Letter to Director Donovan - Review FAA's Rule for Small Airplane Certification Regulations

Letter

Dear Director Donovan,

As leading proponents of the Small Airplane Revitalization Act (SARA, P.L. 113-53), we urge you to expedite and complete Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review of the revised part 23 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (title 14, Code of Federal Regulations), which apply to certification of general aviation aircraft, so that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) may issue a notice of proposed rulemaking in that proceeding by the end of 2015. While the timeframe is short, this is a critical step necessary for the FAA to lead technical discussions at a milestone meeting of global aviation authorities on January 5-7, 2016.

The FAA will miss the deadline in SARA for publication of a final rule in the proceeding to revise part 23 by December 15, 2015. In mandating substantial revisions to part 23, Congress intended to facilitate the timely introduction of safer small aircraft and new safety-enhancing technologies. Specifically, Congress intended that the FAA: (1) remove prescriptive methods of compliance, (2) develop safety objectives that address future technologies, (3) utilize FAA-accepted consensus standards, and (4) develop globally acceptable regulations. FAA has stated this effort will double real-world safety while cutting certification costs in half.

The FAA must move forward now or it risks losing its international leadership. As an example, the European Aviation Safety Agency has already published a similar draft proposal that could be implemented in early 2016 in a move that would seriously compromise FAA's leadership on the issue.

SARA enjoyed strong bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate as well as broad support from the general aviation community. We hope that under your leadership OMB will expedite and complete its review of the FAA's proposed rule revising part 23 so that the FAA may publish an NPRM by the end of 2015. Thank you for giving full and fair consideration to our request.

Sincerely,

Mike Pompeo
Dan Lipinski
Frank LoBiondo
Rick Larsen
Sam Graves
Todd Rokita
Rick Nolan