187 

Federal Aviation Administration, DOT 

§ 23.2320 

(2) Have a means to prevent the con-

tents of the compartment from becom-
ing a hazard by impacting occupants or 
shifting; and 

(3) Protect any controls, wiring, 

lines, equipment, or accessories whose 
damage or failure would affect safe op-
erations. 

Subpart D—Design and 

Construction 

§ 23.2300

Flight control systems. 

(a) The applicant must design air-

plane flight control systems to: 

(1) Operate easily, smoothly, and 

positively enough to allow proper per-
formance of their functions. 

(2) Protect against likely hazards. 
(b) The applicant must design trim 

systems, if installed, to: 

(1) Protect against inadvertent, in-

correct, or abrupt trim operation. 

(2) Provide a means to indicate— 
(i) The direction of trim control 

movement relative to airplane motion; 

(ii) The trim position with respect to 

the trim range; 

(iii) The neutral position for lateral 

and directional trim; and 

(iv) The range for takeoff for all ap-

plicant requested center of gravity 
ranges and configurations. 

§ 23.2305

Landing gear systems. 

(a) The landing gear must be de-

signed to— 

(1) Provide stable support and control 

to the airplane during surface oper-
ation; and 

(2) Account for likely system failures 

and likely operation environments (in-
cluding anticipated limitation 
exceedances and emergency proce-
dures). 

(b) All airplanes must have a reliable 

means of stopping the airplane with 
sufficient kinetic energy absorption to 
account for landing. Airplanes that are 
required to demonstrate aborted take-
off capability must account for this ad-
ditional kinetic energy. 

(c) For airplanes that have a system 

that actuates the landing gear, there 
is— 

(1) A positive means to keep the land-

ing gear in the landing position; and 

(2) An alternative means available to 

bring the landing gear in the landing 

position when a non-deployed system 
position would be a hazard. 

§ 23.2310

Buoyancy for seaplanes and 

amphibians. 

Airplanes intended for operations on 

water, must— 

(a) Provide buoyancy of 80 percent in 

excess of the buoyancy required to sup-
port the maximum weight of the air-
plane in fresh water; and 

(b) Have sufficient margin so the air-

plane will stay afloat at rest in calm 
water without capsizing in case of a 
likely float or hull flooding. 

O

CCUPANT

S

YSTEM

D

ESIGN

P

ROTECTION

 

§ 23.2315

Means of egress and emer-

gency exits. 

(a) With the cabin configured for 

takeoff or landing, the airplane is de-
signed to: 

(1) Facilitate rapid and safe evacu-

ation of the airplane in conditions like-
ly to occur following an emergency 
landing, excluding ditching for level 1, 
level 2 and single engine level 3 air-
planes. 

(2) Have means of egress (openings, 

exits or emergency exits), that can be 
readily located and opened from the in-
side and outside. The means of opening 
must be simple and obvious and 
marked inside and outside the airplane. 

(3) Have easy access to emergency 

exits when present. 

(b) Airplanes approved for aerobatics 

must have a means to egress the air-
plane in flight. 

§ 23.2320

Occupant physical environ-

ment. 

(a) The applicant must design the 

airplane to— 

(1) Allow clear communication be-

tween the flightcrew and passengers; 

(2) Protect the pilot and flight con-

trols from propellers; and 

(3) Protect the occupants from seri-

ous injury due to damage to wind-
shields, windows, and canopies. 

(b) For level 4 airplanes, each wind-

shield and its supporting structure di-
rectly in front of the pilot must with-
stand, without penetration, the impact 
equivalent to a two-pound bird when 
the velocity of the airplane is equal to 
the airplane’s maximum approach flap 
speed. 

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