Policy for Type Certification of Very Light Airplanes as a Special Class of Aircraft

Document Headings Document headings vary by document type but may contain the following: the agency or agencies that issued and signed a document the number of the CFR title and the number of each part the document amends, proposes to amend, or is directly related to the agency docket number / agency internal file number the RIN which identifies each regulatory action listed in the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions See the Document Drafting Handbook for more details. Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration 14 CFR Part 21 [Docket No. FAA-2023-0623] AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Department of Transportation (DOT). ACTION: Notification of policy. SUMMARY: The FAA announces the policy for the type certification of Very Light Airplanes (VLA) as a special class of aircraft under the Federal Aviation Regulations. DATES: This policy is effective October 11, 2023. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Hieu Nguyen, Product Policy Management, AIR-62B, Policy and Standards Division, Aircraft Certification Service, Federal Aviation Administration; telephone 816-329-4123; email hieu.nguyen@faa.gov . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background The FAA issued a notice of proposed policy, which published in the Federal Register on August 9, 2023 ( 88 FR 53815 ). The FAA received comments from two commenters. The comments are available to view in Docket No. FAA-2023-0623 at www.regulations.gov . Discussion of Comments The FAA received one comment from an individual that was unrelated to the notice and outside the scope of the proposed policy. The other comment was a request from the General Aviation Manufacturers Association asking for a 30-day extension to the comment period. However, the FAA did not extend the comment period. The FAA chose a 30-day comment period because it balances the need to have a final policy available for applicants with the need for interested persons to have time to comment on the proposed policy. The F…