General aviation advocates are pushing the FAA to release the Part 23 rewrite proposal by this summer, fearing any further delay could substantially set back the effort to overhaul the standards both in the U.S. and internationally.

Congress directed the FAA to complete the Part 23 rulemaking by the end of this year, but Peggy Gilligan, FAA associate administrator for aviation safety, told lawmakers last summer that the agency was targeting the end of 2017.

Missed congressional deadlines are not unusual, but in this case the missed deadline was decreed in a mandate passed in a rare stand-alone bill supported by an overwhelming majority of Congress, GAMA president and CEO Pete Bunce told AIN. Bunce expressed frustration at the agency’s delays, noting it has signed on to the stated goal of achieving twice the safety at half the cost. “That’s real,” he said of the goal, and it comes from the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) focus on a consensus standards approach to such projects. The Part 23 rewrite could serve as the example for the OMB’s goals, according to Bunce.

Bunce is urging the FAA to accelerate the process so that the rule can be released under the current administration and, in particular, under the current OMB.

Releasing a proposal this summer gives the agency time to assess comments and draft a final rule for review under the current administration, he said. Otherwise, the rule could languish into the next administration, which would take time to establish and renew regulatory reviews. “It would delay [the rewrite] for a long time,” he said.

International Efforts

European regulators initially were preparing to move forward by next year but are now waiting to move in tandem with their U.S. counterparts, Bunce said. 

The aviation community and international regulators “have done some incredible work” on the effort, he said. “We have a lot of people working toward being ready for the new standards once they are done.” 

ASTM dedicated an international committee, F44, to the development of consensus standards for Part 23 aircraft. Even the FAA’s own engineering staff have “rolled up their sleeves” to make progress on a new approach to certifying general aviation aircraft, he said.

While that news is positive, Bunce said he is not encouraged by the pace of the U.S. rulemaking or confident that the “bureaucracy” within the agency understands the urgency of moving out a notice of proposed rulemaking this summer. 

He also is wary of efforts by some officials within the agency to approach the rewrite piecemeal, to break it up into smaller, more doable parts. While this would be the easiest route for the FAA, the aviation community is strongly resisting those efforts, Bunce said. If the FAA addresses only the easier parts of the rewrite, the more difficult and more encompassing changes might never get accomplished, he said. In that case, it would undercut the benefit of the rewrite, making the stated goal of twice the safety at half the cost less achievable, Bunce added.

The general aviation community is watching closely, as are lawmakers, Bunce said. “We’re doing everything we can to put political pressure on the FAA.” 

“Congress rightfully has focused on this issue,” said NATA president and CEO Tom Hendricks, adding that the Part 23 rewrite effort is important for all facets of industry.  “It has a direct impact on aviation businesses.” He predicts that with a reauthorization bill looming this year, Congress will likely readdress it if the agency hasn’t made substantial progress in the coming months.

Bunce is hoping that the FAA will act before Congress readdresses the deadline. He says, though, that the reauthorization bill–and potential for further congressional action–might provide an incentive for the FAA to get a proposal out sooner rather than later.