Safety Topics: High Altitude Operation Available to Purchase

ISSUED by the FAA a recent notice proposes amendments to specify aircraft and equipment airworthiness standards for subsonic transport aircraft to be operated up to an altitude of 51,000 ft. The changes proposed would codify and consolidate the different high‐altitude criteria made applicable by special conditions to previously certificated subsonic transport aircraft. Unlike the special conditions, the proposed changes would establish objective standards for high altitude operations rather than address specific design features. The proposed changes also acknowledge a human physiological limit of 34,000 ft, the level above which persons not using supplementary oxygen are in serious peril.