Avionics News July 2015 - 72

THE VIEW FROM WASHINGTON
Continued from page 13

assessment activities, and requires the NIST to report annually to
the OMB on the progress that federal agencies have made toward
using voluntary standards.
So while the proposed changes taking place worldwide with
Part 23 and the proposal to utilize voluntary consensus standards
as the basis to define "acceptable means of compliance" to the
government, managed safety criteria is neither new nor novel. In
fact, aviation has been using consensus standards since the beginning. It has been reported that Glenn Curtiss, Glenn Martin and
Orville Wright were all early members of the SAE.
And while ASTM International doesn't have the familiarity that RTCA, ARINC and SAE may have for aerospace
products, it has more than 100 years of history as a voluntary
consensus standards organization and nearly as long in the
support of the fuels, oils and materials used in aviation. In
addition, ASTM currently manages the familiar standards
for light sport aircraft. Possibly not as well known are the

Standard Guide for Aircraft Electrical Load and Power Source
Capacity Analysis (F2490-05); Standard Practice for Design,
Alteration, and Certification of Airplane Electrical Wiring
Systems (F2639-07) and the standards for the inspection
(F2696-08), maintenance and repair (F2799-09) of airplane
electrical wiring systems. These later standards have been
deemed as an acceptable means of compliance to Part 23
beginning in 2006. So again, after nearly a decade as an
acceptable means of compliance to the safety standards of
Part 23, they can hardly be considered new or novel.
Since it becomes clear that the proposed Part 23 changes
are neither new nor novel and that we are utilizing the consensus tools that have been used for more than 100 years, it
reinforces the concept that the more things change, the more
they stay the same.
So then, why does the change seem to be garnering such
angst within certain circles? That, I am afraid, seems to be a
lack of familiarity with the consensus body being utilized for
general aviation and clearly a "not-invented-here syndrome"
approach to change. q

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News July 2015