New FAA Part 23 Becomes Reality

After a decade in the making and months of preparation, the new FAA rule that dramatically changes the approach to small aircraft certification formally took effect in late August. By industry and FAA accounts, implementation of the rule, which is more of a revolutionary than evolutionary change, has generally been smooth and numerous projects are in the works. In December last year, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta announced the release of the new Part 23, saying it will “usher in a new era of safety and a new era of innovation in general aviation in the U.S.”

The rule moves the FAA to a "performance-based approach" and away from its long practice of establishing detailed prescriptive standards for new products. Under the new rule, which targets aircraft weighing 19,000 pounds or less and with 19 or fewer passenger seats, the agency establishes the performance objectives for new products and gives the manufacturer flexibility on how it meets those objectives. It also paves the way for the agency to work with industry and international regulators on consensus standards.

“With these performance-based standards, the FAA delivers on its promise to implement forward-looking, flexible rules that encourage innovation,” the agency said in announcing the rule’s implementation. “This regulatory approach recognizes there is more than one way to deliver on safety.”

“Instead of telling manufacturers how to build airplanes, we’re defining the safety goals we want to achieve and giving industry the freedom to come up with innovative solutions,” Huerta explained to an audience during last summer’s Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wis. “This approach will allow us to get safety technologies off the drawing board and into airplanes more quickly. New technologies have the potential to kick off a revolution in general aviation. All of the building blocks are there.”

Top-down Education Efforts

Huerta noted that the FAA has worked to educate its certification specialists about the new rule. “Our message is simple: we’re not going to try to shoehorn new ideas into the same old box anymore. Instead, we’ll be working hand-in-hand with manufacturers.”

Since release of the rule, industry leaders and FAA officials have been holding training and educational sessions to prepare both the industry and agency for the changes ahead. In the months leading up to implementation, the FAA hosted 10 educational webinars for employees, conducted “beta-test” training and mock certification exercises and held workshops.

The agency also joined forces with the General Aviation Manufacturers Association on industry Part 23 rewrite training sessions that were held in Seattle, Dallas and Washington, D.C. last spring. Four hundred organizations and/or representatives attended the U.S. sessions, GAMA reported. Further sessions are planned for next year in Europe, Israel, China, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

The rule is already beginning to show results, according to the FAA. “We have numerous programs using the new Part 23,” the agency said, noting that the projects have involved both new airplanes and modifications to older airplanes. One approved project under the new rule involved a propeller on a small single-engine airplane in Alaska.

Manufacturers are working to bring experimental aircraft equipment to new small general aviation airplanes, Huerta said, adding, “Engineers are hard at work studying advanced concepts like electric propulsion systems and vertical takeoffs for aerial taxis.” GAMA noted the companies involved run the gamut but agreed that the rule rewrite is facilitating new interest in the aviation industry, for example “the entire eVTOL community.”