U.S. Department Of Transportation 

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION 

Washington, D.C. 

REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS 

FINAL RULEMAKING 

CERTIFICATION OF PART 23 

TURBOFAN OR TURBOJET POWERED AIRPLANES AND 

MISCELLANEOUS AMENDMENTS 

(TITLE 14, CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS, PARTS 1 & 23) 

Office of Aviation Policy and Plans 

Operations Regulatory Analysis Branch 

George R. Thurston 

November 1, 2010 

1
Table of Contents 

1.0 Introduction/Cost Benefit Summary 

2.0 Background 

3.0 Estimation of Part 23 Equipage Costs 

3.1 Cost Assumptions

3.2 Fleet Discussion

3.3 Cost Discussion

4.0 Benefit Discussion 

4.1 Efficiency Benefits 

4.2 Safety Benefits 

5.0 Benefit/Cost Summary 

Appendices 

2
1.0 Introduction/Cost Benefit Summary 

This regulatory evaluation estimates the costs and benefits of the final rule to 

amend safety and applicability standards to the regulations affecting newly certificated 

part 23 airplanes. This final rule primarily affects new part 23 turbojet certificates, but 

will also revise several standards to new part 23 turboprop and reciprocating engine 

airplane certifications. The final rule reflects the current needs of industry, 

accommodates future trends, addresses emerging technologies, and provides for future 

part 23 aircraft operations. The final rule standardizes and streamlines the certification of 

part 23 reciprocal engine, turboprop, and turbojet airplanes. The intent of the changes to 

part 23 certification requirements is to eliminate the current workload of processing 

exemptions, special conditions, and equivalent levels of safety (ELOS) necessary to 

certificate new part 23 airplanes. 

The estimated cost of this final rule ranges from a low of $65.2 million to high of 

$72.9 million in nominal dollars ($22.9 million to $26.7 million at seven percent). The 

total benefits are equal to the sum of the safety and efficiency benefits. The estimated 

safety benefits of avoiding 26 accidents on newly certificated and delivered part 23 

airplanes over the 57-year analysis interval are estimated at about $187.1 million ($46.5 

million for the seven percent present value rate). The estimated efficiency benefits to 

streamline the part 23 certification process are valued at about $965 thousand, in nominal 

dollars, for five special conditions per aircraft certification to about $1.5 million, in 

nominal dollars, for eight special conditions per aircraft certification. The total benefits 

3
range from a low of about $188.1 million to high of about $188.6 million in nominal 

dollars. Table 1 shows these results. 

2.0 Background

The FAA currently issues type certificates (TC) for certain part 23 turbojets using 

exemptions, extensive special conditions, and equivalent safety findings. Issuance of 

certificates has not been significant until now because there were few part 23 turbojet 

projects. However, in the past seven years, the number of new turbojet certification 

programs in part 23 has increased more than 100 percent over the program numbers of 

the past three decades. 

The need to incorporate these exemptions, special conditions, and equivalent 

safety findings into part 23 stems from both the existing and expected number of future 

turbojet programs. Codifying these additional requirements will allow manufacturers to 

know the requirements during their design phase instead of designing the turbojet and 

then having to apply for special conditions that may ultimately require a redesign. 

Codification will also reduce the manufacturers and FAA’s paper process required to 

certificate an airplane and reduces the potential for program delays. These changes will 

4
also clarify areas of frequent non-standardization and misinterpretation, particularly for 

electronic equipment and system certification. 

On February 3, 2003, we published a notice (68 FR 5488) to create the part 

125/135 Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC). The ARC completed its work in 2005 

and provided recommendations to the FAA for safety and applicability standards to 

reflect the current industry, industry trends, emerging technologies, operations of parts 

125 and 135, and associated regulations. As part of the ARC, a part 23 certification 

working group was formed to address part 23 turbojet design standards. The working 

group reviewed existing part 23 requirements, all the extra requirements levied on 

turbojets, and applicable high performance airplane accidents. The proposal from the 

working group included 41 recommendations affecting part 23 airplanes. The FAA 

accepted 39 of the 41 original ARC recommendations. The FAA believes it is necessary 

to impose the higher standards in this final rule to remain consistent with the current level 

of safety required through special conditions, exemptions, and equivalent levels of safety. 

These changes, as well as several additional proposed part 23 changes, were coordinated 

with the ARC. With few exceptions, the ARC recommendations validated the FAA’s 

long-held approach to the certification of part 23 turbojet, turboprop and reciprocating 

engine airplanes. 

On August 6, 2009, the FAA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), 

“Certification of Turbojets”, and published it for public comment (74 FR 41556). On 

December 16, 2009, after a one month extension, the comment period for the NPRM 

closed. 

5
The part 23 revisions include general definitions, error correction, and specific 

requirements for performance and handling characteristics to ensure safe operation of 

part 23 normal and commuter category airplanes. The revisions will affect the following 

sections: 

