By AOPA St af f
The FAA has fi led a not ice o f i ts i nt en -
tion t o r evise r egu latio ns dat ing to th e 196 0s
that gover n th e cert ificati on of r ot or cr aft ,
not ing th at so me techn ol og ical ad vances
“have rend ered th e r egul at io ns ob sol ete. ”
The agen cy will accept pub li c com -
ment s on its no tice o f p ropos ed ru lem aki ng
(htt ps: //ww w. fe de ra lregist er. gov/d oc ument
s/20 17/ 11 /01 /201 7- 23 36 0/n orm al-a nd-
tran spor t- ca teg or y- rotorc ra ft- ce rtif ic ation)
unt il Ja n. 30 , 2 01 8.
The regu lati ons in qu est io n –the cer ti-
fic ati on provisi ons of Part 27,
Air wo rth iness Stand ar ds: Nor mal Categ or y
Rotor craft ; and Part 2 9, Air wort hin ess
St anda rd s: Tr ansp or t C ateg or y Rot orcraf t –
no l ong er add ress “t he ext ens iv e app lica -
tion of adva ncing t ec hno log ie s to r ot or-
craf t,” t he FAA sai d.
The agen cy cur rent ly de als with t he
gaps in reg ulato ry c ove rage by issuing
“reoccur ring sp ecia l co ndi tio ns, equ iva len t
level of saf et y find ings (ELO S), a nd me ans
of co mpl ian ce (M OC) issu e paper s. Th is
pro pose d ru le w oul d ad dr es s t he se pro bl em
areas by up dat ing tho se s ta nda rd s t hat cau se
unneces sar y bur dens in cost an d time to
bot h the F AA and the rot orc ra ft in du st ry,”
st at es the re gula tor y fili ng pu bli she d No v. 1.
It n ote s, “In so me ca ses , ad vanc e-
me nts in te chn ol ogy ha ve r end er ed th e
regu la tio ns ob sol ete .”
Th e FA A in te nd s to use the sam e
me th od s n ow in pla ce for ass urin g com -
plia nc e, “and the re woul d be a re duc ed
bur den thr ough c lar ifi cation of the sa fe ty
requ ir eme nt s f or the i nsta lle d s yste ms.”
Th e FA A h igh li gh ted t ec hnolog ica l
adv ance s in se ve ral desi gn are as inc lud -
in g fligh t- contr ol a uto mat ion as ar eas in
nee d o f r ev is ion.
“T he roto rcr aft autop il ot system s of
pre vio us y ears c ont ro lle d only alti tude ,
at titude, and hea di ng. The mor e
adv ance d a ut opi lo t s ys te ms a lso cont rol
air sp eed, ve rti ca l sp eed, an d h over ,” itsaid, a ckn owle dgin g that c ha nge s in the
mark etpl ace s ugge st that th e fl ight- con-
trol au toma tion tr end will con tinu e.
The p rop osed r ul e als o wou ld i nco r-
por ate s afet y r eco mmen da tio ns i ss ued in
2014 b y th e N atio nal Tra nsp orta tio n
Safe ty Boar d on co mpl ianc e m etho ds
“u sed t o cer tifi cat e in -s erv ice l ithi um-i on
bat tery ai rcraf t inst al latio ns ” f or r otorc raf t.
The NT SB r eco mmen da tio ns al so cal led
fo r dev el opi ng new saf ety- pr act ice s p ol i-cies i ncl udin g est ab li shmen t of a pa nel o f
tech ni cal ex pe rt s to a dv ise o n c om plia nc e.
Mem bers who wis h to com ment on
the p ro pos ed re visio ns i de nti fi ed by doc k-
et n umber FAA -2 017 -09 90 may do so by
Jan. 30, 20 18 on line (se e web site abov e) or
by m ai l t o D ocket Op era ti ons , M- 30; U .S.
Dep artm ent of T ran spo rt ati on (DO T),
120 0 New Je rsey Av enu e SE, Room W12-
1 40 , We st B ui lding G ro und F loo r,
Wash ing ton, DC 205 90- 000 1.December 2017 http://www.inflightusa.com 11
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tise d for s al e in any edit ion. By la w t he ai rwort hines s of an y ai rcraf t sol d is t he r espo ns iblity of the seller and buyer.FAA TO UPDA TE 'O BS OL ETE' R OTOR CR AFTCERTIF ICAT IONRUL ES
Bell Helicopter unv eiled the F CX-0 01 ,
its f irst concep t a ircr aft , a t Heli-Exp o
20 17. (Mike Collin s).