The FAA will hold public meetings May 3 and May 4 in Georgia on the proposed rewrite of Part 23 airworthiness standards for normal, utility, acrobatic and commuter category aircraft. The meetings will be held from 8 a.m. to no later than 5 p.m. on each day at the International Convention Center in College Park, Georgia. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the rewrite was issued March 14 and the comment period ends May 13 so this will be the last opportunity for direct comment on the wide-ranging document. “The purpose of the public meetings is for the FAA to discuss the NPRM, hear the public’s questions, address any confusion, and obtain information relevant to the final rule under consideration,” the notice on the Federal Register reads. “The FAA will consider comments made at the public meetings before making a final decision on issuance of the final rule.”
In general, the rewrite moves aircraft certification to a performance- and risk-based regime, replacing the strict prescriptive design requirements standards that have guided aircraft airworthiness for most of the last 100 years. The FAA expects the new rules to maintain safety at least at the level of current rules but give aircraft manufacturers and suppliers streamlined access to new technology, especially the kind of gear that improves safety. The new rules are also expected to make it cheaper and easier to certify aircraft, thus expanding the product selection on the market. Senior brass from the FAA will be on hand at the Georgia meetings.