 §23.3 Airplane Categories, 

 §23.45 General, 

 §23.49 Stalling speed, 

 §23.51 Takeoff speeds, 

 §23.53 Takeoff performance, 

 §23.55 Accelerate-stop distance, 

 §23.57 Takeoff path, 

 §23.59 Takeoff distance and takeoff run, 

 §23.61 Takeoff flight path, 

 §23.63 Climb: All engines operating 

 §23.67 Climb: One engine inoperative, 

 §23.73 Reference landing approach speed, 

 §23.77 Balked landing, 

 §23.177 Static directional and lateral stability, 

 §23.181 Dynamic stability, 

 §23.201 Wings level stall, 

 §23.203 Turning flight and accelerated turning stalls, 

 §23.251 Vibration and buffeting, 

 §23.253 High speed characteristics, 

 §23.255 Out of trim characteristics, 

6
 §23.561 General, 

 §23.562 Emergency landing dynamic conditions, 

 §23.571 Metallic pressurized cabin structures, 

 §23.629 Flutter, 

 §23.703 Takeoff warming system, 

 23.735 Brakes, 

 §23.777 Cockpit Controls, 

 §23.807 Emergency Exits, 

 §23.831 Ventilation, 

 §23.841 Pressurized cabins, 

 §23.853 Passenger and crew compartment interiors, 

 §23.856 Thermal/Acoustic insulation materials, 

 §23.903 Engines, 

 §23.1165 Engine ignition systems, 

 §23.1193 Cowling and nacelle, 

 §23.1195 Fire extinguishing systems, 

 §23.1197 Fire extinguishing agents, 

 §23.1199 Extinguishing agent containers, 

 §23.1201 Fire extinguishing systems materials, 

 §23.1301 Function and installation, 

 §23.1303 Flight and navigation instruments, 

 §23.1309 Equipment, systems, and installations, 

 §23.1310 Power source capacity and distribution, 

 §23.1311 Electronic display instrument systems, 

7
 §23.1323 Airspeed indicating system, 

 §23.1331 Instruments using a power source, 

 §23.1353 Storage battery design and installation, 

 §23.1431 Electronic equipment, 

 §23.1443 Minimum mass flow of supplemental oxygen, 

 §23.1445 Oxygen distribution system, 

 §23.1447 Equipment standards for oxygen dispensing units, 

 §23.1505 Airspeed limitations, 

 §23.1545 Airspeed indicator, 

 §23.1555 Control markings, 

 §23.1559 Operating limitations placard, 

 §23.1563 Airspeed placards, 

 §23.1567 Flight maneuver placard, 

 §23.1583 Operating limitations, 

 §23.1585 Operating procedures, 

 §23.1587 Performance information, and 

 Part 23 Appendix F. 

3.0 Estimation of Part 23 Equipage Costs

This section starts by defining a set of assumptions underlying the estimated cost 

analysis for each of the final rule’s part 23 addition or change. We then discuss the 

average production run, average life of an airplane, and methodology that generates the 

8
expected affected part 23 fleet. Lastly, we explain the methods used to estimate the part 

23 costs added by the final rule. 

3.1 Cost Assumptions

The FAA received no comments from the assumptions made in the NPRM’s 

regulatory evaluation. Since the NRPM regulatory evaluation analysis, the U.S. 

Department of Transportation has raised the value of a saved life (VSL) from $5.8 

million to $6.0 million. The assumptions for the final rule’s cost evaluation are: 

1. The base year is 2010. 

2. The average life of a U.S. operated part 23 airplane is 32 years. 

3. The average part 23 airplane production life cycle is 25 years. 

4. The analysis period extends for 57 (32 + 25) years. 

5. The value of a fatality avoided is $6.0 million. 

3.2 Fleet Discussion

This section discusses the average part 23 airplane production run, average life of 

a part 23 airplane, and the methodology that generates the expected affected part 23 fleet 

of turbojet, turboprop, and reciprocating engine airplanes. 

Part 23 regulations include airplanes operating with turbojet, turboprop and 

reciprocating engines in normal, utility, acrobatic, and commuter categories. This final 

rule primarily affects new part 23 turbojet certificates, but will also revise several 

standards to part 23 turboprop and reciprocating engine airplane certifications. 

The term “very light jet”, or VLJ, is a marketing and operational term and 

therefore used in numerous reports and data sources we used for this regulatory 

9
evaluation. Part 23 does not recognize the terms “very light jet” or VLJ, nor does the 

definition relate to certification categories. All turbojets certificated under part 23 are 

considered small airplanes. However, we will use the VLJ terminology when referencing 

data and external sources. 

We estimated the average production life cycle length for new part 23 certificated 

airplane models by analyzing the start and end dates from historical deliveries of part 23 

airplanes. We obtained historical airplane delivery reports for the years 1947 through 

2009 from the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA). 

From these GAMA delivery reports, we created a fleet database. First, we deleted 

all part 23 airplanes built by non-U.S. companies from the fleet database.1

 In the NPRM 

comments, we were informed that Sino Swearingen is now Emivest Aerospace and is 

foreign owned. Therefore, we have adjusted the analysis in this regulatory evaluation to 

reflect this. Next, we deleted all part 25 airplanes. We then added a field for the 

airplane’s Type Certificate Data Sheet (TCDS) from information on the FAA website2. 

Next we eliminated any airplane that was in production prior to 1947 or after 2009 and 

had less than 10 years of delivery history after 1947 or before 2009. On average, we 

calculated the part 23 airplane’s production life cycle is approximately 25 years. 

Appendix 1 shows airplane models, manufacturers, TCDS, and Maximum Take Off 

Weight (MTOW) we used to develop the average production cycle length. 

 

1

 Executive Order 12866 directs Federal Agencies to promulgate regulations to protect the American 

people. Further, 12866 states that “agencies should assess all costs and benefits of available regulatory 

alternatives” that affect the American people, including American private markets. Therefore, this RIA 

will address costs and benefits to American owned businesses producing part 23 aircraft and their 

operators. 

