• 25 Jun 2024 06:21 PM
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Washington Report, July/August 2024

FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 Becomes Law
On May 16, US President Joe Biden signed legislation to provide the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) with its latest five-year mandate and to fund the agency for fiscal years 2024–2028, with more than $105B for the FAA and $738M for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) during those years.

Both houses of Congress passed the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 after months of regulatory deadline extensions. The Senate had held up its bill (after the House of Representatives approved its version in May 2023) due to concerns from some members on specific issues, including whether to increase the retirement age of a commercial pilot from 65 to 67 years old (see “Washington Report,” Vertiflite, May/June 2024). The Senate prevailed in all its demands.

Safety certification and aviation infrastructure are among the many areas given funding and regulatory guidance through the five-year congressional mandate. This includes new funds for training and job incentives to grow the aviation workforce, including a priority to recruit and train air traffic controllers.

The FAA law also increased the priority of advanced air mobility (AAM) and emerging aircraft efforts for the agency, along with uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) flight operations and development of hydrogen propulsion. This included a mandate for the agency to publish a final special federal aviation regulation (SFAR) to operate powered-lift aircraft within seven months. That could ease the path for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to enter commercial service; some parts of the FAA’s proposed SFAR were nearly universally panned when it was published last year (see “Industry Vets FAA’s Powered-Lift SFAR,” Vertiflite, Sept/Oct 2023 and www.vtol.org/sfar).

In its mandate, Congress directed the FAA to study the current and future electrical power demands at airports needed for electric aircraft and electric multimodal charging stations. The FAA will launch a five-year infrastructure pilot program for the acquisition, installation, and operation of electric charging equipment.

Electric aircraft companies praised the new law that calls for rules and guidance to certify those aircraft. The legislation’s prioritization of infrastructure development for eVTOL aircraft won support from Lilium CEO Klaus Roewe, who noted the law orders an updated environmental assessment process and new guidance for a vertiport design advisory circular (AC). “We are encouraged to see US lawmakers take concrete steps toward ensuring the creation of rules necessary for eVTOLs to operate in the US,” Roewe stated.

The agency is required by law to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking to allow for UAS flights beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS), potentially removing a key obstacle for the use of remotely piloted and autonomous aircraft in US airspace. This would provide more solid regulations for those technologies and help move beyond the stopgap measure used for years by the agency of granting exemptions to UAS developers.

Many aspiring eVTOL developers originally proposed autonomous passenger flights to minimize weight and improve profitability before delaying their plans due to a lack of movement on the regulatory hurdles. New BVLOS rules would be a step toward realizing those ambitions.

The FAA must also review whether to revise an existing rule to install crash-resistant fuel systems (CRFS) in newly built helicopters. That rule doesn’t require the installation of CRFS in helicopters built prior to April 2020; previously, older models could continue to use existing fuel tanks on new-build aircraft. The law states the review must determine “whether and to what extent crash-resistant fuel systems could have prevented fatalities in the accidents” and directs FAA to develop recommendations within 18 months.

The FAA is also ordered by Congress to “develop a viable path for the certification of the safe use of hydrogen in civil aviation, including hydrogen-powered aircraft.”

With that in mind, Congress gave the agency’s Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee a deadline of May 2027 to recommend rules for “the certification and installation of electric engines and propellers; hybrid-electric engines and propulsion systems; hydrogen fuel cells” and other “novel propulsion mechanisms.”

In addition, by the end of November, the FAA must create a new Advanced Aviation Technology and Innovation Steering Committee to plan a comprehensive strategy and to resolve issues, enabling the deployment of new aviation technologies.

New FAA Safety Management System Rule
On April 22, the FAA announced that by the end of May 2027, operators of air tours (Part 91) and air ambulance operations, charters and commuter flights (Part 135) must implement a safety management system (SMS) program and submit a declaration of compliance. The SMS rule does not apply if a single pilot is the sole person responsible for the safe operation of the aircraft.

However, the SMS requirements extend to existing Part 21 type certificate and production certificate holders, which have six months to develop and submit an SMS implementation plan. A statement of SMS compliance would also be required in the certification process of forthcoming eVTOL and other AAM aircraft.

The FAA stated that this rule “provides a means for a structured, repeatable, systematic approach to proactively identify hazards and manage safety risk,” including by sharing hazard information with other aviation organizations.

EASA’s Updated Innovative Air Mobility Hub
In May, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) upgraded and expanded its online drone and air mobility hub for data resources and secure online forums for discussions between companies, regulators and academia, which it had originally launched in December 2023. Upgrades released by EASA on this Innovative Air Mobility (IAM) hub include a new section on privacy, featuring resources about how the drone industry could address the privacy concerns of citizens within European Union regulations.

Additions to the members area of the hub also include a critical area calculator for specific operations risk assessment (SORA) approvals and a pilot test for operational declarations. Members of the hub include European companies Airbus, Lilium and Volocopter. A third upgrade, related to noise and sustainability best practices and rules for drones and air mobility, is planned for later in 2024.