Federal Aviation Regulations
The Federal Aviation Regulations, or FARs, are rules
prescribed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
governing all aviation activities in the United States. The
FARs are part of Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regu-
lations (CFR). A wide variety of activities are regulated,
such as aircraft design and maintenance, typical airline
ights, pilot training activities, hot-air ballooning, lighter-
than-air aircraft, man-made structure heights, obstruction
lighting and marking, and even model rocket launches,
model aircraft operation, and kite ying. The rules are
designed to promote safe aviation, protecting pilots, ight
attendants, passengers and the general public from unnec-
essary risk. Since 1958, these rules have typically been
referred to as FARs, short for Federal Aviation Regu-
lations. However, another set of regulations (Title 48) is
titled Federal Acquisitions Regulations, and this has led
to confusion with the use of the acronym FAR. There-
fore, the FAA began to refer to specic regulations by the
term 14 CFR part XX.[1]
1 Organization
The FARs are organized into sections, called parts due to
their organization within the CFR. Each part deals with
a specic type of activity. For example, 14 CFR Part
141 contains rules for pilot training schools. The sec-
tions most relevant to aircraft pilots and AMTs (Avia-
tion Maintenance Technicians) are listed below. Many of
the FARs are designed to regulate certication of pilots,
schools, or aircraft rather than the operation of airplanes.
Once an airplane design is certied using some parts of
these regulations, it is certied regardless of whether the
regulations change in the future. For that reason, newer
planes are certied using newer versions of the FARs, and
in many aspects may be thus considered safer designs.
Part 1 Denitions and Abbreviations
Part 13 Investigation and Enforcement Procedures
Part 21 Certication Procedures for Products and
Parts
Part 23 Airworthiness Standards: Normal, Utility,
Acrobatic and Commuter Airplanes
Part 25 Airworthiness Standards: Transport Cat-
egory Airplanes
Part 27 Airworthiness Standards: Normal Cate-
gory Rotorcraft
1
Part 29 Airworthiness Standards: Transport Cat-
egory Rotorcraft
Part 33 Airworthiness Standards: Aircraft Engines
Part 34 Fuel Venting and Exhaust Emission Re-
quirements for Turbine Engine Powered Airplanes
Part 35 Airworthiness Standards: Propellers
Part 39 Airworthiness Directives
Part 43 Maintenance, Preventive Maintenance,
Rebuilding, and Alteration
Part 45 Identication and Registration Marking
Part 47 Aircraft Registration
Part 61 Certication: Pilots, Flight Instructors,
and Ground Instructors
Part 65 Certication: Airmen Other Than Flight
Crewmembers
Part 67 Medical Standards and Certication
Part 71 Designation of Class A, Class B, Class
C, Class D, and Class E Airspace Areas; Airways;
Routes; and Reporting Points
Part 73 Special Use Airspace
Part 91 General Operating and Flight Rules
Part 97 Standard Instrument Approach Procedures
Part 101 Moored Balloons, Kites, Unmanned
Rockets and Unmanned Free Balloons
Part 103 Ultralight Vehicles
Part 105 Parachute Operations
Part 119 Certication: Air Carriers and Commer-
cial Operators
Part 121 Operating Requirements: Domestic,
Flag, and Supplemental Operations
Part 125 Certication and Operations: Airplanes
Having a Seating Capacity of 20 or More Passengers
or a Payload Capacity of 6,000 Pounds or More
Part 129 is a foreign carrier or operator of U.S.
Aircraft
Part 133 Rotorcraft External-Load Operations
2 2 REGULATIONS OF INTEREST

Part 135 Operating Requirements: Commuter and Most of the Federal Aviation Regulations, including Part
On Demand Operations and Rules Governing Per- 23, commenced on February 1, 1965. Prior to that date,
sons on Board Such Aircraft airworthiness standards for airplanes in the normal, util-
ity and acrobatic categories were promulgated in Part 3
Part 136 Commercial Air Tours and National
of the US Civil Air Regulations. Many well-known types
Parks Air Tour Management
of light airplane are type certicated to CAR Part 3, even
Part 137 Agricultural Aircraft Operations though they remained in production after 1965. For ex-
ample, the Cessna 150 and Piper Cherokee are type cer-
Part 139 Certication of Airports ticated to CAR Part 3.
Part 141 Flight Schools
Part 142 Training Centers
2.2 Part 25
Part 145 Repair Stations
This part contains airworthiness standards for airplanes in
Part 147 Aviation Maintenance Technicians the transport category.
Schools
Transport category airplanes are either:
Part 183 Representatives of The Administrator

Jets with 10 or more seats or a maximum takeo

2 Regulations of interest weight (MTOW) greater than 12,500 pounds (5,670
kg); or
The FARs are divided into tens of thousands of sepa-
Propeller-driven airplanes with greater than 19 seats
rate sections, many of which have large numbers of re-
or a MTOW greater than 19,000 pounds (8,618 kg).
searchers using them on any given day. A few of the reg-
ulations particularly interesting to laypersons, relevant to
current political issues, or of historical interest are listed The Boeing 737 and later types, and Airbus A300 series,
below. are well-known airplane types that were certicated to
FAR Part 25.

