Recent FAA airplane performance guidance revision provides clarity

The FAA revised its guidance on dealing with airplane performance certification and operating rules, stating that regulatory language can be complex and has led to questions and confusion among inspectors and stakeholders. The FlightTechnologies and Procedures Division developed Notice 8900.683 - Revision—FAA Order 8900.1, Volume 4, Chapter 3, Airplane Performance and Airport Data, along with a change to FAA Order 8900.1, Flight Standards Information Management System (FSIMS), regarding Airplane Performance and Airport Data. The revised guidance includes information on the subject of plane performance and its regulatory basis and the restructuring of some information in the chapter. "This guidance helps address long-standing questions in business aviation about performance, particularly with respect to transport category airplanes," said Richard Boll II, chair of the NBAA Domestic Operations Committee's Airspace and Flight Technologies Subcommittee. Boll shared that some groups have attempted to address these concerns, including the Transport Airplane Performance Planning working group, which began its work in this area around 2010. The TAPP working group is an industry and FAA collaborative and also produced airplane performance videos. The FAA has addressed the possible confusion and offered changes to provide better clarity for industry members. The changes range from edits in wording or descriptions to entirely new chapters. There is detailed information provided on the applicable rules for specific airplanes and the content has been changed to address performance operating rules for turbine-engine-powered transport category planes only and the performance guidance for other types of planes has been moved to a new section. The new section addresses the performance operating rules for all planes, other than those in the previous section. Some revisions ensure the sections more clearly address some practices to provide better clarity. New information is added throughout, including details concerning runway lengths, declared distances and where to find this type of information. "The new guidance accurately articulates the application of the performance standards by classification of aircraft and ties the standards to the actual rules," Boll said. "It should help eliminate confusion and get everyone to common baseline understanding."