EU, US General Aviation Design Regulations Being Aligned
FAA's revised Part 23 regulation will be a performance-based approach to airworthiness standards. It is a top priority for the agency.
The European Aviation Safety Agency plans to reorganize its rules to follow the FAA's approach in a revised Part 23, the regulation that sets design standards for general aviation aircraft, FAA announced June 5. FAA's revised regulation will be a performance-based approach to airworthiness standards, and it is a top priority for the agency, which has set a goal to reduce the general aviation fatal accident rate by 10 percent over a 10-year period (2009-2018).
FAA established an Aviation Rulemaking Committee in August 2011 to revitalize general aviation safety worldwide, with members from industry and government on the committee and observers from FAA's international counterparts participating. The committee presented its recommendations to FAA in June 2013; the agency reported that the Part 23 rewrite "will set a standard that improves safety, enables innovation, streamlines the certification process and reduces costs by using international consensus standards to implement the regulations."
"The FAA and our global aviation partners are committed to streamlining the certification process for general aviation airplanes while enhancing safety throughout the world," said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta. "The FAA is working on completing our proposal as quickly as possible."