AEA Pleased

SUMMARY: The FAA is further delaying the effective date of the final rule amending the reporting requirements for air carriers and certificated domestic and foreign repair stations concerning failures of aircraft, aircraft engines, systems, and components.

MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS:  On September 15, 2000, the FAA published the Service Difficulty Report (SDR) final rule with a request for comments on the information collection (paperwork) requirements. The FAA received extensive written comments on the SDR requirements and the potential duplicate reporting of certain failures, malfunctions, and defects.

The FAA held a public meeting on December 11, 2000 where participants at the meeting (including AEA staff) raised novel issues that the FAA was not aware of when they prepared the final rule. As a result of the concerns expressed at the meeting and those raised during the comment period for the final rule, the FAA delayed the effective date of the final rule three times in three subsequent notices.

The FAA is committed to issuing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to address the issues raised and to give the aviation industry and the general public the opportunity to comment on the agency's proposed revision to the final rule.

AEA's comment:

The Association is pleased that the FAA has listened to the industry and delayed implementation of a deficient proposal.  AEA encourages its members to comment on the proposal when a revised NPRM is published later in the year.

FMI: www.aea.net/SDREXT.pdf; www.faa.gov