Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR)

• Part 21, Certification Procedures for Products, Articles, and Parts
• Part 23, Airworthiness Standards: Normal, Utility, Acrobatic, and Commuter Category Airplanes
• Part 34, Fuel Venting and Exhaust Emission Requirements for Turbine Engine Powered Airplanes
• Part 36, Noise Standards: Aircraft Type and Airworthiness Certification
• Part 43, Maintenance, Preventive Maintenance, Rebuilding, and Alteration

Policy

• PS-ACE100-2001-006, Static Strength Substantiation of Composite Airplane Structure
• PS-ACE100-2001-004, Guidance for Reviewing Certification Plans to Address Human Factors for Certification of Part 23 Small Airplanes

Advisory Circulars (ACs)

• 23-15, Small Airplane Certification Compliance Program
• 23-16, Powerplant Guide for Certification of Part 23 Airplanes and Airships
• 23-17, Systems and Equipment Guide for Certification of Part 23 Airplanes and Airships
• 23-19, Airframe Guide for Certification of Part 23 Airplanes
• 23.1309-1, Equipment, Systems, and Installations in Part 23 Airplanes

  Quick Reference for Part 23 and Associated Advisory Circulars (AC)

Industry Standards

• FAA Accepted Consensus Standards for Light-Sport Aircraft
• FAA Accepted Consensus Standards for Part 23 Airplanes (Pre Amendment 23-64)
• FAA Accepted Means of Compliance for Part 23 Airplanes (Amendment 23-64)

Guidance

Small Airplanes Issues List (SAIL)

In order to ensure that certification issues are identified upfront for all small airplane projects, the Aircraft Certification Service, Policy and Innovation (P&I) Division maintains a product issues list of known certification-related issues that may require P&I involvement – the Small Airplane Issues List. The Small Airplane Issues List is intended to contain all known certification issues; however, new certification issues are identified periodically. For example, the first time a new design feature is certified on a small airplane, the design feature would not be on the Small Airplane Issues List, but would still require P&I involvement.

Part 23 Amendment 23-64 Implementation Procedures Guide

Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC)

• Special Emphasis Item (SEI) list for Import of Chinese Products

European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)

• EASA Safety/Special Emphasis Items (SEI)
  • FAA SEI list for 14 CFR Part 23 Airplanes, Airships, Gliders, Balloons Products (Effective June 10, 2024)
• Previous EASA SEI Lists and Cross Reference
  • EASA Safety/Special Emphasis Item (SEI) Item Number to New Non-Basic Number Cross Reference
  • EASA Safety/Special Emphasis Item (SEI) List (Superseded March 22, 2019)
  • Small Airplane Standards Branch (SASB) Non-Basic Classification Criteria And Safety Emphasis Item (SEI) List (Superseded June 10, 2024)
• EASA Significant Standard Differences (SSD): As required by the FAA-EASA Technical Implementation Procedures (TIP), the current published FAA Significant Standards Differences (SSD) pairing lists for 14 CFR part 23 pairing to the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) CS-23 for products coming into the USA are listed below. If an amendment pairing is not shown here for your project, the Small Airplane Standards Branch will need to evaluate and develop a new SSD list and this will make the project Non-Basic per the FAA-EASA TIP Rev 6.
  • SSD List Part 23-57 to CS 23 No Rev 
  • SSD List Part 23-58 to CS 23 No Rev 
  • SSD List Part 23-59 to CS 23 No Rev 
  • SSD List Part 23-59 to CS 23-2 
  • SSD List Part 23-61 to CS 23-2 
  • SSD List Part 23-62 to CS 23-3 Rev 3
  • SSD List Part 23-62 to CS 23-4 
  • SSD List Part 23-64 to CS 23-5

    Note 1: These amendment pairs have to be evaluated for both Basic and Non-Basic projects as required.

    Note 2: As of February 12, 2018, the above SSD list with part 23-62 does not account for the amendment 23-62 errors yet. When the FAA Equivalent Level of Safety (ELOS) for the 23-62 errors is issued, there may be a few more SSDs introduced when compared to CS 23.

    Note 3: The above SSD pairings do not include the additional EASA High Performance and General Certification Review Items (CRIs) which add additional EASA Special Conditions, Equivalent Safety Finding (ESFs), deviations, and method of compliance (MOC) that may introduce additional differences in certification requirements, which could become another set of SSDs. When these EASA additional CRIs are part of the incoming project, the Small Airplane Standards Branch will evaluate them to determine if they impact the FAA requirements and if a new set of SSDs are required.

National Agency for Civil Aviation in Brazil (ANAC)

• ANAC Non-Basic Classification Criteria and Safety Emphasis Items (SEI) List
  • Small Airplane Products and Approvals Non-Basic Classification Criteria And Safety Emphasis Item (SEI) List, Revision 4 (Effective August 15, 2022)

• Previous ANAC SEI Lists
  • Small Airplane Products and Approvals Non-Basic Classification Criteria And Safety Emphasis Item (SEI) List, Revision 3 (Superceded August 15, 2022)
  • Small Airplane Standards Branch (SASB) Non-Basic Classification Criteria And Safety Emphasis Item (SEI) List, Revision 2 (Superceded January 31, 2022)

United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority (UK CAA)

• The above EASA Significant Standards Differences (SSD) lists also apply for the UK CAA, if the product is using the EASA CS regulations. If an amendment pairing using the EASA lists is not shown here for your project, the Small Airplane Standards Branch will need to evaluate and develop a new SSD list. If the product is using the English BCARs, contact the Small Airplane Standards Branch before applying for validation.
• The above EASA Safety/Special Emphasis Items (SEI) lists also apply for the UK CAA.

Technical Standard Orders (TSO)

• TSO-C22, Safety Belts
• TSO-C39, 9g Transport Airplane Seats Certified by Static Testing
• TSO-C114, Torso Restraint Systems
• TSO-C127, Rotorcraft, Transport Airplane, and Normal and Utility Airplane Seating Systems