Operators pushing for clearance to fly commercial single-engine flights in IFR conditions, which are not allowed under European Union (EU) legislation, will be encouraged that regulators have brought forward by a year the start and end dates for rulemaking. That is the good news. The bad news–almost 25 years after the initial proposals–is that it will be well after the middle of this decade before regulations could permit such operations.
Formal consideration of single-engine commercial air transport inIMC or at night (SE-IMC/night, equivalent to U.S. single-engine IFR, appears in the 2011-14 European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) rulemaking program. This shows that development of implementing rules (IR) for airworthiness and operational approval for SE-IMC/night flying is scheduled to begin early next year, assuming that budget and resources are available. It should lead to an EASA “opinion” on proposals in four years’ time. [In European legislative procedures, opinions are draft rules sent to the European Commission for further processing before enactment. New laws are proposed as amendments to the IRs covering a basic regulation; in this case, that covering commercial air transport.–Ed.]
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