Who is FAA Order 8110.49A written for?
FAA Order 8110.49A, Software Approval Guidelines, guides FAA certification personnel and designees applying DO-178B/C to airborne software. It covers software aspects of type certification and Technical Standard Order authorization. The FAA catalogue lists revision A as Active, issued on 29 March 2018.
For someone reading a supplier announcement, this answers a specific question: what kind of reference is 8110.49A? It identifies the authority’s review framework. A claim about a particular product still needs its own evidence, rather than borrowing the authority of a document title.
AC 20-115D supplies the assurance context
AC 20-115D describes an acceptable means of showing compliance for airborne software and recognizes DO-178C and related documents. It is addressed to applicants, approval holders and developers. Its explanation separates life-cycle objectives, activities that can satisfy those objectives, and evidence of their satisfaction. This provides context for understanding what software assurance work produces.
The AC also explains that it is not a regulation, while an applicant using its means should follow the applicable provisions. Its section 6 addresses objectives and life-cycle data for the assigned software level. A reader can therefore distinguish the proposed assurance approach from the authority’s examination of the resulting project evidence.
A review includes more than a meeting
Order 8110.49A defines review to include examining data and records, interviewing personnel, witnessing activities and sampling evidence. Chapter 2 makes review scope dependent on project factors including software level, novelty and experience. Chapter 4 separately addresses software part and installation conformity.
Consider a hypothetical announcement: “The avionics team completed an FAA software review.” Compare it with a second: “The team demonstrated its cockpit software at a customer meeting.” Both describe events. Neither sentence identifies the software configuration, evidence examined or unresolved questions. This example does not rank the teams; it shows why a reader should avoid treating the event label as a complete technical result. A useful account would explain what was reviewed and what conclusion the record actually supports.
Follow a topic beyond the order
AC 00-69 supplies complementary best practices, including software change-impact analysis. Section 3.1 identifies the released baseline, proposed changes, affected areas and resulting activities. This gives a reader a specific destination for that topic; the order and the best-practices circular perform different jobs.
Consider a hypothetical reading list assembled from several years of training material. One slide points to an old order chapter; another cites a newer advisory circular. We would record both document identifiers and revisions before trying to reconcile the references. We would then follow the current document’s stated scope. Two citations can describe related work without being interchangeable, and a broken chapter reference does not by itself make the underlying technical question disappear.
Why the revision letter matters
Revision A superseded Order 8110.49 Change 2. Its change explanation says chapters 5–16 were deleted because topics had moved to AC 20-115D or AC 00-69, or were removed. The current order concentrates on review and conformity inspection.
A saved PDF, an old training slide and a current reference page may consequently use the same document number while discussing different material. Preserve the revision and section when following a citation. The contents give the reader a quick way to check whether a referenced section belongs to the copy in front of them. Follow the named companion document when the subject lies beyond that structure.
What the reference lets a reader conclude
The documents serve different reading needs: the order describes review, AC 20-115D explains a recognized assurance approach, and AC 00-69 offers selected best practices. None of the public documents supplies the approval history of a particular software product.
For an engineering reader, a useful product story joins three things: the named software or equipment, the evidence being claimed and the scope of the conclusion. Order 8110.49A helps interpret the middle of that chain. The company’s actual project records must supply the rest.
Based on the public FAA order, advisory circular and current catalogue, checked on 30 October 2026. This explains the documents’ roles and selected sections; it does not assess a particular product or reproduce the paid DO-178 standards. Project-specific approval records were not reviewed.
Read the evidence.
- 01Software Approval Guidelines — FAA Order 8110.49AFederal Aviation Administration · 29 Mar 2018
- 02FAA catalogue: current status and issue date of Order 8110.49AFederal Aviation Administration · 29 Mar 2018
- 03The recognized airborne software assurance approach — AC 20-115DFederal Aviation Administration · 21 Jul 2017
- 04Software change-impact context and best practices — AC 00-69Federal Aviation Administration · 21 Jul 2017