2

 http://rgl.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgMakeModel.nsf/MainFrame?OpenFrameSet 

10
We estimated the average life of a part 23 airplane by analyzing the ages of all 

US-operated airplanes from Table 7.3 of the 2008 General Aviation and Part 135 Activity 

Survey. Table 7.3 shows 132,975 airplanes in 5-year age groupings from 1 to over 60 

years old. On average these airplanes were 32 years old. We assumed that the average 

age of 32 years will represent the average life of a part 23 airplane. In the NRPM’s 

regulatory evaluation, we included a sensitivity analysis by increasing the average age of 

a part 23 airplane to 40 years. The result of this sensitivity analysis was that the benefits 

exceed the costs for both the base-case average age of 32 years and the high-case 40 

years. Since we received no comments on these results, the final rule analysis will not 

include a sensitivity analysis on the average age. 

In order to calculate the growth of the expected affected future part 23 fleet, we 

analyzed the annual airplane deliveries resulting from new airplane certifications for U.S. 

manufacturers from 1998 through 2009. 3

 For each airplane manufacturer, we calculated 

the average number of airplanes delivered from 1998 through 2009. Based on 

manufacturers’ delivery history between 1998 through 2009, we calculated the average 

number of new part 23 airplanes per type certificate delivered each year.4

Table 2 summarizes our estimate of part 23 U.S. airplanes that manufacturers 

would certificate and produce over a 10-year time period. Appendix 2 shows the details 

we used to derive the estimates for the number of new part 23 certifications and airplane 

deliveries. 

 

3

“GA Airplane Shipment Report” on the GAMA website. 

4

Appendix 2 

11
Based on our earlier calculation of an average 25-year part 23 certification 

production life cycle and 32 years average part 23 airplane service life, 920 reciprocating 

engine, 92 turboprop, and 177 turbojet airplanes would be produced annually, by U.S. 

manufacturer’s beginning in model year one through year 25. From the second through 

the twenty-fifth year the part 23 fleet grows by a total of 1,189 airplanes annually. From 

the twenty-sixth through the thirty-second year, the newly certificated part 23 fleet 

remains constant. In the thirty-third year, the model airplanes that are 32 years old start 

to retire. By the fifty-seventh year all airplanes produced from the original part 23 

certificates are retired. Appendix 3 shows our forecast of the number of newly 

certificated part 23 airplanes affected by this final rule over the 57-year analysis interval. 

Because of the recent advent of smaller part 23 VLJ airplanes, in the NPRM 

regulatory evaluation we adjusted the future number of new part 23 turbojet airplanes 

new certificated and delivered upward. The market for VLJ airplanes is not what we 

originally envisioned while doing the benefit cost analysis for the NPRM; therefore the 

analysis for the final rule will not include an upward adjustment of future part 23 turbojet 

airplane deliveries and new certifications based on VLJ airplanes. 

The final rule also adds certification requirements for certain part 23 airplanes 

with a MTOW less than 6,000 pounds, and other part 23 airplanes with a MTOW greater 

than 6,000 pounds. Based on the GAMA records for the number of 1998 through 2009 

part 23 airplane deliveries, we calculated the historical percentage of airplanes with a 

12
MTOW of 6,000 pounds by reciprocal, turboprop or turbojet engine airplane. Table 3 

shows these results: 5

Certain sections of the final regulations only affect part 23 airplanes operating in 

commercial revenue service. Any part 23 airplane could be used as either a commercial 

airplane to haul passengers and cargo or a private airplane for personal use. In order to 

estimate the costs to the part 23 airplanes used for commercial service, we estimate the 

commercial versus personal use of a part 23 airplane with Table 3.1 of the 2008 General 

Aviation and Part 135 Activity Survey. Table 3.1 breaks out the 2008 General Aviation 

reciprocal engine, turboprop and turbojet airplanes by personal and commercial use. We 

assume that all of the following categories in Table 3.1 would operate in commuter 

(commercial) service: business, corporate, instructional, aerial applications, aerial 

observations, aerial other, external load, other work, sight see, air medical, other, part 135 

Air Taxi, Air Tours, and Air Medical. Table 4 shows these results. 

 

5

 Appendix 2 

13
3.3 Cost Discussion

This section discusses the development of the cost estimate for the final rule. The 

total cost estimate is based on both the fleet data discussed in the Fleet Discussion section 

and the additional regulatory cost per certification, production and operating expense. 

Herein we discuss industry involvement, agreement and cost-estimating guidance. 

Most of the part 23 special conditions that the FAA applied and accepted came 

either from the part 23 Commuter or part 25 regulations. Special conditions are aircraft 

specific and the final rule will regulate the special conditions for all part 23 airplanes. 

From our discussions with the part 23 industry, we discovered companies producing part 

23 airplanes have accepted most of the existing special conditions. When industry 

accepts these existing aircraft specific special conditions, we assume codifying these 

special conditions results in no additional costs to industry. When industry informed us 

that a special condition will impose a cost, we included their cost estimate. This 

evaluation estimated the costs in terms of the additional requirements above the industryaccepted aircraft specific special conditions that have been typically applied to the part 23 

airplanes currently in production. 

14
Industry has been extensively involved with this final rule, through past 

certification, the development of recommended changes, and their NPRM comments. 

Based on industry input, we discuss sections that incrementally add (or subtract) 

certification or operating costs by increasing/decreasing design or flight testing times, 

adding weight, or reducing payload. Lastly we discuss the methodology used to estimate 

the total costs of this final rule. Our discussion includes the sources used for cost data 

and the methodology used to estimate the incremental certification and operational costs 

the final rule adds to the part 23 certification process. 

