A prescribed design can constrain how a manufacturer solves an engineering problem. The FAA's December 30, 2016 small-airplane rule changes that mechanism by replacing prescriptive requirements with performance-based airworthiness standards. The commercial question becomes how a design demonstrates the required performance, rather than whether the rewrite simply removes regulation. Certification remains the gate through which the design must pass. [2016-30246]

The final normal-category scope combines a passenger-seating configuration of 19 or fewer with maximum certificated takeoff weight of 19,000 pounds or less. A lighter departure load cannot alter that certificated maximum. Within the framework, a manufacturer must use a means of compliance accepted by the Administrator; consensus standards are one possible ingredient, not automatic authorization. [2016-30246]

The March proposal also provides a useful check on the scale of the change. It proposed performance- and risk-based divisions while preserving the substance of cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder provisions, with reference alignment proposed for the latter. Innovation in the certification framework therefore did not imply that every established requirement would be rewritten or removed. [2016-05493]

The final rule's stated effective date is August 30, 2017. On publication day, the documents cannot show that certification became cheaper, new entrants gained share or buyers received lower prices. They show a changed regulatory mechanism alongside stronger requirements concerning icing and loss of control. The proposal and final rule are one FAA evidence chain: useful for understanding the opportunity, insufficient for booking its economic returns. [2016-30246][2016-05493]

Source documents

  1. Revision of Airworthiness Standards for Normal, Utility, Acrobatic, and Commuter Category Airplaneshttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2016-12-30/html/2016-30246.htm
  2. Revision of Airworthiness Standards for Normal, Utility, Acrobatic, and Commuter Category Airplaneshttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2016-03-14/html/2016-05493.htm