FAR/AIM: Subpart F—Equipment

• § 23.2500 Airplane level systems requirements.
• § 23.2505 Function and installation.
• § 23.2510 Equipment, systems, and installations.
• § 23.2515 Electrical and electronic system lightning protection.
• § 23.2520 High-intensity Radiated Fields (HIRF) protection.
• § 23.2525 System power generation, storage, and distribution.
• § 23.2530 External and cockpit lighting.
• § 23.2535 Safety equipment.
• § 23.2540 Flight in icing conditions.
• § 23.2545 Pressurized systems elements.
• § 23.2550 Equipment containing high-energy rotors.

 

This section applies generally to installed equipment and systems unless a section of this part imposes requirements for a specific piece of equipment, system, or systems.

(a) The equipment and systems required for an airplane to operate safely in the kinds of operations for which certification is requested (Day VFR, Night VFR, IFR) must be designed and installed to—

(1) Meet the level of safety applicable to the certification and performance level of the airplane; and

(2) Perform their intended function throughout the operating and environmental limits for which the airplane is certificated.

(b) The systems and equipment not covered by paragraph (a) of this section—considered separately and in relation to other systems—must be designed and installed so their operation does not have an adverse effect on the airplane or its occupants.

 

When installed, each item of equipment must function as intended.

 

For any airplane system or equipment whose failure or abnormal operation has not been specifically addressed by another requirement in this part, the applicant must design and install each system and equipment, such that there is a logical and acceptable inverse relationship between the average probability and the severity of failure conditions to the extent that:

(a) Each catastrophic failure condition is extremely improbable;

(b) Each hazardous failure condition is extremely remote; and

(c) Each major failure condition is remote.

 

An airplane approved for IFR operations must meet the following requirements, unless an applicant shows that exposure to lightning is unlikely:

(a) Each electrical or electronic system that performs a function, the failure of which would prevent the continued safe flight and landing of the airplane, must be designed and installed such that—

(1) The function at the airplane level is not adversely affected during and after the time the airplane is exposed to lightning; and

(2) The system recovers normal operation of that function in a timely manner after the airplane is exposed to lightning unless the system's recovery conflicts with other operational or functional requirements of the system.

(b) Each electrical and electronic system that performs a function, the failure of which would significantly reduce the capability of the airplane or the ability of the flightcrew to respond to an adverse operating condition, must be designed and installed such that the system recovers normal operation of that function in a timely manner after the airplane is exposed to lightning.

 

(a) Each electrical and electronic system that performs a function, the failure of which would prevent the continued safe flight and landing of the airplane, must be designed and installed such that—

(1) The function at the airplane level is not adversely affected during and after the time the airplane is exposed to the HIRF environment; and

(2) The system recovers normal operation of that function in a timely manner after the airplane is exposed to the HIRF environment, unless the system's recovery conflicts with other operational or functional requirements of the system.

(b) For airplanes approved for IFR operations, each electrical and electronic system that performs a function, the failure of which would significantly reduce the capability of the airplane or the ability of the flightcrew to respond to an adverse operating condition, must be designed and installed such that the system recovers normal operation of that function in a timely manner after the airplane is exposed to the HIRF environment.

 

The power generation, storage, and distribution for any system must be designed and installed to—

(a) Supply the power required for operation of connected loads during all intended operating conditions;

(b) Ensure no single failure or malfunction of any one power supply, distribution system, or other utilization system will prevent the system from supplying the essential loads required for continued safe flight and landing; and

(c) Have enough capacity, if the primary source fails, to supply essential loads, including non-continuous essential loads for the time needed to complete the function required for continued safe flight and landing.

 

(a) The applicant must design and install all lights to minimize any adverse effects on the performance of flightcrew duties.

(b) Any position and anti-collision lights, if required by part 91 of this chapter, must have the intensities, flash rate, colors, fields of coverage, and other characteristics to provide sufficient time for another aircraft to avoid a collision.

(c) Any position lights, if required by part 91 of this chapter, must include a red light on the left side of the airplane, a green light on the right side of the airplane, spaced laterally as far apart as practicable, and a white light facing aft, located on an aft portion of the airplane or on the wing tips.

(d) Any taxi and landing lights must be designed and installed so they provide sufficient light for night operations.

(e) For seaplanes or amphibian airplanes, riding lights must provide a white light visible in clear atmospheric conditions.

 

Safety and survival equipment, required by the operating rules of this chapter, must be reliable, readily accessible, easily identifiable, and clearly marked to identify its method of operation.

 

An applicant who requests certification for flight in icing conditions defined in part 1 of appendix C to part 25 of this chapter, or an applicant who requests certification for flight in these icing conditions and any additional atmospheric icing conditions, must show the following in the icing conditions for which certification is requested:

(a) The ice protection system provides for safe operation.

(b) The airplane design must provide protection from stalling when the autopilot is operating.

 

Pressurized systems must withstand appropriate proof and burst pressures.

 

Equipment containing high-energy rotors must be designed or installed to protect the occupants and airplane from uncontained fragments.