FAA May Tighten VLJ Requirements

 

The FAR Part 21.35 function and reliability flight testing would include turbine-powered airplanes with maximum takeoff weights of 6,000 lb. or less under a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) released by FAA on April 16.

Currently, FAR Part 23 function and reliability testing only applies to new aircraft with higher gross takeoff weights. The NPRM might be called the Eclipse 500 rule because one of FAA’s prime motivations, according to the document, was the organization’s recent type certification process associated with the Eclipse 500.

“After reviewing the Eclipse SCR [Special Certification Review] and the EA-500 certification program, the FAA reviewed the likelihood that function and reliability flight testing requirements might have preventatively identified problems encountered by the EA-500 when it entered service,” the NPRM notes. As examples, the proposed rule cites Eclipse 500’s pitch and rudder trim malfunctions, moisture trapped in the pitot static system, engine surging caused by carbon deposits on the high pressure turbine inlet vanes, brake maladies and tire problems.