14 CFR § 450.115 - Flight safety analysis methods.
---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t14/s450.115"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "14 CFR § 450.115 - Flight safety analysis methods."
title_number: 14
title_name: "Aeronautics and Space"
section_number: "450.115"
section_name: "Flight safety analysis methods."
chapter_name: "COMMERCIAL SPACE TRANSPORTATION, FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION"
subchapter_number: "C"
subchapter_name: "LICENSING"
part_number: "450"
part_name: "LAUNCH AND REENTRY LICENSE REQUIREMENTS"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-04-05"
last_updated: "2026-04-05"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "51 U.S.C. 50901-50923."
regulatory_source: "Docket No. FAA-2019-0229, Amdt. 450-2, 85 FR 79719, Dec. 10, 202085 FR 79739, Dec. 10, 2020, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "450"
---
# 450.115 Flight safety analysis methods.
(a) *Scope of the analysis.* An operator's flight safety analysis method must account for all reasonably foreseeable events and failures of safety-critical systems during nominal and non-nominal launch or reentry that could jeopardize public safety.
(b) *Level of fidelity of the analysis.* An operator's flight safety analysis method must have a level of fidelity sufficient to—
(1) Demonstrate that any risk to the public satisfies the safety criteria of § 450.101, including the use of mitigations, accounting for all known sources of uncertainty, using a means of compliance accepted by the Administrator; and
(2) Identify the dominant source of each type of public risk with a criterion in § 450.101(a) or (b) in terms of phase of flight, source of hazard (such as toxic exposure, inert, or explosive debris), and failure mode.
(c) *Application requirements.* An applicant must submit a description of the flight safety analysis methodology, including identification of:
(1) The scientific principles and statistical methods used;
(2) All assumptions and their justifications;
(3) The rationale for the level of fidelity;
(4) The evidence for validation and verification required by § 450.101(g);
(5) The extent to which the benchmark conditions are comparable to the foreseeable conditions of the intended operations; and
(6) The extent to which risk mitigations were accounted for in the analyses.