Australia and the USA are set to amend rules to allow the carriage of revenue passengers in single-engine turbine-powered aircraft under instrument flight rules and at night.
The concession is certain to boost sales of single-turbine types and is particularly important to Cessna with its Caravan and Pilatus with the PC-12.
The Australian Civil Aviation Authority (ACAA) has circulated an aviation regulatory proposal (ARP) for industry comment, and a response prepared by Australian Cessna and Pilatus representatives requests only minor amendments.
The US Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) has now also virtually completed a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on the same issue. A draft has been circulated to selected interested parties prior to publication.
Both proposals, similar in substance to the Canadian rules enacted in December 1992, detail provisions on demonstrated reliability, system redundancy and duplication, training, operational standards and requirements, trend monitoring, and emergency provisions.
The FAA draft says: "The FAA is proposing to allow such operations because operational data indicate that the reliability of the engines and aircraft systems used is high enough to make these operations at least as safe as multi-engine operations. Also the data indicate that most accidents have occurred when pilots flying under visual flight rules, encountered instrument meteorological conditions the proposed rule would provide increased safety and flexibility to small air taxi and commuter operators and improve service to small communities, many of which cannot accommodate multi-engine aircraft."
Source: Flight International
