Radio altimeter swaps due by 2034 as FAA leaves the door open for single-pilot legacy Citations

Two regulatory threads from last week’s NBAA-BACE in Las Vegas will shape fleet budgets and crewing for years, and both matter to anyone quoting or operating business jets in the US.

The FAA’s new radio altimeter rule took effect on 29 September. Airliners flying under Part 121 have to meet the new interference-resistance standard by 30 December 2030. Almost every other US-registered aircraft that carries a radio altimeter, including Part 91 subpart K fractional fleets and Part 135 charter aircraft, has until 31 October 2034. The rule exists because the FCC is auctioning part of the Upper C-band (3.98–4.2 GHz), right next to the band radio altimeters use, for 5G-style wireless service.

At a session on 20 October, NBAA and GAMA explained that, depending on the unit fitted today, an aircraft may need a filter, a software or hardware update, or a full replacement. Industry lobbying secured a rebate funded from the auction, worth up to $3.5 billion in total. It is not a full reimbursement: payments are fixed amounts by aircraft category and modification complexity, Part 91 and 135 operators face a cap, and the fund closes once it’s spent. The FCC opened comments on the rebate categories on 19 October. Foreign operators flying into the US under Part 129 must comply too, but they can’t claim the rebate.

What it means for charter: operators should check their radio altimeter part numbers now and book shop slots early. A rush late in the decade could take aircraft off the line, and rebate money is first come, first served.

On 29 September the FAA also stopped issuing, and began rescinding, the training exemptions that let qualified pilots fly legacy Cessna Citation 500-series jets (Citation I, II, S/II, V, Ultra, Bravo, Encore and Encore+) alone. The agency pointed to incomplete or falsified training records and to an accident rate it put at roughly twice that of comparable single-pilot Citations. NBAA and the Citation Jet Pilots Association dispute that comparison, which was based on aircraft counts rather than flight hours.

On stage at NBAA-BACE on 22 October, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford called a proposed route back, extra training combined with a supplemental type certificate (STC) for aircraft modifications, “worthy of scrutiny”. He added that any alternative must reach at least an equivalent level of safety. Nothing has changed yet: there’s no new approval process or timeline, so these aircraft must still fly with two pilots.

What it means for charter: brokers sourcing light jets should assume legacy Citations need two pilots for the foreseeable future, which can affect availability and price on short sectors.

Operators should check radio altimeter part numbers now and book shop slots early. A rush late in the decade could take aircraft off the line, and rebate money is first come, first served. Brokers sourcing light jets should assume legacy Citations need two pilots for the foreseeable future, which can affect availability and price on short sectors.

Sources: NBAA-BACE, Industry secures incentive funding for radio altimeter replacement; Federal Register, FAA radio altimeter final rule; Federal Register, FCC public notice on radio altimeter rebates (19 October 2026); AVweb, Bedford open to new Citation single-pilot path; NBAA-BACE, FAA’s Bedford talks business aviation access, safety and more; Federal Register, FAA notice rescinding single-pilot exemptions for certain Cessna aircraft. Via NBAA-BACE Insider Daily, 23 October 2026. This brief is an original rewrite of those reports. It is not a verbatim reproduction of those publications.