Avionics News March 2014 - 34

STANDARDS OF PARTICIPATION
Continued from page 32

more revisions, depending on the vote. Once the ballot is
approved, the standard is published.
"There is a level of bureaucracy involved in creating a
standard," Peri said, but ASTM's staff handles most of it
as the documents move through the various steps. "On the
upside, change happens more quickly. It can take the FAA
five years or more to change one of its advisory circulars
from concept to effective date ... if it's not controversial.
And it often takes several years to start this process, so
if you have some new technology, it can take seven to
10 years before you actually see any FAA guidance, an
advisory circular, on how to incorporate it in an aircraft."
With ASTM, the process takes "18 to 24 months to
develop a standard," he continued. Once written, it
can take 60 days to six months to edit and revise and

ballot the resulting standard. "When new technology is
introduced, we can actually have a standard on how to
install it as quickly as six months."
Committees do not send out "help wanted" notices,
Peri said. "You have to be involved and volunteer."
If an ASTM member wants to keep current on a
committee's activities, he or she can become a nonvoting
observer. Committees are organized with a chairman,
vice chairman, secretary and membership chairman,
and every aviation-related committee includes FAA
personnel from the appropriate offices.
Now is an excellent time to get involved with ASTM,
Peri said. The FAA will continue to establish the
minimum safety requirements in the applicable parts of
the Code of Federal Regulations, such as Part 23, "but
over time, ASTM standards will replace the acceptable
methods of compliance that are now contained in the
advisory circulars." q

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