ENVIRONMENTAL CLEARANCE FOR RELATIVITY’S TERRAN R

The FAA has issued a Finding of No Significant Impact and Record of Decision (FONSI/ROD) concurring with, and formally adopting, the US Space Force’s 2024 environmental assessment of Relativity Space’s Terran R launch programme at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 16. The Space Force led that environmental review and issued its own finding in January 2024; the FAA acted as a cooperating agency, and its newly issued FONSI/ROD covers the agency’s prospective issuance of a vehicle operator license to Relativity for Terran R operations, as well as related airspace closures. Relativity, which is retiring its smaller Terran 1 rocket, still needs to obtain that operator license from the FAA before it can conduct Terran R launches; today’s notice clears an environmental step in that process rather than granting the licence itself.

END OF SINGLE-PILOT TRAINING EXEMPTIONS FOR CESSNA CE-500 JETS

Separately, the FAA has announced it will stop issuing, and will rescind, exemptions that have allowed certain two-pilot Cessna Citation CE-500-series jets to be flown by a single pilot, a policy in place for more than forty years since the first such exemption was granted to Cessna in 1984. The agency says a review beginning in 2024 found widespread non-compliance among the training providers holding these exemptions, including incomplete records, prohibited use of training devices and improperly conducted pilot checks; 13 of the 14 Part 61 exemption holders reviewed had their exemptions denied extension or rescinded. The FAA also found that Part 25 CE-500 aircraft flown single-pilot have an accident rate roughly twice that of comparable single-pilot Part 23 aircraft, undermining the safety case for the exemptions, and cited two accidents under investigation: a fatal crash on 22 May 2025 that killed six people on board and injured eight on the ground, involving a pilot who had received an improper proficiency check from an exemption holder, and a December 2025 accident in Statesville, North Carolina, in which a required second pilot was not on board. The rescission takes effect 29 September 2026; pilots holding single-pilot logbook endorsements under the exemption must now operate the affected aircraft with a qualified second pilot.

Note: This article summarises two separate Federal Register notices; readers who need the full environmental analysis, the complete accident case detail or the exact regulatory text should consult the original notices at the source links below.