed Element-Design DCTs. We audit the package the way an inspector would before the FAA ever sees it, file it through the FAA's AIS Services portal, answer every FAA return inside its 15-day window, and keep the package current and the operation ready while you wait. When the FAA project starts, we prepare your managers for their interviews, plan the proving or validation tests, support the design and performance assessments on site, and review the certificate and OpSpecs before you sign.
The certificate is the milestone, not the finish line. After issuance the partnership can continue as your first-year compliance partner: manual and roster updates, quarterly internal audits, SAS surveillance support, OpSpec amendments as the growth plan unfolds — so the operation stays in the same state of compliance and readiness it was certificated in.
Why the DCTs sit at the center of the Builder
The FAA's Element-Design Data Collection Tools are the instrument of Design Assessment: the certification team uses them to decide, element by element, whether your manuals contain a complete, compliant procedure. They are also, by a wide margin, the single biggest source of delay in a Part 135 certification — and under the 2026 readiness process the applicant completes them itself, before the FAA team reviews the design. They do not go away at issuance: the same DCT bank, in its Element-Performance form, is how your Principal Inspectors will oversee the certificate in surveillance for as long as you hold it. An applicant that enters the FAA project with its DCTs answered, cited to its own manuals and audited enters with the shortest possible design assessment; a certificate holder that keeps that set current enters every surveillance cycle already prepared.
The requisite DCT completion is included in the Builder fee. Delta Bravo answers every applicable Element-Design DCT for your peer group and scope — typically well over a thousand questions for a nine-or-less turbine operator — cites each to the manual section, runs the blind inspector-style counsel review, and re-checks the set against the FAA's current DCT revisions every 90 days while you wait in the queue. There is no per-question charge inside a Builder. At issuance you hold a completed, current, cited DCT package that becomes your surveillance baseline, and the first-year compliance partner option keeps it that way.
What “partner” means here
Fixed fees set at the signed Operator Definition. Corrections to anything the FAA flags in a document we prepared, at no charge, inside the FAA's 15-day window. Six months of queue upkeep included. Forty percent of the fee due only as the FAA accepts the filing, starts the project and issues the certificate. Entity, ownership and management structure worked through with your counsel and CPA. Spending timed to the FAA's schedule wherever the rules allow.
The six phases
- Define the operator and the business plan. Working sessions settle fleet, seats, customers, areas, authorizations, management team, facilities and the 12/24/36-month growth plan. Outcome: a signed Operator Definition and a capital-and-hiring timeline staged to the FAA's gates.
- Build the manual suite and the application. GOM, training program, GMM/CAMP where required, hazmat, ERP, MEL, EFB and electronic-records program, W&B, deicing, international manual as scoped; forms; compliance statement to N 8900.766; proposed OpSpecs; DOT/TSA/drug-alcohol/PRD registrations — all from one ground-truth register.
- DCT completion — answer the FAA's questions before it asks. Every applicable Element-Design DCT for your peer group answered and cited to your manuals (included in the fee, no per-question charge), then a blind inspector-style audit and gap closure.
- File and get in line. Readiness package filed through AIS Services; any return answered inside 15 days; Applicant List letter in hand. Six months of queue upkeep, with 90-day DCT re-checks and policy tracking, included.
- Carry it through the FAA project. Manager interview prep, formal application, design-assessment responses, proving/validation test plan, on-site support, OpSpecs review before signature, day-one compliance checklist.
- Operate and grow. Optional first-year compliance partner: audits, updates, surveillance support and the OpSpec amendments your growth plan calls for.
| Tier (FAA readiness tier · peer group) | Fixed fee |
|---|---|
| Single-Pilot or Single PIC · 135D | $45,000 – $65,000 |
| Nine-or-Less, Basic or Full · 135C (HAA ≤9 seats) | $85,000 – $140,000 |
| Ten-or-More, CAMP + GMM · 135B (HAA 10+ seats) | $150,000 – $240,000 |
Fixed at the signed Operator Definition. Includes the applicant's complete ED DCT package. Five milestone payments; 40% tied to FAA events. Full tier and option pricing →
Book a free 30-minute callAlready hold a certificate? Certificate reviews, readiness audits and OpSpec amendment projects are scoped individually — see pricing. Read the primer: Can a Company Build Your Part 135 Certificate for You?.
