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The Part 23 Rewrite: A Disaster in the Making?

Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • The "Part 23 rewrite" is a significant international initiative to simplify aircraft certification by shifting from federal regulations to ASTM standards, aiming to reduce costs and accelerate technology integration.
  • Despite its potential benefits like lower consumer prices and faster market entry for new tech, the author expresses strong concerns that this shift could lead to regrettable outcomes for product quality and safety.
  • Specific worries include manufacturers struggling to maintain robust design, consumers receiving inferior products, and the reliability of less-established avionics suppliers, drawing parallels to the mixed success and market failures within the Light Sport Aircraft sector.
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Suddenly, the so-called “Part 23 rewrite” has grown from a simple tweaking of aircraft and equipment certification standards to a full-on international effort to harmonize regulations around the world. Changing the rules of the game for how manufacturers approve new technology for light airplanes by shifting from the federal aviation regulations (or their international equivalent) to ASTM standards is a watershed event in the history of aviation. It will reduce the time and cost to bring new products to market, allowing GA to keep up with rapid advances in technology while, hopefully, bringing prices for the consumer way down.

This is a big deal — so we’d better not screw it up.

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