Flight Training - March 2015 - 23

recommendations, including changing the FAA's approach to aircraft
certification in order to speed safety enhancements into the cockpit. The
proposed changes are intended to better reflect rapid advancements in
technology and ensure that more aircraft owners have access to the latest
safety equipment.
AOPA and others, as part of the Certification Process Study and the Part
23 Reorganization Aviation Rulemaking Committee, have worked closely
with the FAA since 2008 to reform the agency's complex certification
regulations with the goal of producing "twice the safety at half the cost." In
2013, the president signed the Small Airplane Revitalization Act, which set
a 2015 deadline to complete certification reforms. While the FAA has said it
will miss that deadline, the agency has made progress in some areas, including approving the use of angle of attack indicators in GA aircraft as a means
to increase situational awareness and prevent loss-of-control accidents. In
urging the GA community to embrace the technology, the FAA cited the
recommendations of the General Aviation Joint Steering Committee and
a study of 2,472 fatal general aviation accidents that found in-flight loss of
control was the most prevalent cause.
While the FAA has made some progress, the majority of emphasis has
been on Part 23 reform, which would make it easier to put advanced safety
technology into new aircraft. AOPA and others have also been pushing the
FAA to reform rules to allow new technology into existing aircraft.
"If we want to increase safety and reduce certification costs, we need to
include the existing fleet as well as new production aircraft," said Baker.
"That means regulations, orders, and policies regarding the maintenance,
installation, and modernization of existing aircraft must also be streamlined
and transformed."
There are more than 200,000 aircraft in the existing general aviation
fleet, including more than 100,000 IFR-equipped aircraft, the majority of
which are using technology from the 1960s through the 1980s.
Preventing loss-of-control accidents is the only GA-specific target on
the NTSB's "Most Wanted" list. The other items cover all modes of transportation and include disconnecting from deadly distractions, ending
substance impairment, enhancing public helicopter safety, implementing
positive train control, improving rail tank car safety, making mass transit
safer, requiring medical fitness for duty, strengthening commercial trucking
safety, and strengthening procedural compliance.

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Flight Training - March 2015

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