FAR 23.2000 — Part 23 Applicability
FAR 23.2000 sets airworthiness standards for normal-category airplane type certificates and defines continued safe flight and landing for Part 23.
In Plain English
FAR 23.2000 is the opening section of Part 23, which contains the airworthiness standards the FAA uses to issue type certificates (and approve changes to them) for airplanes in the normal category. In other words, this is the rulebook airplane manufacturers must meet to get a new small airplane design certified.
The section does two things:
- Sets applicability: Part 23 governs type certification of normal-category airplanes — the small, general-aviation-class airplanes most student pilots actually fly during training.
- Defines a key term used throughout Part 23: an airplane that can achieve continued controlled flight and landing, even if emergency procedures are needed, without requiring exceptional pilot skill or strength. Some airplane damage on landing is acceptable under that definition following a failure condition.
Why it matters operationally: this standard is the reason your training airplane is designed so that, after a system failure, an average pilot using normal training and checklist procedures can still bring it down safely.
Regulation Text
14 CFR § 23.2000§ 23.2000 Applicability and definitions.
(a) This part prescribes airworthiness standards for the issuance of type certificates, and changes to those certificates, for airplanes in the normal category.
(b) For the purposes of this part, the following definition applies:
means an airplane is capable of continued controlled flight and landing, possibly using emergency procedures, without requiring exceptional pilot skill or strength. Upon landing, some airplane damage may occur as a result of a failure condition.
Oral Exam Questions a DPE Might Ask
Q1What category of airplanes does Part 23 apply to?
Per FAR 23.2000, Part 23 prescribes airworthiness standards for the issuance of type certificates, and changes to those certificates, for airplanes in the normal category.
Q2How does Part 23 define 'continued safe flight and landing'?
FAR 23.2000 defines it as the airplane being capable of continued controlled flight and landing, possibly using emergency procedures, without requiring exceptional pilot skill or strength — though some airplane damage may occur on landing.
Q3Under that definition, is airplane damage on landing acceptable after a failure?
Yes. FAR 23.2000 acknowledges that upon landing, some airplane damage may occur as a result of a failure condition and still meet the definition of continued safe flight and landing.
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Related Sections in Part 23