News On The 51-Percent Rule — No News Yet
Nothing to see here, move along. At noon on Tuesday at Sun ‘n Fun, FAA’s Don Lausman provided an update on the agency’s progress overhauling the so-called “51% Rule.” However, Lausman said, “The talk I intended to give and the one I’m about to give are two different things.” Since the FAA is about to get a new administrator soon, presuming Randy Babbitt is confirmed as expected, progress has been delayed. “It wouldn’t be fair to the new administrator to introduce new rules without him having any input,” Lausman said. It was expected that the update on Tuesday would address changes to the Advisory Circulars that provide guidance for Designated Airworthiness Representatives to interpret the FAA rules regarding homebuilt aircraft. But instead, Lausman said the draft of the new Advisory Circulars should be out by July 31, in time for discussion during EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh. Tuesday’s forum focused instead on the great number of public comments received by the agency. There were some 2,273 individual comments filed, including 1,300 pro-forma entries, and of the total, some 900 opposed, specifically, the proposed requirement for a specific percentage of builder fabrication. (This is the so-called 20/20/11 provision, where 20 percent of the project must consist of “fabrication” by the builder, with 20 percent being assembly; the remaining 11 percent can be either.) In addition, the vast majority (98 percent) specifically opposed changing the FAA policy at all.
Nothing to see here, move along. At noon on Tuesday at Sun 'n Fun, FAA's Don Lausman provided an update on the agency's progress overhauling the so-called "51% Rule." However, Lausman said, "The talk I intended to give and the one I'm about to give are two different things." Since the FAA is about to get a new administrator soon, presuming Randy Babbitt is confirmed as expected, progress has been delayed. "It wouldn't be fair to the new administrator to introduce new rules without him having any input," Lausman said. It was expected that the update on Tuesday would address changes to the Advisory Circulars that provide guidance for Designated Airworthiness Representatives to interpret the FAA rules regarding homebuilt aircraft. But instead, Lausman said the draft of the new Advisory Circulars should be out by July 31, in time for discussion during EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh. Tuesday's forum focused instead on the great number of public comments received by the agency. There were some 2,273 individual comments filed, including 1,300 pro-forma entries, and of the total, some 900 opposed, specifically, the proposed requirement for a specific percentage of builder fabrication. (This is the so-called 20/20/11 provision, where 20 percent of the project must consist of "fabrication" by the builder, with 20 percent being assembly; the remaining 11 percent can be either.) In addition, the vast majority (98 percent) specifically opposed changing the FAA policy at all.
In early 2008, the FAA reported on the findings of the Aviation Rulemaking Committee, which includes representatives from industry and the FAA. Proposed changes to the ACs were published just ahead of AirVenture 2008 and greeted with near-universal disdain. The FAA and the ARC went back to the drawing board, meeting again in late January 2009. Lausman also said that a reconvening of the Advisory Rulemaking Committee in late January was so successful that all the areas of discussion were covered in a single meeting. While Lausman declined to predict what the final ACs will say, he did say that the original definition of fabrication -- to create from raw materials -- was inadequate to the task and has been revised. Moreover, he said that certain aspects of the multi-point checklist to be used by Designated Airworthiness Representatives for the purpose of licensing homebuilts will also be revised. "We have tried to keep the pain level low," said Lausman, referring to the process of updating the rules for builders.
Related Content:
For more information about the status of the 51-percent rule, click here to go to our Sun 'n Fun podcast interview by AVweb's Mary Grady with EAA's Joe Norris.
