FAR 23.2160 — Vibration and Buffeting
FAR 23.2160 sets vibration, buffeting, and high-speed handling standards for Part 23 airplanes. Learn what student pilots need to know for checkride prep.
In Plain English
FAR 23.2160 is a Part 23 airworthiness standard that tells designers how an airplane must behave with respect to vibration, buffeting, and high-speed handling. While it's a certification rule, understanding it helps you recognize why your airplane feels the way it does near its limits.
Key requirements:
- Vibration and buffeting up to V/M (max operating speed/Mach) must not interfere with controlling the airplane or excessively fatigue the crew. Stall warning buffet is allowed and expected.
- For high-speed airplanes and any airplane certified above 25,000 feet pressure altitude, there must be no perceptible buffet in cruise at 1g up to V/M (except stall buffet).
- For high-speed airplanes, the manufacturer must identify the maneuvering load factor where buffet onset occurs in cruise, and brief excursions past it must not cause structural damage.
- High-speed airplanes must recover safely — without structural damage or loss of control — from an inadvertent speed increase or a high-speed trim upset.
Operationally, this means your POH speed and altitude limits are backed by tested margins against buffet and upset.
Regulation Text
14 CFR § 23.2160§ 23.2160 Vibration, buffeting, and high-speed characteristics.
(a) Vibration and buffeting, for operations up to V/Mmust not interfere with the control of the airplane or cause excessive fatigue to the flightcrew. Stall warning buffet within these limits is allowable.
(b) For high-speed airplanes and all airplanes with a maximum operating altitude greater than 25,000 feet (7,620 meters) pressure altitude, there must be no perceptible buffeting in cruise configuration at 1g and at any speed up to V/M, except stall buffeting.
(c) For high-speed airplanes, the applicant must determine the positive maneuvering load factors at which the onset of perceptible buffet occurs in the cruise configuration within the operational envelope. Likely inadvertent excursions beyond this boundary must not result in structural damage.
(d) High-speed airplanes must have recovery characteristics that do not result in structural damage or loss of control, beginning at any likely speed up to V/M, following—
(1) An inadvertent speed increase; and
(2) A high-speed trim upset for airplanes where dynamic pressure can impair the longitudinal trim system operation.
Oral Exam Questions a DPE Might Ask
Q1What does FAR 23.2160 require regarding vibration and buffeting up to maximum operating speed?
Per FAR 23.2160(a), vibration and buffeting up to V/M must not interfere with airplane control or cause excessive flightcrew fatigue, though stall warning buffet within those limits is acceptable.
Q2For airplanes certified above 25,000 feet, what buffet standard applies in cruise?
FAR 23.2160(b) requires that high-speed airplanes and any airplane with a maximum operating altitude above 25,000 feet have no perceptible buffet in the cruise configuration at 1g up to V/M, other than stall buffet.
Q3What recovery characteristics must a high-speed airplane demonstrate under FAR 23.2160?
FAR 23.2160(d) requires that high-speed airplanes recover without structural damage or loss of control following an inadvertent speed increase or a high-speed trim upset where dynamic pressure could impair the longitudinal trim system.
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