The part 23 airplane manufacturing industry and the FAA have worked together 

to develop common certification airplane requirements in this final rulemaking. In some 

cases, the changes were editorially clarifying, and thus impose no additional costs. In 

other cases, the changes impose additional costs or savings. We asked, and received, part 

23 airplane manufacturers and an industry association for either the incremental cost or 

hour estimates for each of the final rule’s section change. 

There are nine U. S. owned aircraft manufacturers who delivered part 23 airplanes 

in the 1998-2009 analysis interval. These manufacturers are American Champion, 

Cessna, Cirrus, Hawker Beechcraft, Liberty, Maule, Mooney, Piper, and Quest. Also, 

there are two U.S. owned part 23 aircraft manufacturers who delivered airplanes in the 

1998 through 2009 analysis interval, but no longer do. These manufacturers are Adam 

and Eclipse.6

Many of the ARC members, from the part 23 domestic aircraft manufacturing 

community, collaborated and filed a joint cost estimate for both the NPRM and final rule. 

 

6

 Ibid. 

15
In addition, the FAA received cost comments from industry on the NPRM. We base our 

estimates of the incremental costs for this final rule on the cost estimates received from 

industry collaboration through the ARC and from the NPRM comments. 

The first group of regulations that will impose costs on the part 23 industry are 

§§23.1193(g), 23.1195(a), 23.1197, 23.1199, and 23.1201 addressing Cowling and 

Nacelle, Fire Extinguishing Systems, Fire Extinguishing Agents, Fire Extinguishing 

Agents containers, and Fire Extinguishing Agents materials7. Industry informed us these 

sections will add 50 additional flight test hours and 25 extra pounds to the current part 23 

commuter category turboprop airplane certification process. 

The second group of regulations industry believes could impose additional costs 

on part 23 airplanes are §§23.63, 23.67, and 23.77 addressing Climb, General, Climb - 

One Engine, and Balked Landings. Industry informed us that these sections will reduce 

payload by 10% for all future deliveries of newly certificated part 23 multi-reciprocal 

engine airplanes with a MTOW over 6,000 pounds, and turboprop and multiengine 

turbojet airplanes with a MTOW under 6,000 pounds. 

The next final rule section that will impose costs on the part 23 industry is 

§23.703 addressing Take-Off Warning Systems. Industry informed us that this regulation 

will add 1,000 additional design hours and 25 additional flight testing hours to the 

certification process for all future deliveries of newly certificated part 23 multi-reciprocal 

engine airplanes with a MTOW over 6,000 pounds, all turboprops, and multiengine 

turbojet airplanes with a MTOW under 6,000 pounds. 

 

7

See the Preamble for detailed discussion of the sections and the final rule language. 

16
We note that there has been no part 23 multi reciprocal engine airplanes with a 

MTOW over 6,000 pounds certificated in the 10-year interval from 1998 through 2007. 

Examples of multi reciprocal engine airplanes with a MTOW over 6,000 pounds are the 

Piper PA-31, certificated in 1966, the Cessna 401, certificated in 1966, and the Aero 

Commander 500 series, certificated in 1955. Due to the production of the more cost 

efficient multi-engine turboprop and turbojet airplanes, and the last part 23 certification 

for a new multi reciprocal engine airplanes with a MTOW over 6,000 pounds was almost 

40 years ago. We believe that these airplanes will no longer be certificated. Therefore, 

since the part 23 reciprocal engine airplanes in Appendix 3 are single-engine airplanes 

with a MTOW less than 6,000 pounds, and since we received no comments during the 

NPRM comment period; this final rule will add no costs to newly certificated part 23 

multi-engine reciprocal airplanes. 

The next section we discuss is §23.777 which addresses the Cockpit Controls. 

Industry believes the rule language changes will save 25 hours of design time in the 

certification process for all future part 23 turbojet, turboprop and reciprocating engine 

airplanes. 

Finally, from the NPRM comments industry submitted, we discovered that there 

are three additional sections that will impose costs. The first section is §23.831 which 

addresses the airplanes ventilation system on part 23 turbojet airplanes. Industry believes 

the rule will add an average of $300,000 in certification costs and an average of seven 

pounds in equipment weight to newly certificated part 23 turbojet airplanes. The second 

section is §23.1309(a)(3) which addresses all part 23 airplane equipment systems and 

design. Industry informed us that the final rule will add an average of 550 hours of 

17
certification time to newly certificated part 23 turbojet, turboprop, and reciprocal engine 

airplanes. The third section that will add costs is §23.1353 which addresses batteries on 

part 23 airplanes. Industry believes the rule will add approximately $1000 for each 

battery and the weight impact will add an average of 30 pounds to newly certificated part 

23 airplanes. 

Industry has informed us that the remaining final rule requirements are either 

clarifying, error correction, or will add only minimal to no costs. 

Table 5 shows the results of the final rule regulations that add (or subtract) 

incremental costs, to newly certificated part 23 airplanes, by increasing design or flight 

testing times, adding weight, or reducing payload. 8

In the Fleet Discussion section we estimated the percentage of part 23 airplanes in 

total service, commercial and private service, and both below and above 6,000 pounds 

MTOW. We applied these percentages to the part 23 airplane delivery table in Appendix 

 

8

 We note that although the final rule may apply to all part 23 airplanes in a specific category, when a 

special condition is applied to a subset of the airplanes in any category, only the subset of airplanes are in 

compliance with the proposal. Therefore we assume the rule will add no additional costs to the subset of 

airplanes certificated with a special condition. 

18
3. Table 6 shows the estimated number of future part 23 airplanes for U.S. operators, by 

category, affected by this final rule. 

