New Draft Of Critical Guidance For Experimentals Reviewed By EAA

EAA put out a release saying they have reviewed and commented on a forthcoming draft of FAA Order 8130.2, revision “J.” The document is critical to homebuilders, warbird operators, and others in the aviation community. Among other functions, the order sets procedures for inspecting new experimental aircraft and dictates operating limitations.

When you first look at this you might ask the question, what is an FAA order? Basically, the FAA has 3 primary ways to tell aviators what they can or cannot do. The obvious one is through the regulations, which we commonly call FAR’s. Those go through the standard government process of being published for comments before being written in to the various divisions within CFR Title14.

Another way the FAA controls airplane and pilot operations is through FAA orders. These are not regulations, but they act like regulations, and can have a great effect on what we are allowed to do. Finally, there are FAA legal interpretations. That’s when the FAA writes a regulation and then their own lawyers interpret how that regulation is to be applied.

The operating limitations assigned to non-type certificated aircraft (experimental amateur built, for example) are created through FAA orders, and that’s what EAA is working on.

The current revision, “H,” was published in February of last year. EAA worked hard to fix flawed language in early drafts of that document that would have adversely effected everyday operations in experimental aircraft. The new draft revision, "J," contains formatting changes but no major shifts in policy. EAA’s comments were mostly focused on clarifications and cleanups to the current language in revision H that was carried over into the new revision.

“EAA appreciates the opportunity to provide input to the FAA on projects such as this,” said Sean Elliott, vice president of advocacy and safety. “Any change to this Order has real-world implications for tens of thousands of our members, and we believe that with the changes we suggested the next revision will maintain the status quo as far as operations go while improving clarity and usability of the document.”

It’s a good thing EAA is watching our “6 o’clock.”

FMI: www.eaa.org