Stage: Final Publications

Regulatory Agency Final Publications

FAA AC_137-1B; Certification Process for Agricultural Aircraft Operators

This advisory circular (AC) describes an acceptable means, but not the only means, for an
agricultural aircraft operator to apply for an Agricultural Aircraft Operator Certificate under
Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 137. The AC also addresses safety
practices for agricultural aircraft operators. This AC is not mandatory and does not constitute a
regulation. However, if you use the following means described, you must follow it in all
important aspects

FAA Notice N_8900.433; Part 137 Guidance and Advisory Circular Update

This notice provides guidance to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) aviation safety inspectors (ASI) concerning Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 137 operators. It is the intent of this notice to clarify former issues found in guidance and to include information on the use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in agricultural aircraft operations. This notice will help ensure uniform application of policy through guidance.

FAA Draft AC_120-59B; Internal Evaluation Programs

This AC provides information
and guidance to certificate holders operating under Title 14 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (14 CFR) who are designing, developing, and implementing an Internal
Evaluation Program (IEP). The procedures and practices outlined in this AC can be
applied to all of a certificate holder’s operations.

EASA CM-ES-003 Issue 01; Guidance to Certify an Aircraft as PED tolerant

The purpose of this Certification Memorandum is to provide specific guidance on the certification of an aircraft to be tolerant to the electromagnetic emissions of Portable Electronic Devices (PEDs). Wireless communication standards which are limited to a maximum of 100mW Equivalent Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP) do not need to be analysed for backdoor coupling (for example Bluetooth, Wi-Fi in the 2.4GHz ISM band), as these low power emissions are not considered a risk to the safe operation of an aircraft. Front door coupling assessment is only needed if it is intended to allow operation of PEDs in low visibility approach operation.
Commission Regulation (EU) No 965/2012 and the relevant amendments require Part CAT, Part NCC and Part SPO operators to demonstrate that any PED use on-board is safe and does not affect adversely the performance of the aircraft systems and equipment. For Part NCO the pilot in command is responsible to permit the use of any PED on board.
The EASA published the Part-CAT AMC/GM and Part-NCC AMC/GM, this material offers guidance and defines different scenarios for the operator to determine whether it is safe to permit the use of PEDs on board. Some of this scenarios refer to an aircraft which is certified as PED tolerant. This Certification Memorandum aims at defining the specific guidelines to certify an aircraft as PED tolerant.
Additionally the EUROCAE Working Group 99 (WG-99) and RTCA Special Committee 234 (SC-234) have recently updated the existing material, providing recommendations to demonstrate tolerance to RF from intentionally transmitting PEDs following existing practices for aircraft system high intensity radiated field (HIRF) protection. The intention of this Certification Memorandum is to recognize this new approach as acceptable means of compliance for the demonstration of an aircraft as PED tolerant.
This Certification Memorandum is applicable to aircraft certified to CS-23, CS-27, CS-29 and CS-25.
The certification guidance included in this Certification Memorandum to demonstrate an aircraft as tolerant to the electromagnetic hazards created by PEDs, may also be used by the operators to show compliance with the operational provisions referred above.

Opinion 07/2017 Revision of the operational rules for sailplanes

This Opinion addresses a proportionality issue related to sailplane operations. Its specific objective is to establish a simpler and proportionate regulatory framework for air operations with sailplanes.

For this purpose, this Opinion proposes the extraction of the rules for air operations with sailplanes from Regulation (EU) No 965/2012 (except for the authority requirements specified in Annex II (Part-ARO)) and the issue of a new regulation related to air operations with sailplanes. The scope of this new regulation may be extended at a later stage to include other areas related to sailplanes. The final goal would then be to develop — at least to a certain extent — a single ‘sailplane rule book’.

With the new draft regulation, EASA proposes rules for air operations with sailplanes which are less complex and which are proportionate to the complexity and risks of such operations.

In summary, the proposed changes are expected to maintain safety while reducing the regulatory burden especially for sailplane pilots/operators.