19
20
To preserve manufacturer’s proprietary cost information, we used publically 

available data sources to calculate the additional certification and flight operation costs 

the final rule will add based on airplanes delivered from new part 23 certifications. The 

next section discuss’ the sources of the cost data and the methodology we employed to 

estimate the additional certification and operational costs of this final rule. 

We obtained the certification design hourly rate from the Bureau of Labor 

Statistics’ Table 7.1. Table 7.1 shows data for aircraft manufacturing labor rates and 

benefits costs, per hour, for aeronautical engineers. These rates include wages, salaries, 

and benefits. The total compensation for an aeronautical engineer, including overhead, is 

$77.21.9

 We estimated the initial certification and design costs by multiplying the 

estimated number of new certifications (listed in Appendix 2), by the incremental number 

of certification design hours this final rule will add, by the hourly rate for an aeronautical 

engineer. 

We obtained the certification cost for the flight test hourly rate from Table 4.1 of 

the Economic Values For FAA Investment and Regulatory Decisions, A Guide. This 

table lists data by airplane type for GA and Air Taxi Operating and fixed costs, but not by 

airplane groups of reciprocating engine, turboprop and turbojet airplanes. We calculated 

an average cost of the flight test hourly rate for each part 23 airplane group. Table 7 

details these hourly expenses. 

 

9

 Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Employment and Wages, Table 7-1A: 

Burdened Hourly Labor Rates of Aeronautical Engineers and Aviation Mechanics (2010). The hourly rate 

includes overhead costs. 

21
We estimated the additional flight test costs by multiplying the estimated number 

of new certifications, by the incremental number of the flight test hours this final rule will 

add, by the flight test hourly rate from Table 7. 

The airplanes fuel burn expenses increase due to the additional weight added by 

the fire extinguishing system, ventilation, and battery final rule sections. To estimate the 

costs incurred by this additional weight, we used data from Table 6.1 in the Economic 

Values For FAA Investment and Regulatory Decisions, A Guide. Table 6.1 provides the 

incremental fuel burn, per pound, per flight hour by U.S. Gallons for General Aviation 

and Air Taxi Aircraft. We obtained the average annual flight hours, per airplane, from 

Table 3.10 in the Economic Values For FAA Investment and Regulatory Decisions, A 

Guide. Table 3.10 lists the estimated annual active General Aviation Aircraft and Hours 

flown for General Aviation and Air Taxi Aircraft. Again, since our data sources lack 

sufficient details to provide separate estimates for each reciprocating engine, turboprop 

and turbojet airplane group, we calculated an average for each part 23 airplane group. 

Table 8 details the incremental fuel burn, per pound, per flight hour by U.S. gallons and 

hourly utilization rates for GA and Air Taxi airplanes. 

22
The gallons of additional fuel burn equal the product of the incremental fuel burn 

per flight hour, per pound, the average annual hourly utilization rates, and the number of 

newly certificated part 23 airplanes delivered from Table 6. Lastly, we multiply this 

product by the FAA 2010 fuel forecast10 and the incremental number of pounds this final 

rule will add to obtain an estimate of annual cost of the added weight over the analysis 

interval. The 2010 FAA fuel forecast extends to 2030. We extrapolated the fuel forecast 

by applying the average annual growth from 2009-2030 to the end of our 57-year analysis 

period. 

As discussed earlier the sections on climb and balked landings will impose costs 

by reducing the payload, by 10%, for all newly certificated part 23 reciprocal engine 

airplanes with a MTOW greater than 6,000 pounds, and turboprop and turbojet airplanes 

with a MTOW under 6,000 pounds.11 These sections on climb and balked landings will 

only affect airplanes operating in commercial service, and not for personal use. The 2008

General Aviation and Part 135 Activity Survey (Table 4) shows less than one-third of the 

reciprocating engine airplanes and almost all turboprop and turbojet airplanes operate in 

commercial service. 

 

10 FAA Aerospace Forecast Table 18. “U.S. Mainline Air Carrier Forecast Assumptions, Jet Fuel Prices”. 11§§23.63, 23.67, and 23.77 

23
GA flights are rarely operated with greater than 90% capacity. Available data on 

GA revenue and capacity is sparse, especially for cargo carried. Table 3.15 of the 

Economic Values For FAA Investment and Regulatory Decisions, A Guide provides an 

estimate for GA capacity and utilization by equipment group. Across all equipment 

groups, the table lists that an average GA airplane has about 3.7 seats and flies about 50% 

full. Table 9 reproduces part of Table 3.15. 

The Economic Values For FAA Investment and Regulatory Decisions, A Guide

does not show similar statistics for the percent of total cargo GA airplanes carry. Table 

3.5 of the Economic Values For FAA Investment and Regulatory Decisions, A Guide

shows that for all cargo carriers, the cargo load factor is 60%. Assuming the GA 

operators have a similar cargo load factor, and an average passenger load factor of about 

50%, we conclude that the 10% reduction in payload caused by the final rule’s sections 

on climb and balked landings will have a minimum cost impact on GA airplanes. We 

assume no costs as the low case for the value of the 10% reduction in payload. 

24
A reduction in payload becomes a binding constraint when someone wants to fly 

an airplane at 90% or above capacity. The reduction in a flight’s payload can be 

potentially accommodated through less baggage or fuel. Most of the time airplanes are 

not operated at full capacity. Although we believe any additional capacity, on airplanes 

with a load factor over 90%, would be distributed over other flights in the operator’s 

network, we estimate the value of a 10% payload capacity reduction as follows. 

