Interest in Restructure of Rotorcraft Airworthiness Standards

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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has published a Federal Register notice requesting comments and information on the public’s interest in restructuring the rotorcraft airworthiness standards of Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) parts 27 (normal category rotorcraft) and 29 (transport category rotorcraft). Specifically, the agency is seeking comments on whether to change the existing applicability standards (14 CFR 27.1 and 29.1) for maximum weight and number of passenger seats for either or both parts 27 and 29 rotorcraft, or whether to consider other approaches for determining applicability. The FAA is soliciting public input because of some rotorcraft community interest in increasing the 7,000 pound maximum weight limit for the modern normal category rotorcraft and because there may be recommendations for new approaches to make the part 27 and 29 airworthiness standards more efficient and adaptable to future technology. This action is part of an effort to develop recommendations for possible FAA rulemaking action.

Your Comments Are Welcome

We invite your comments on the issues described in the notice. The most useful comments are those that address the following questions:

(a) To what extent do you believe the current rotorcraft certification standards need to be amended to remain relevant over the next 20 years, given the rapid pace of advances in technology?

(b) Should the current rotorcraft certification standards be completely changed, or are weight and number of passengers still relevant for determining certification?

(c) If you believe certification should continue to be based on weight and number of passengers, to what extent should the existing standards be updated, and how?

(d) As revisions to regulatory certification standards would require participation in a rulemaking committee over a substantial period of time, to what extent would you be willing to participate?

Responses to these questions will be helpful in evaluating the issues and determining what future actions we should undertake. As a convenience, these questions are provided in the Request for Comments (PDF) linked form.

To ensure consideration, you must submit comments as specified below. We will consider all communications received on or before the closing date for comments. All comments submitted will be available for examination, both before and after the closing date for comments, under the docket number FAA-2013-0144 at http://www.regulations.gov.

Send your comments to reach us on or before May 23, 2013.

Send comments identified by docket number FAA-2013-0144 using any of the following methods:

• Federal eRegulations Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov, use the search function to locate the docket number, and follow the online instructions for sending your comments electronically.

• Mail: Send comments to Docket Operations, M-30, U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Room W12-140, West Building Ground Floor, Washington, D.C. , 20590-0001.

• Hand Delivery: Take comments to Docket Operations in Room W12-140 of the West Building Ground Floor at 1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E. , Washington, D.C. , between 8 a.m. , and 5 p.m. , Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

• Fax: Fax comments to Docket Operations at 202-493-2251.

Privacy: The FAA will post all comments it receives, without change, to the docket at http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information the commenter provides. Using the search function of the docket web site, anyone can find and read the electronic form of all comments received into any FAA docket, including the name of the individual sending the comment (or signing the comment for an association, business, labor union, etc. ). DOT’s complete Privacy Act Statement can be found in the Federal Register published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-19478), as well as at http://DocketsInfo.dot.gov.

Docket: Comments received can be seen at http://www.regulations.gov . Follow the online instructions for accessing the docket or go to the Docket Operations in Room W12-140 of the West Building Ground Floor at 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE. , Washington, D.C. , between 9 a.m. , and 5 p.m. , Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

FAA, Rotorcraft Directorate, Regulations and Policy Group (Attn: John Vanhoudt, ASW-111), 2601 Meacham Blvd. , Fort Worth, Texas 76137; telephone (817)222-5167; facsimile (817)222-5961; or email john.vanhoudt@faa.gov.

Request for Comments (PDF)