Brussels—The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) today praised the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for issuing a Notice of Proposed Amendment (NPA) on the CS-23 rulemaking for the light end of the general aviation market. The proposed rule will make it easier for the general aviation community in Europe to design, develop, and deploy safety-enhancing technologies and products for the current fleet as well as future small aeroplanes.

EASA’s draft rule is closely coordinated with the U.S. FAA’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NRPM) for Part 23 aircraft, which was issued in March. The two agency proposals both remove current overly prescriptive design requirements and replace them with performance-based airworthiness standards, while also recognizing the use of consensus-based standards to establish acceptable methods of compliance for specific designs and technologies. In its NPA, EASA noted its high-level coordination with the FAA on this issue, as well as its work with the aviation community in developing consensus-based standards.

EASA’s CS-23 draft rule goes slightly further than the FAA’s Part 23 proposal in areas such as allowing more proportional requirements for loss-of-control, for example, which seems to benefit from the general aviation community’s comments to the FAA’s docket and EASA’s Advance Notice of Proposed Amendment. EASA will accept comments on the proposal until September 23, and plans to publish its rule by the end of the year. It is hoped that the FAA will also include revisions based on the community’s comments when it issues its final Part 23 rule.

“GAMA is pleased to see EASA moving forward with its proposed rule on CS-23 and particularly its announcement that it will finalise the CS-23 rewrite by the end of 2016,” GAMA President and CEO Pete Bunce said. “EASA’s draft rule and its harmonisation with the FAA’s Part 23 proposal reflects the positive outcomes that can occur when regulatory agencies around the world work together and partner with industry to develop smart, common-sense solutions that allow general aviation manufacturers to innovate as they continue to improve the safety of aircraft. We hope that the FAA will announce its final Part 23 rule soon to ensure global harmonisation on this very important issue.”