FAA Order 8130.2M updates aircraft certification guidance

Sophie Lindqvist

FAA Order 8130.2M updates guidance for three aircraft categories and cancels FAA Order 8130.2L, which the agency lists as dated 01/30/2026.

The recently published order covers airworthiness certification—the process by which the FAA documents that an aircraft meets applicable airworthiness requirements. It does not announce a newly certified aircraft type, a fleet delivery or a commercial launch.

The FAA said: “This revision implements related provisions of the Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification (MOSAIC) final rule, which amended Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR), Parts 1, 21, 22, 36, 43, 45, 61, 65, 91, and 119…”

That distinction matters. The final rule amended the regulations; Order 8130.2M aligns certification guidance and cancels superseded documents. Any flight still depends on an aircraft’s certificate and the operating limitations that apply to its category.

Which aircraft and missions are affected?

The revision changes five groups of requirements:

• The design, manufacture, certification, operation, maintenance and alteration of light-sport category aircraft.
• Special-purpose operations for restricted-category aircraft.
• The duration of experimental airworthiness certificates for showing compliance with regulations, research and development, crew training and market survey.
• Eligible purposes for experimental aircraft, including the new purpose of operating former-military aircraft under § 21.191(j).
• Operating limitations in 14 CFR Part 91 for light-sport and restricted-category aircraft and experimental aircraft, including experimental aircraft engaged in space support vehicle flights.

An experimental airworthiness certificate is tied to a defined qualifying purpose; eligibility for one is not a type certificate or an announcement that a particular aircraft is flying.

How does the order reorganize the guidance?

The chapter-level changes determine where applicants, operators and FAA personnel will find the revised requirements:

• The order adds definitions of “space support vehicle” and “space support vehicle flight”.
• It removes the acronyms “ELSA” and “SLSA” to align with the removal of the definition of light-sport aircraft in § 1.1.
• Chapters 9 and 17 are rewritten for light-sport category aircraft and experimental kit-built and former light-sport category aircraft, respectively.
• Chapter 18 is added for the new experimental purpose of operating former-military aircraft under § 21.191(j).
• Most operating limitations in Appendix D, Table D-1, are revised.
• All provisions relating to FAA approval of production certificate holders’ and modifiers’ procedures for operating experimental aircraft are removed.

The space-support definitions establish terminology for applying operating limits to experimental aircraft. They do not announce approval for a particular space-support vehicle or flight.

What does this change for operators?

Certificate holders, production certificate holders and modifiers will need to compare their certificates and experimental-aircraft procedures with the revised chapters and limits. The notice supplies no transition checklist, but it directs users to review the complete order for compliance.

The former-military amendment makes operation under § 21.191(j) an eligible experimental purpose. It does not announce an aircraft certificate, an operator or a flight date, and the notice identifies no aircraft already flying under that provision.

The revision also changes certificate duration for showing compliance with regulations, research and development, crew training and market survey. However, the announcement gives no revised duration. It also omits the new values in Appendix D, Table D-1, although most limits changed.

Those omissions prevent a defensible fleet-level cost or capacity estimate. A tighter limit can restrict missions, reduce usable capacity and alter aircraft assignments or route planning. Compliance work can add administrative cost.

For airlines, those effects can reach schedule economics and network planning. No airline, aircraft manufacturer, lessor or maintenance, repair and overhaul organization is named in the announcement, so it supports no company-specific exposure estimate.

Removing the provisions governing FAA approval of production certificate holders’ and modifiers’ experimental procedures changes the compliance route. Under 8130.2M, those entities can no longer use this order’s former approval mechanism. The notice does not remove their underlying operating duties or announce an aircraft grounding.

Which documents no longer apply?

Order 8130.2M cancels FAA Order 8130.2L, dated 01/30/2026, and all clarification, deviation and policy memoranda issued for Order 8130.2 before 8130.2M’s effective date.

The announcement does not state 8130.2M’s effective date. It advises users to review the complete revision to ensure compliance with the new requirements. The next practical checkpoint is an operator-by-operator comparison of certificates, experimental purposes, procedures and Table D-1 limits; until then, neither fleet capacity nor network cost can be quantified from the order alone.