A straight-forward measure of a 10% reduction in payload is the expected 

reduction in the value of a new airplane. This measure is a one-time reduction in value at 

the time the airplane is sold. The value of a 10% reduction in payload can be calculated 

by solving for X in the following equation for turbojet, turboprop and reciprocating 

airplane groups. 

(#S * Frequency* 0.1)/X = (#S/P) 

where: 

 #S is the average number of seats by airplane group, 

 Frequency are the percentage of flights operating at or above 90% load factor, 

 0.1 is the 10% reduction in payload, 

 X is the value of a 10% reduction in payload per affected airplane group, and 

 P is the average price of an airplane in an airplane group. 

Table 5.5 of the Economic Values For FAA Investment and Regulatory 

Decisions, A Guide contains the maximum estimated value for part 23 General Aviation 

airplanes. 12 Table 10 shows our calculation of the estimated average weighted market 

values we used for the P. 

 

12 We used the maximum estimated value because the future airplanes delivered from new certifications 

affected by this proposal will be new and therefore sold at the highest value in an airplanes life-cycle. 

25
We used data from Table 9 to compute the average number of seats and the load 

factor for part 23 airplane groups. Table 11 shows these results. 

Across all equipment groups, Economic Values For FAA Investment and 

Regulatory Decisions, A Guide lists that an average GA airplane has about 3.7 seats and 

flies about 50% full. Given the number of future new production airplanes, we can 

assume these airplanes will have load factors that are normally distributed. Given a mean 

load factor and the area under the normal distribution curve, we can solve for the standard 

deviation. For the load factor mean of 52.93, 45.38 and 51.20% and with 99.73% of the 

area under the curve, the (+/-) three standard deviations around the mean results in a 

standard deviation of 0.1560, 0.1812, and 0.1618. Using these standard deviations, we 

can calculate the Frequency parameter as the percentage of the normal distribution to the 

right of a 90% load factor for each of the reciprocating engine, turboprop and turbojet 

airplane groups. Table 12 shows the results of the three part 23 airplane groups using 

Table 12 load factors. 

26
Using the values of Table 12 for the Frequency variable in the formula above, we 

estimated the 10% value of a reduction in payload to each of the part 23 airplane groups. 

Table 13 shows these values. 

Since we received no comments from industry to the NPRM for this 

methodology, these cost estimates provided the foundation for the FAA total cost 

estimates discussed next. 

The cost analysis period is based on the average length of the airplane model’s 

production run and the average life of an airplane. We assigned the expense of all new 

part 23 certifications in the first year of the 57-year analysis period. As discussed earlier, 

the average production run of newly certificated airplane models is 25 years and these 

airplanes remain in service for 32 years creating a 57 year analysis interval.13 

We estimate the additional fixed certification costs by adding the additional 

certification design hour costs with the flight test hour costs. 

 

13Fleet Discussion section 

27
We calculated the additional certification design cost by taking the product of the 

number of new part 23 airplane certifications, by group, from Appendix 2, with the 

number of additional design hours from Table 5 and the $77.21 hourly rate from the 

Department of Labor. Lastly, we summed the certification design costs ($300,000) from 

§23.831 with the product of the additional certification hours, hourly rate and the number 

of new airplane certifications. 

We calculated the additional the flight test hours by taking the product of the 

number of new part 23 airplane certifications, by group, from Appendix 2, with the 

number of additional flight test hours from Table 5 and the flight test hourly rate from 

Table 7. 

We estimate the additional flight operation’s variable cost by summing the 

additional fuel burn cost, caused by the added weight, in pounds from Table 5, with the 

10% reduction in payload costs. 

We calculated the additional fuel burn costs by taking the product of the 

incremental fuel burn per flight hour per pound of weight added from Table 8, with the 

average annual hours per group also from Table 8, with the number of newly certificated 

part 23 airplanes from Table 6, with the APO fuel forecast, by year, with the number of 

additional pounds from Table 5. 

We estimate the loss in value due to the 10% loss in payload capacity that occurs 

to the part 23 airplanes for each of the low and high case new certification’s production 

life cycle as discussed above. 

The estimated fixed certification costs for the final rule are about $1.3 million in 

nominal dollars. We assume these fixed certification costs will be incurred in the first 

28
year of the analysis interval. Note the low and high value of a 10% reduction in payload 

is a variable flight operation cost and therefore does not affect the fixed certification 

costs. 

The estimated variable flight operation costs range from a low of about $64.0 

million to a high of $71.6 million in nominal dollars. The difference in the low and high 

case cost range is the low cost estimate assumes no loss in capacity costs where the high 

case estimates the cost of the 10% loss in capacity as a function of the airplane’s value. 

Appendix 5 and 6 shows the low and high case cost estimates detailed by the 

fixed certification costs and the flight operation costs. 

Table 14 shows the our estimate for the new part 23 fixed certification costs and 

the low and high cost estimates for the fixed flight operation costs over the 57-year 

analysis period. 

We estimated the three and seven present value of the total low and high case for 

this part 23 final rule. Table 15 shows the details of these present value and total costs. 

Table 16 shows the breakout of the total estimated costs by part 23 section. 

29
30
4.0 Benefit Discussion

Business turbojets, both part 23 and 25, have traditionally weighed 10,000 pounds 

or more. New engines and avionics have changed the cost equation and allowed for the 

creation of a new market segment with part 23 turbojets as light as 5,800 pounds. 

