Originally Posted by
YVR Cockroach
Perhaps it should be termed contigent emergency diversion routing restrictions or some such since ETOPS is "Extended Twin-engine Operational Performance Standards". What also applies to >2 engine a/c is something new called Extended Diversion Time Operations.
The name was changed over a decade ago to ExTended OPerationS. From
FAA InFO 07004 dated 1/26/07:
BACKGROUND: Formerly the term ETOPS signified “Extended Range Operation with Two-Engine Airplanes.” ETOPS guidance has been used for over twenty years to allow twoengine airplanes in part 121 operations to deviate from the regulation that limited the distance these airplanes could fly from potential diversion airfields. With over twenty years of successful experience in ETOPS operations, improvements in aircraft technology and reliability, and the prospect of airline operations on routes of increasing distance and remoteness, the FAA and industry agreed that ETOPS guidance should be reviewed, evaluated for potential application to all airplanes, and codified in the regulations. Note that the changes can be characterized by the change in meaning of ETOPS to “Extended Operations” since these provisions have broadened to include aircraft with more than two engines and to include both part 121 and part 135 operations. These regulations were posted in the Federal Register on January 16, 2007, and can be accessed at: