IFR Airworthiness Standards For VTOL Aircraft

Interim standards for helicopter instrument certification were developed a little more than ten years ago. These standards have seen limited use during the ensuing decade, primarily due to a lack of growth in the use of helicopters in the civil systems. IFR certification standards are published in the "Tentative Standards for Verticraft/ Powered Lift Transport Category Aircraft" and are being processed for proposed rulemaking applicable to FAR 27 and FAR 29. Since there do not exist complete quantitative standards which define minimum acceptable combinations of flying qualities, there will continue to be a major reliance on pilot opinion for certification in this area. It is the opinion of the author that, for a large-scale metropolitan air transit system to be successful, higher levels of safety are essential.