Part 145 Repair Station Builder
From a blank page to an Air Agency Certificate — with the shop's economics planned alongside its manuals. The Part 145 certificate is the credential that turns a maintenance shop into a business: airline, charter and corporate operators send parts only to stations that hold one. The FAA sets a high bar before it will even start — the complete package is due up front, the building, data and people must be real at inspection, a single regulatory gap fails a manual, and every FAA correction letter must be answered within 15 days or the application can be treated as withdrawn.
Delta Bravo Aviation builds the station as a partner in the business, not a vendor to it. The engagement opens with the owners' plan — ratings, capability list, customer base, staffing, facility, growth — and with the shop's carrying cost: what rent, payroll, equipment and insurance will run each month once the station is staffed for inspection and before the first paying job. From there we fix a Station Definition, plan the lease and the key hires so the shop is ready when the FAA team arrives rather than idle for months in line, and write every document from a blank page around that shop: Repair Station Manual, Quality Control Manual, training program with human-factors training, forms manual, capability list with self-evaluation records, rosters, and the full FAA application package.
We then answer every applicable question in the FAA's assessment bank of more than 950 questions, pointing to the exact manual section; audit the manuals the way an FAA inspector would; file the readiness package and secure the FAA's acceptance; keep the package current through the wait; prepare your managers for their interviews; run a full mock inspection; and attend the FAA's on-site inspection. The station is built for growth from day one — independent audit function, human-factors training, a single parts-release procedure and a long-term records schedule — so European or UK approvals can be added later as supplements rather than rewrites.
The DCTs are the exam — and they are included
The FAA's bank of more than 950 repair station questions is the Element-Design Data Collection Tool set for peer group 145F: it is what the certification team uses to decide whether the Repair Station Manual, Quality Control Manual and training program satisfy the regulation, and a single unanswered regulatory requirement rates a manual “Not Accepted.” After issuance the same framework governs surveillance of the new-entrant station through its closer first five years. Delta Bravo answers every applicable DCT question to the manual section before filing, audits the manuals as an inspector would, and re-checks the set against the FAA's current DCT revisions every 90 days while the station waits in line. DCT completion is included in the Builder fee — no per-question charge — and the station leaves certification holding a completed, current, cited DCT package as its surveillance baseline.
What “partner” means here
A fixed fee set at the signed Station Definition. Corrections to anything the FAA flags, at no charge, inside the 15-day window. Delivered remotely — no travel built into the fee and no monthly meter — with six months of queue upkeep included; on-site visits and attendance at the FAA inspection are priced options for stations that want them. Forty percent of the fee due only as the FAA accepts the filing, starts its review and issues the certificate. A first-year compliance partner option that keeps the new-entrant station ready for the closer oversight the FAA applies in its first five years.
The five phases
- Define the station. Ratings, part numbers, customers, staffing, facility, equipment, technical data, outside vendors and growth plan; carrying-cost model; first contact with the local FAA office. Outcome: a signed Station Definition.
- Build the station's rulebook. RSM and QCM, training program, forms manual, capability list and self-evaluation records, org chart and rosters, FAA application forms, facility description, schedule of events, hazmat statement, proposed OpSpecs.
- DCT completion — answer the FAA's questions before it asks. Every applicable Element-Design DCT question in the FAA's 950+ repair station bank answered to the manual section (included in the fee), then an inspector-style audit and gap closure.
- File and get in line. Readiness package submitted; returns answered inside 15 days; Applicant List letter. Package kept current and question sets re-checked every 90 days for six months.
- Carry it through to certificate. Manager interview prep, formal application, correction letters answered, full video mock inspection, FAA on-site inspection prepared for (attendance optional), certificate and OpSpecs reviewed before signature, day-one compliance checklist.
| Engagement | Fixed fee |
|---|---|
| Core engagement (one location, up to three limited ratings, 50-part capability list, remote delivery) | $75,000 – $120,000 |
| Typical core fee | $89,500 |
| Small-shop tier (single limited rating, 25-part capability list) | $62,500 |
| Airline and charter customer package | + $16,500 |
Fixed at the signed Station Definition. Includes the station's complete DCT answer package. Five milestone payments; 40% tied to FAA events. Options and payment schedule →
Book a free 30-minute callRead the primer: How to Get an FAA Part 145 Repair Station Certificate: The Ten-Step Roadmap.
Not sure which service fits?
Send a brief note describing where you are — planning a certificate or a repair station, pre-application, mid-DCT, or already certificated — and we'll point you at the right starting place.
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