Stage: Final Publications

Regulatory Agency Final Publications

FAA NPRM Docket No. FAA-2019-0451; Notice No. 19-08 Special Flight Authorizations for Supersonic Aircraft

Current regulations prohibit overland supersonic civil flights in the United States, but include a procedure to request authorization for these flights
for the purposes of test and development of new aircraft. The criteria for such authorizations were developed in the 1970s and placed in an
appendix to the operating regulations. With renewed interest in supersonic aircraft development, the FAA is proposing to modernize the procedure
for requesting these special flight authorizations.

FAA Memo AIR600-19-6C0-DM117 Expansion of certificate issuance authority in FAA Order 8130.34, Airworthiness Certification of Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Optionally Piloted Aircraft

This deviation memorandum expands certificate issuance authority as described in
section 2 of chapter 2 in FAA Order 8130.34. The expansion comes from FAA Order
8000.95, Designee Management Policy, memo number AIR-600-18-6F0-01, which
authorizes the appointment of a DAR-F to issue special flight permits (SFPs) for UAS
production flight testing and experimental airworthiness certificates for the purpose of
operating a UAS for research and development, market survey, showing compliance, and
crew training at a manufacturing facility. Memo number AIR-600-18-6F0-01 is expected
to be incorporated into Change 5 of FAA Order 8000.95 later this year.