Atlas/ventures/halcyon/projects/do-160-certification.md
DO-160 certification — the gate
The gate: a conforming test article with DO-160 environmental qualification complete on the Mk3 unit. Cascadia cannot fly the pilot programme until it is through, which is why [[cascadia-contract]] is a separate project and not a clause of this one.
The number
- Priya says eight months.
- Rowan told Marcus six.
Both are now written down, and that is the change that matters. The line that stood on day one — “neither number has been written down anywhere, that is how the gap has survived” — is retired. The gap has stopped being deniable.
The pre-reads
“Board pre-reads: I wrote them last night. I used eight months. Priya doesn’t know I changed it and Marcus doesn’t know I changed it, and I’m aware those are two separate conversations and that one of them I owe before Tuesday.”
Written Sat 5 September, sent, and read properly by Marcus before the 8
September board. hobbs-epn and hobbs-x8k closed on that. Priya was told at
18:00 on the 8th, five hours after Marcus asked at the table whether she knew.
Her side, in her words, is in [[Priya Raghunathan]]; the sequence is in
VENTURE.md and is not restated here.
The live risk, and it is not the number
Eight months was Priya’s estimate for qualifying a bearing failure. [[mk3-shaft-runout]] says the failure is not a bearing. If that is right, the number in the board’s document rests on a failure mode the engineer no longer believes in, and the person best placed to know that is the person who gave the number.
Stated as a fact. Whether it changes what is sent, said or held is Rowan’s call, and Hobbs holds no view on it (authority row 17). Nothing here has been adjusted — not the pre-reads, not the number, not the tasks.
The runout was not raised at the 8 September board and HAL-01 was not
lifted.
Open
- Whether the eight-month estimate survives a change of failure mode. Unknown. Not assumed. Nobody has been asked.
- No demo date for Cascadia — “the only mercy in it.”
People
[[Priya Raghunathan]] · [[Marcus Feld]] · [[Dmitri Sokolov]]
Markdown source
---
type: project
venture: halcyon
status: active
outcome:
owner: Priya Raghunathan
due:
updated: 2026-09-23
---
# DO-160 certification — the gate
<!-- src: Atlas/ventures/halcyon/VENTURE.md, split out 2026-09-23 under ADR-31 -->
**The gate:** a conforming test article with DO-160 environmental qualification
complete on the Mk3 unit. **Cascadia cannot fly the pilot programme until it is
through**, which is why [[cascadia-contract]] is a separate project and not a
clause of this one.
## The number
- **Priya says eight months.**
- **Rowan told Marcus six.**
**Both are now written down, and that is the change that matters.** The line that
stood on day one — *"neither number has been written down anywhere, that is how
the gap has survived"* — is retired. The gap has stopped being deniable.
### The pre-reads
<!-- src: Rowan, weekly review 2026-09-06. His words. -->
> "Board pre-reads: I wrote them last night. I used eight months. Priya doesn't
> know I changed it and Marcus doesn't know I changed it, and I'm aware those are
> two separate conversations and that one of them I owe before Tuesday."
**Written Sat 5 September, sent, and read properly by Marcus before the 8
September board.** `hobbs-epn` and `hobbs-x8k` closed on that. Priya was told at
18:00 on the 8th, five hours after Marcus asked at the table whether she knew.
Her side, in her words, is in [[Priya Raghunathan]]; the sequence is in
`VENTURE.md` and is not restated here.
## The live risk, and it is not the number
**Eight months was Priya's estimate for qualifying a bearing failure.**
[[mk3-shaft-runout]] says the failure is not a bearing. **If that is right, the
number in the board's document rests on a failure mode the engineer no longer
believes in**, and the person best placed to know that is the person who gave the
number.
Stated as a fact. **Whether it changes what is sent, said or held is Rowan's
call, and Hobbs holds no view on it** (authority row 17). Nothing here has been
adjusted — not the pre-reads, not the number, not the tasks.
**The runout was not raised at the 8 September board and `HAL-01` was not
lifted.**
## Open
- Whether the eight-month estimate survives a change of failure mode. **Unknown.
Not assumed. Nobody has been asked.**
- No demo date for Cascadia — *"the only mercy in it."*
## People
[[Priya Raghunathan]] · [[Marcus Feld]] · [[Dmitri Sokolov]]