International collaboration moved to the forefront in 2016 through a landmark agreement at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for a global aviation carbon dioxide standard and associated market-based measure, as well as through significant progress in both U.S. and European regulations governing small aircraft certification.

The ICAO Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP) set the stage in early February with an agreement to establish the first-ever standard for aircraft carbon-dioxide emissions. That agreement, which paved the way for adoption by the full ICAO General Assembly later in the year, included the application of the standard to airliners as well as new-production business jets with an mtow of more than 5.7 metric tons/12,566 pounds and most new-production large turboprops with an mtow of more than 8.6 metric tons/18,959 pounds.

ICAO followed that with the approval of the standard and an agreement on a global market-based measure (MBM) to control the industry’s CO₂ footprint at the 39th meeting of its assembly in October. To the approval of the business aviation community, the MBM program has a carve-out for small emitters, a category that includes most business aircraft operators.

While eyes focused on the international stage, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency continued to lay the groundwork for adopting the standard with a notice of proposed rulemaking in July finding that emissions from certain types of aircraft contribute to air pollution that endangers public health and welfare. That finding triggers a requirement for the agency to adopt emission standards.

The FAA, meanwhile, also made strides on the environmental front with its research on a replacement fuel for leaded aviation gasoline. Early in the year, the agency narrowed the field of potential replacement fuels under study to candidates from Shell and Swift Fuels. The FAA has taken the next step toward its goal of transitioning to unleaded avgas by the end of next year.

Simplified Certification Processes

After years in the making, the FAA finally released its rewrite of Part 23 regulations governing small aircraft. In March, the agency released a notice of proposed rulemaking that would make Part 23 certification standards more performance-based and less prescriptive. The NPRM would facilitate use of international aviation community consensus standards, rather than solely FAA-driven requirements.

Apart from a few quibbles about the fine details, the rulemaking drew rare universal praise from the industry. While the proposal was years in the making, the FAA has moved at almost record pace from proposal to the final rule. The agency had finished its work and shipped off its final rule for review by the Department of Transportation last summer. In October, that rule had moved to the Office of Management and Budget for final review. That review was completed in December .

FAA Administrator Michael Huerta described the intent of the rule to the Aero Club of Washington last fall: “There’s a simple idea at the heart of it. The FAA doesn’t want to tell manufacturers how to build things. We’re not in the engineering business, and we can’t assume we have all the answers about the best way to develop an aircraft.”


The FAA’s counterpart in Europe, the European Aviation Safety Agency, similarly issued its own proposed rewrite for CS-23 rules governing small aircraft. The FAA and EASA have been striving to take a global approach to these certification efforts and have been attempting to move forward in tandem on the rulemakings.

Europe also made strides on clearing the way for commercial single-engine turbine operations in instrument meteorological conditions (SET-IMC). The EASA Committee, comprising European Commission members and national experts from each European Union country, gave a key sign-off on such operations in June, marking a step toward implementation early this year. Europe has been one of the last major markets to prohibit such operations.

The FAA also continued to make progress in its efforts to facilitate the introduction of and governing of unmanned aerial systems (UAS). The agency in June released the long-awaited final Part 107 regulation, providing for the operation of commercial, non-recreational small UAS, weighing less than 55 pounds. The regulation permits daylight-only flights that remain within the visual line of sight of the UAS operator. The agency also last summer established a new Drone Advisory Committee to advise it on introducing unmanned aircraft into the national airspace system.

The agency last year remained focused on collaboration, safety management, improved consistency and compliance. It continued to implement its compliance philosophy, which is designed to work with certificate holders on ways to improve compliance before it considers enforcement. It also continued to implement congressional directives and other initiatives to improve regulatory consistency, including work toward formation of a Regulatory Consistency Communication Board.

This shift toward a philosophy of collaboration and compliance is part of a cultural change that Huerta and Flight Standards director John Duncan outlined to aviation executives last year. The FAA wants to support progress—a message “I’ve been taking to every office, at every level, of the FAA,” Huerta said in his Aero Club speech. “I’ve challenged our teams to think differently, and I’ve seen some promising results.”


Duncan also emphasized to attendees of the National Air Transportation Association 2016 Aviation Business Conference the agency’s efforts to change its internal culture. “Changing the structure of the organization could be an important piece,” he said. “But changing the structure and applying the same culture might not have a successful outcome.”