Transport i lotnictwo · 03/12/1996

Commercial Passenger-Carrying Operations in Single-Engine Aircraft under Instrument Flight Rules

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is proposing to revise the conditions and limitations in Part 135 for instrument flight rule (IFR), passenger-carrying operations in single-engine aircraft. The proposed rule will expand the passenger-carrying provisions of the current rule, add equipment requirements, as well as maintenance requirements to monitor engine reliability, and delete the limited IFR provisions of the existing rule for both single and multi-engine aircraft. Currently, operation of single-engine aircraft carrying passengers is authorized for visual flight rules (VFR) or for limited operations in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). Single-engine cargo operations are authorized to operate under IFR without these limitations. VFR flight into IMC is the most significant cause of fatal accidents in Alaska and is a serious problem for single-engine aircraft nationally. This action would increase the safety of single-engine, passenger-carrying operations by allowing planned instrument flight in the IFR system and by imposing certain other conditions and limitations.