New FAR Part 23 Effective Date

The FAA’s rewrite of Part 23 small airplane certification rule goes into effect on Aug. 30, 2017. The revised airworthiness standards will apply to normal-, utility-, acrobatic- and commuter-category airplanes, and replace current “prescriptive design requirements with performance-based” airworthiness standards. These standards also replace the current weight and propulsion divisions with “performance- and risk-based divisions of airplanes with a maximum seating capacity of 19 passengers or less and a mtow of 19,000 pounds or less. The new rules enact additional airworthiness standards to address certification for flight in icing conditions, enhanced stall characteristics, and minimum control speeds for multiengine airplanes. Additionally, revised rules will apply to Part 91, 121 and 135 operations to correspond with the new airworthiness standards.