AEA's Peri: "60 Day Clock ... Has Not Begun"

Aviation's alphabet groups have jumped to respond to the threat of the FCC's proposed ban on the certification, manufacture, importation, sale, or continued use of 121.5 MHz Emergency Locator Transmitters. It's being portrayed as a sudden, unexpected ruling, but that's a matter of perspective.

Like the California flight instructor regulatory mess of two weeks ago, the FCC's ELT ruling shows, if anything, the extent to which the alphabet groups are focused on Washington in general, and the FAA in particular, and don't have mechanisms in place to monitor lawmaking at the state level or in other federal bureaus.

The June 1st ruling appears at first glance to have gone unnoticed within the aviation industry for no more than about two weeks. But it actually stems from a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking dating all the way back to 2006.

Ric Peri, VP for Industry and Regulatory Affairs for the Aircraft Electronics Association, said in the June 23rd Aero News Special Feature that the FCC has been inundated with comments on the action, and has said it will not take any action which forces pilots to choose between contradictory federal rules from the FCC and FAA.

He adds that in response to the heads-up from AEA, AOPA and other groups "...the final rule has not been submitted to the Federal Register for publication, therefore, the 60-day clock for implementation of the rule has not begun."

Unlike the California state legislature, the FCC also seems to be admitting it had inadequate background on the feasibility or impact of its ruling, which Peri estimates would have forced 200-thousand aircraft through 800 repair stations in a 60-day period, impossible even if an adequate supply of newer ELTs was available.

AEA adds that the FCC has clarified its intent to outlaw only those older ELTs which have only 121.5 MHz capability, not the newer, 406-MHz ELTs which also transmit on 121.5.

On the AEA website, the association encourages its membership not to sell C91a ELTs to customers without them knowing the latest ruling of the FCC, there is no immediate regulatory need for operators to upgrade their legacy C91a ELTs to the more modern C126 ELTs. For safety reasons, the AEA continues to encourage operators to upgrade their ELTs to the modern C126 ELT. Operators of the legacy C91a ELTs should be made aware the usefulness of their ELTs is very limited, as the justification for the FCC ruling indicates, and most likely will not provide the search-and-rescue capabilities they might expect.

Peri says details in this story are developing rapidly. In the meantime, there appears to be a lesson for all of us. If you see something happening in your state capital, or in a federal bureau other than the FCC, and it looks like it might impact aviation, call the alphabet groups. As huge as the web of government has grown at all levels, it's not reasonable to assume our industry advocacy groups will see everything without our help.

FMI: www.fcc.gov, www.faa.gov, www.aea.net