EAA Lauds Bipartisan GA Bill to Boost Safety, Lower Costs

May 9, 2013 - EAA applauds the bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS) and a bipartisan group of lawmakers that would establish a date for FAA implementation of its Part 23 Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) recommendations that would increase safety and cut aircraft certification costs.

The bill, the Small Aircraft Revitalization Act of 2013 (H.R. 1848), is based on the ARC's recommendations for performance-based design requirements, instead of technology-dependent requirements that rely on weight and propulsion type assumptions. EAA Chairman of the Board Jack Pelton was a member of the Part 23 ARC steering committee, while Sean Elliott, EAA's vice president of advocacy and safety, was a leading participant in the ARC's discussions and recommendations.

Adopting the Part 23 ARC recommendations would simplify the current aircraft certification process and give manufacturers needed flexibility to achieve compliance through consensus-based standards. Current rules have often hindered safety and aircraft innovations from coming to the marketplace in a timely manner, which has hurt new product development within the light aircraft community.

"Currently the process for bringing new innovations to market, including safety innovations, is a time-consuming, tedious, and expensive process," Pelton said. "The Part 23 ARC sought ways to bring innovation to general aviation in a more responsive manner, while at the same time reducing a major cost of new aircraft and products - which is the price and paperwork involved in certification. That would help lower consumer cost and grow participation in aviation, which is EAA's mission."

The Part 23 ARC included 150 government and aviation industry representatives who worked for 18 months to develop the recommendations. The group's ambitious goal was to halve the cost of aircraft certification while doubling the level of safety by making new technologies more accessible. EAA is a strong proponent of the use of industry consensus standards as an alternate and more economical means of aircraft certification.