Aerospace regulation
In the United States, the FAA has anticipated a desire to use additive
manufacturing techniques and has been considering how best to regulate
this process. The FAA has jurisdiction over such fabrication because all
aircraft parts must be made under FAA production approval or under other
FAA regulatory categories. In December 2016, the FAA approved the
production of a 3D printed fuel nozzle for the GE LEAP engine. Aviation
attorney Jason Dickstein has suggested that additive manufacturing is
merely a production method, and should be regulated like any other
production method. He has suggested that the FAA’s focus should be on
guidance to explain compliance, rather than on changing the existing
rules, and that existing regulations and guidance permit a company “to
develop a robust quality system that adequately reflects regulatory
needs for quality assurance.”