Engines and composites advances have also allowed the development of smaller and 

lighter turbojet airplanes. The small part 23 turbojets are lighter than historically 

produced business jets and are expected to be frequently used in commercial service as 

air taxis. With new technology, allowing for lower cost jets, entrepreneurs saw an 

opportunity to operate these small part 23 turbo jets in air taxi service creating a new 

market for the aviation industry. Part 23 turbojet manufacturers have developed and 

received certification for small jet airplanes through exemptions, special conditions and 

equivalent levels of safety to address this emerging technology and provide for future 

airplane operations. 

An efficiency benefit of the final rule is the standardizing and streamlining the 

certification of the part 23 turbojets and other part 23 airplanes. By codifying special 

conditions, manufacturers will know the requirements during the design and testing phase 

for the certification of a part 23 turbojet and other part 23 airplanes. A known 

certification process will also reduce the part 23 manufacturers and FAA’s part 23 

airplanes certification process, effectively reducing the potential for delivery delays. 

Lastly, the FAA will be able to better manage and assign resources to the certification of 

part 23 airplanes. Knowing the part 23 airplane certification requirements, reducing the 

paper process and better managing and assigning resources to the part 23 airplane 

31
certification process will save both industry and the FAA a considerable amount of time, 

money, and effort. 

In addition to these efficiency benefits, we expect to obtain safety benefits by 

imposing greater requirements for one engine inoperative climb performance on multiengine part 23 airplanes because of the accident history rate associated pilots maintaining 

airspeed after shutting down an engine or suffering an engine failure. Even though one 

engine inoperative climb performance on multi-engine part 23 airplanes are addressed by 

special conditions, industry has informed us that the final rule imposes greater 

requirements than the special conditions. 

Also, we expect to obtain safety benefits by increasing the power requirements on 

batteries. Increasing the power requirements will provide electrical power to loads that 

are essential to continued safe flight and landing in the event of a compete loss of the 

primary electrical power. The benefit of continued safe flight and landing will be the 

avoidance of accidents, fatalities, and injuries in the affected part 23 fleet. The potential 

part 23 fleet incurring costs and safety benefits is higher in the final rule because NPRM 

commenters identified additional sections that will add costs. We include the additional 

quantified costs and safety benefits obtained from the NPRM commenters in this final 

rule analysis. 

In the following sections, we estimate the efficiency benefits to the FAA and 

industry from streamlining the certification process. We will then estimate safety 

benefits from avoiding accidents and averting fatalities where turboprop and 

reciprocating engine airplanes that do not have the single engine climb performance to 

32
maintain flying airspeed after shutting down an engine, suffering an engine failure, or a 

power loss. 

4.1 Efficiency Benefits

We estimate on average the FAA directorate and Aircraft Certification Office 

(ACO) will save 40 hours each for every new part 23 airplane certificated based on 

decreased paperwork and improved streamlining of the certification process. In the 

Estimation of Part 23 Equipage Costs section above, we estimate the number of new part 

23 airplanes certificates over a 10-year period. We use $77.21 for the total hourly 

compensation for an aeronautical engineer, including overhead.14 Table 16 shows the 

cost savings to the FAA across part 23 airplane types. 

Industry recognizes a known certification process reduces uncertainty and 

potential disagreement resulting in final certification delays. They informed us that on 

average each special condition adds 250 hours for each part 23 airplane certificated. We 

used the same aeronautical engineer total hourly compensation of $77.21 and the same 

numeric estimate of future part 23 certificates as discussed in the Estimation of Part 23 

Equipage Costs. There are currently between five to eight special conditions necessary to 

certificate a new part 23 airplane. 

 

14Department of Labor. 

33
Since we assumed in the Estimation of Part 23 Equipage Costs section that all 

certificates will occur in the first year of the analysis interval, industry costs savings for 

each of the new part 23 airplane certificates would also occur in year one. Since these 

costs occur in year one of the analysis interval, the total nominal and present value 

benefits will be the same. 

Table 17 shows the benefit of the cost savings to industry associated with a 

known certification process. Table 17 also shows that the range of our benefit estimate of 

the industry cost savings by streamlining the certification process is between about $965 

thousand for five special conditions and about $1.5 million for eight special conditions. 

4.2 Safety Benefits

This final rulemaking will include provisions to avoid future accidents related to 

single engine climb requirements for larger multi-engine piston twins and turboprops, and 

turbojets with a maximum take off weight (MTOW) less than 6,000 pounds. Increased 

single engine performance will offer more power to the pilot to maintain airspeed after 

shutting down an engine or suffering an engine failure. Increasing the power 

requirements on batteries would provide electrical power to loads that are essential to 

continued safe flight and landing. We are trying to prevent accidents where the airplane 

simply does not have the single engine performance to maintain flying airspeed to land 

34
safely at an airport or the power needed to operate or land the airplane safely. Frequently 

in this situation, the flight ends in a stall with the pilot losing control and the airplane 

impacting the ground. Accidents related to shutting down an engine, suffering an engine 

failure, or primary power losses are often fatal. 

The FAA examined the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Aviation 

Accident Database & Synopses where the NTSB determined single engine climb or 

power loss was either a cause or a factor. We examined accidents for part 23 airplanes 

that operated in 135 service between 2001 through 2009. We then calculated the average 

number of casualties, airplanes replaced and investigations by summing the casualties, 

airplanes replaced and investigation and dividing by the number of accidents. Table 18 

shows there are nine single engine climb related accidents or power loss accidents that 

may have been prevented if this final rule had been in effect. Table 18 also shows the 

average number of casualties, airplanes replaced and investigations of the nine accidents. 

