FAR 23.2210 — Structural Design Loads

FAR 23.2210 sets the rules manufacturers must follow when figuring out the structural design loads an airplane must be built to handle. This is a certification standard — it's why your airplane can survive the forces of flight, taxi, and even sitting tied down in a windstorm.

The applicant (typically the manufacturer) must:

• Determine the structural design loads caused by any pressures, forces, or moments — internal or external — that could realistically occur during:
  • Flight operations
  • Ground and water operations
  • Ground and water handling (taxiing, towing, docking)
  • While the airplane is parked or moored
• Evaluate these loads at all critical combinations of parameters, both on and within the structural design envelope.
• Base the magnitude and distribution of those loads on physical principles — meaning real engineering and physics, not guesses.

Why it matters: when you fly within the airplane's published limits (weight, CG, V-speeds, load factors), you are operating inside the envelope the engineers proved the airplane can structurally handle.