AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2016 - 32

PILOT BRIEFING 
FAA NEWS |

Huerta says reform is on track
Third class medical, aircraft certification, safety on administrator's mind
B Y D AV E H I R S C H M A N

THE FAA will move quickly to implement
third class medical reform, streamline aircraft certification standards, and allow more
modern safety equipment into general aviation aircraft, FAA Administrator Michael
Huerta said at EAA Airventure in late July.
Huerta said the agency is on track to
finalize third class medical regulations
within 180 days, as directed by Congress,
and implement them in one year. "I've
assembled a dedicated team," he said.
"We're going to meet the deadline that
Congress laid out."
The FAA's years-long effort to streamline aircraft certification standards will be
complete by the end of 2016, Huerta said.
That process, known as the Part 23 rewrite,
replaces decades-old procedural standards
with new, risk-based assessments.
"The new framework defines safety outcomes," Huerta said. "There's more than
one way to deliver on safety." The "transformational" new approach is designed to
encourage flexibility and innovation among
aircraft manufacturers.

For the legacy
GA fleet, the FAA's
r e c e n t a p p r o vals of Garmin's G5
electronic flight
instrument and
Dynon's D10A attitude indicator are
likely to pave the
way for other nonTSOed avionics in
Standard category
airplanes. Huerta said these "potentially
lifesaving technologies," which until now
have been limited to Experimental aircraft,
are available at "lower cost and offer higher
levels of safety" than the mechanical instruments they replace.
Huerta became FAA administrator in
2013, and this was his fifth appearance at
AirVenture. Previous sessions often have
been testy with pilots questioning Huerta's
commitment to third class medical reform,
aircraft modernization, and other issues
important to GA pilots.

The atmosphere was more
welcoming this year, and
many questioners praised the
administrator for the FAA's
willingness to adopt changes
they've long sought. They
also praised the FAA's new
compliance philosophy that
emphasizes nonpunitive education and counseling to pilots
who make airspace or other
blunders, rather than certificate revocations or suspensions.
Huerta prodded aircraft owners to
install Automatic Dependent SurveillanceBroadcast (ADS-B) Out equipment before
the January 1, 2020, deadline and take
advantage of the FAA's $500 rebate program; he reiterated that the installation
deadline is firm and will not budge.
"There's no better time to get off the
sidelines and start enjoying the benefits of
ADS-B," Huerta said.
EMAIL dave.hirschman@aopa.org

THIS MONTH IN AVIATION

October 14, 1947
Capt. Charles E. Yeager flies faster than the speed of sound for
the first time in a Bell X‑1 research airplane. Glamourous Glennis
was dropped from a B-29 at 45,000 feet over the Mojave Desert
and achieved Mach 1.

"Just before you break
through the sound
barrier, the cockpit shakes
the most."
32 | AOPA PILOT October
PILOT
2016
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2016