These nine accidents resulted in eight fatalities, one serious injury, and 23 minor 

injuries. In addition, all of the airplanes involved in the accidents were either destroyed 

or received substantial damage. 

The estimated costs of a future averted accident form the quantitative basis of 

future benefits. We used the following values: $6.0 million for an avoided fatality, 

35
$521,000 for a serious injury (assumed to be the average of a severe, serious, and 

moderate injury), and $12,000 for a minor injury. 15 The additional associated medical 

and legal costs’ for a fatality is $265,400, for a serious injury (assumed to be the average 

of a severe, serious, and moderate injury) $93,267, and for a minor injury $5,000.16 In 

addition, using the Economic Values for FAA Investment and Regulatory Decisions, A 

Guide, we calculated the average replacement cost of a destroyed part 23 airplane and for 

an NTSB or FAA accident investigation. The average replacement cost of a destroyed 

part 23 reciprocal engine airplane is $77,371, $937,907 for a turboprop, and $2,568,083 

for a turbojet. The weighted average NTSB accident investigation costs for general 

aviation is about $7,700, and about $16,200 for the FAA accident investigation.

Based on these economic values, and the average number of casualties, airplanes 

replaced and investigations from the nine accidents listed in Table 18, we estimated the 

average value of avoiding a single engine failure related accident, where the airplane is 

destroyed, is approximately $5.7 million plus the replacement price of an airplane. Table 

19 shows these results. 

 

15Office of the Secretary of Transportation Memorandum, "Treatment of Value of a Statistical Life in 

Departmental Analysis – 2009 Annual Revision”, March 2009. 

16 Appendix 4. 

36
Based on the average number of casualties, airplanes replaced and investigations 

from Table 18, we estimated five separate accident and casualty rates for each part 23 

airplane group. Each rate equals the average losses per fatality, injury, airplane replaced 

or investigation divided by the total number of active GA airplanes from Table 4.17 

Table 20 shows the results of these calculations. 

We estimated the safety benefits of this final rule by taking the accident and 

casualty rates from Table 20 and applying them to the total number of new part 23 

reciprocal engine, turboprop, and turbojet airplanes, delivered from the future part 23 

certifications estimated in the Table 2 of the Fleet Discussion Section. 

 

17 In the NPRM, we estimated benefits only for commercially operated part 23 airplanes. From the NPRM 

comments, we determined that private operated part 23 airplanes will also be affected by this final rule; 

therefore benefits are estimated for both private and commercial part airplanes in this analysis. 

37
Based on this methodology, in the absence of the final rule, we expect over the 

57-year analysis period, approximately five accidents will occur on newly certificated 

part 23 reciprocating engine airplanes, eight accidents on part 23 turboprop airplanes, and 

13 accidents on newly certificated part 23 turbojet airplanes. These accidents are 

expected to result in approximately four fatalities, one serious injury, and 12 minor 

injuries on newly certificated part 23 reciprocating engine airplanes. We expect seven 

fatalities, one serious injury, and 21 minor injuries on newly certificated part 23 

turboprop airplanes and 11 fatalities, one serious injury, and 33 minor injuries on newly 

certificated part 23 turbojet airplanes over the 57-year analysis interval. Table 21 shows 

these results. 

The estimated safety benefits of avoiding 26 accidents on newly certificated part 

23 airplanes over the 57-year analysis interval are estimated at about $187.1 million, 

$46.5 million at a seven percent present value, and $88.1 at three percent. Table 22 

shows these results. 

Appendix 7 shows the details of the estimated total, three and seven percent value 

safety benefits for this final rule. 

38
Table 23 shows the details of the total industry efficiency plus safety benefits for 

the final rule. 

5.0 Benefit-Cost Summary

The estimated cost of this final rule ranges from a low of $65.2 million to high of 

$72.9 million in nominal dollars ($22.9 million to $26.7 million at a seven percent 

present value). 

The total benefits are equal to the sum of the safety and efficiency benefits. The 

estimated safety benefits of avoiding 26 accidents on newly certificated part 23 airplanes 

over the 57-year analysis interval are estimated at about $187.1 million ($46.5 million at 

a seven percent present value). Historically, part 23 manufacturers have developed and 

received certification for small turbojet airplanes through exemptions, special conditions 

and equivalent levels of safety. A benefit of this final rule is the standardizing and 

streamlining the certification process for the part 23 turbojet and other part 23 airplanes. 

The estimated efficiency benefits to streamline the part 23 certification process are valued 

at about $965 thousand for five special conditions per aircraft certification to about $1.5 

million for eight special conditions per aircraft certification. 

The total benefits range from a low of about $188.1 million to high of about 

$188.6 million in nominal dollars. Table 24 shows these results. 

39
From 2001 through 2009 there have been at least nine in-flight part 23 airplane 

accidents. Without this final rule, it is likely that future related accidents on part 23 

airplanes will occur. Based on history, we estimated that enacting this final rule could 

prevent 26 future accidents over the 57-year analysis interval. These averted accidents 

can result in the prevention of about 22 fatalities, three serious injuries, 66 minor injuries 

and 26 newly certificated part 23 airplanes destroyed or substantially damaged, along 

with incidental expenses included NTSB and FAA accident investigation costs, over the 

57-year analysis period. 

As shown in Table 24, the estimated low and high nominal, seven and three 

percent present value benefit range of the final rule exceeds the estimated low and high 

nominal, seven, and three percent present value cost range. Thus we conclude the 

benefits of the final rule justify the costs. 

40
Appendices

41
42
43
44
45
Appendix 4 

46
47
48
49