2.1 Part 23 Most of the Federal Aviation Regulations, including Part

25, commenced on February 1, 1965. Prior to that date,
Part 23 contains airworthiness standards for airplanes in airworthiness standards for airplanes in the transport cat-
the normal, utility, aerobatic, and commuter categories. egory were promulgated in Part 4b of the US Civil Air
It dictates the standards required for issuance and change Regulations. The Boeing 707 and 727 are two well-
of type certicates for airplanes in these categories. E.g., known airplane types that were certicated to CAR Part
the maximum takeo weight of an airplane in the normal, 4b.
utility or acrobatic category cannot exceed 12,500 lb,
while in the commuter category it cannot exceed 19,000
lb. 2.3 Part 27
This part has a large number of regulations to ensure
airworthiness in areas such as structural loads, airframe, This part contains airworthiness standards for rotorcraft
performance, stability, controllability, and safety mecha- in the normal category. Rotorcraft up to 7,000 lb
nisms, how the seats must be constructed, oxygen and air Maximum Takeo Weight and 9 or fewer passengers are
pressurization systems, re prevention, escape hatches, type certied in this part.
ight management procedures, ight control communi- Examples of rotorcraft certied in this part are the
cations, emergency landing procedures, and other limi- Schweizer 300 and the Bell 429.
tations, as well as testing of all the systems of the air-
craft. It also determines special aspects of aircraft perfor-
mance such as stall speed (e.g., for single engine airplanes 2.4 Part 29
not more than 61 knots), rate of climb (not less than
300 ft/min), take-o speed (not less than 1.2 x VS), and
This part contains airworthiness standards for rotorcraft
weight of each pilot and passenger (170 lb for airplanesin the transport category. Rotorcraft with more than
in the normal and commuter categories, and 190 lb for 7,000 lb (3,200 kg) maximum takeo weight and 10 or
airplanes in the acrobatic and utility categories). more passengers are type certied in this part. Rotorcraft
The Cessna 177, Cirrus SR20 and Piper PA-34 Seneca with more than 20,000 lb (9,100 kg) maximum takeo
are well-known airplanes types that were certicated to weight must be certied to additional Category A stan-
FAR Part 23. dards dened in this part.
2.6 Private, commuter, and commercial 3

2.5 Part 91 ports as well.[5] Others, including the Transportation Se-

curity Administration, argue that they are necessary for
2.5.1 Section 91.3(b) national security.[6]
The responsibility for screening requests for TFR and for
This regulation states that the pilot-in-command is the subsequent granting or denying them, lies with the FAAs
party directly responsible for, and is the nal authority Oce of System Operations Security.[7]
as to, an aircraft being operated.
Additionally, this regulation states that in an emergency
requiring immediate action, the pilot-in-command may 2.5.3 Two-way radio communications failure
deviate from any regulation contained within Part 91 to
the extent required to handle the emergency. Section 91.185 of the Federal Aviation Restrictions deals
with loss of radio communications while in ight. If a loss
of radio communications were to be encountered during
2.5.2 Temporary ight restrictions VFR conditions, or if VFR conditions are encountered
after loss of communication with the ground and other
aircraft, the pilot of the aircraft shall continue the ight
under VFR and land as soon as practicable. If, however,
the failure occurs in IFR conditions and/or the VFR con-
ditions are not forthcoming, the pilot should continue un-
der the following conditions:

Route The pilot will follow:

The route assigned in the last

contact with ATC before loss
of communication, or, if being
radar vectored, continue direct
to the radar x specied in the
vector clearance;
In the absence of an assigned
route, the pilot will follow the
route advised by ATC;
In the absence of an ATC as-
Example of a presidential TFR surrounding Charleston, South
signed or advised route, the
Carolina. pilot will follow the route set
down in the ight plan.
The pertinent sections of the FAR (14 CFR Sections
91.137, 91.138, 91.139, 91.141, 91.143, 91.145, Altitude The pilot will continue at the
99.7)[2][3] describe temporary ight restrictions highest of the following altitudes or ight
(TFR). A TFR is a geographically-limited, short-term, levels:
airspace restriction, typically in the United States. Tem-
porary ight restrictions often encompass major sporting The altitude assigned in the
events, natural disaster areas, air shows, space launches, last contact with ATC before
and Presidential movements. Before the September loss of communication;
11, 2001 attacks, most TFRs were in the interest of The minimum altitude for IFR
safety to ying aircraft with occasional small restrictions operations;
for Presidential movements. Since 9/11, TFRs have
The altitude advised by ATC
been routinely used to restrict airspace for 30 nautical
to be expected in a further
miles around the President, with a 10-nautical-mile
clearance.[8]
(20 km) radius no-y zone for non-scheduled ights.
They are also available to other important people such
as presidential and vice-presidential candidates (though 2.6 Private, commuter, and commercial
Senator John Kerry did not ask for any TFR during the
2004 election).[4] For pilots, there is an important distinction in the parts
TFRs are deeply unpopular with pilots in the general avi- that address classes of ight. These parts do not distin-
ation sector. Large Presidential TFRs frequently close o guish type of aircraft, but rather type of activity done with
not only the airport Air Force One is using but nearby air- the aircraft. Regulations for commuter and commercial
4 5
aviation are far more intensive than those for general avi-
ation, and specic training is required. Hence, ights are
often referred to as Part XX operations, to specify which
one of the dierent sets of rules applies in a particular
case. Also, ight schools will often designate themselves
as Part 61 or Part 141 to distinguish between dierent
levels of training and dierent study programs they could
oer to the students.
Part 61 is certication for private pilots, ight instructors,
and ground instructors.
Part 91 is general operating rules for all aircraft. Gen-
eral aviation ights are conducted under this part. Part
91, Subpart (K) prescribes operating rules for fractional
ownership programs.
Part 117 deals with ight and duty-time limitations and
rest requirements for ightcrew members.
Part 121 is scheduled air carrier (airliners).
Part 133 is external load (helicopter) operations.
Part 135 is a set of rules with more stringent standards
for commuter and on-demand operations.
Part 141 is a more structured method for pilot training,
based on FAA syllabus and other standards.
Part 145 contains the rules a certicated repair station
must follow as well as any person who holds, or is required
to hold, a repair station certicate issued under this part.
2.7 Maintenance
Part 21 is certication procedures for products and parts.
Part 39 are airworthiness directives.
Part 43 is maintenance, preventive maintenance, rebuild-
ing, and alteration.
Part 63 is certication for ight crewmembers other than
pilots.
Part 65 is certication for airmen other than ight
crewmembers.
3 See also
Airspace
Flight permits
Day-night average sound level
Joint Aviation Requirements
National Security Area
Night aviation regulations
Prohibited airspace
Restricted airspace
EXTERNAL LINKS
Safety pilot
Special ight rules area
Special use airspace
Transport category
4 References
[1] Overview Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations
(14 CFR)" (PDF). FAA.gov. Federal Aviation Adminis-
tration. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
[2] FAA AC 91-63C Temporary Flight Restrictions
(TFRs/TFR)". Faa.gov. 2004-05-20. Retrieved 2012-
09-16.
[3] Michael W. Brown (NovemberDecember 2003). TFR:
Airspace Obstacles and TFR Trivia. A Pilots Guide to
Understanding Restrictions in Todays National Airspace
System (PDF). Retrieved 2011-05-05.
[4] No TFRs for Kerry campaign. Aircraft Owners and Pi-
lots Association Online. 2004-08-03. Retrieved 2008-
08-23.
[5] Temporary ight restrictions: President Bush travels to
Rhode Island Archived May 23, 2013, at the Wayback
Machine.
[6] Thurber, Matt (2003-02-01). Meet Big Brother. Avi-
ation Maintenance. Access Intelligence, LLC. Retrieved
2008-08-23.
[7] James Williams. We're on a Mission: Taking the Mys-
tery Out of Temporary Flight Restrictions (PDF). FAA
Safety Brieng (May/June 2011) (FAA). pp. 1618. Re-
trieved 2011-05-05.
[8] Federal Aviation Regulation Sec. 91.185 IFR oper-
ations: Two-way radio communications failure.. Risin-
gup.com. Retrieved September 26, 2010.
5 External links
Code of Federal Regulations
Federal Aviation Administrations repository of
FARs and SFARs
14 CFR Title 14Aeronautics and Space Legal
Information Institute
FAR/AIM.org Online FAR/AIM and other freely
available FAA documentation
Aviation Data Systems
 5

6 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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