Aviation Foundation Of America Applauds New Amendment That
Protects The Design Data Of More Than 1,000 Different Aircraft
Types
In what one group is calling a landmark victory for the
preservation and accessibility of historic aircraft data, the
recently passed long-term FAA authorization bill contains an
amendment that requires the FAA to protect aircraft technical
drawings and other design data from the beginning of civil aviation
in the United States.
Fairchild Aircraft
The amendment, incorporated into the overall FAA Reauthorization
Bill, mandates the preservation of vintage aircraft design data for
1,257 different makes and models of aircraft built in the United
States from March 1927 through November 1939. It has been labeled
“The Herrick Amendment” by the bill’s primary
sponsor, Congressman Sam Graves (R-MO) after aviation
preservationist and Aviation Foundation of American president Greg
Herrick of Minneapolis, MN.
This amendment also removes the claim of “trade
secret” status to vintage aircraft drawings and grants access
through a Freedom of Information Act request to anyone who wishes
to examine or copy the drawings for non-commercial purposes. In
addition, it relieves surviving holders of the Approved Type
Certificate from liability for use of the data.
“Beginning with the Wright brothers, the United States has
led the way for aviation – and these files chronicle the
development of our aircraft industry. They document the very fabric
of American innovation,” said Herrick. “The
accessibility and preservation of these files ensures an
irreplaceable resource for present and future generations. It also
allows vintage aircraft owners to maintain the continued safe
operation of aircraft that are still flying.”
The U.S. government mandated aircraft manufacturers to submit
design data in order to receive approval to build an aircraft for
public use. The data included technical blueprints depicting the
design, materials, components, dimensions and geometry of the
aircraft in addition to engineering analysis and test data. After
submission and approval, manufacturers received an “Approved
Type Certificate” (ATC), or a “Group 2” approval
which were to be held for future reverence and comparison.
Today, fewer than half-a-dozen of these aircraft are still being
manufactured and very few of the original manufacturers are still
in business. Yet, thousands of the aircraft still exist in private
collections and continue to be restored, maintained and flown.
Regrettably, over time much of this technical data became
scattered through various government offices and storage
facilities. Locating this data for purposes of restoration, repair
or continued airworthiness inspections for a given model of
aircraft grew increasingly problematic. In addition, the FAA
adopted a policy that made obtaining the data very difficult.
In 1997, Herrick requested the drawings for the tail of a 1937
tube-and-fabric Fairchild aircraft. Access was denied on the basis
that the design contained “trade secrets” of the
original manufacturer. A lawsuit was filed and iterations of the
effort led the case 15 years later to the United States Supreme
Court where in a unanimous decision the case was remanded to the
lower court and Herrick finally obtained copies of the drawings. It
was this experience the led Herrick to champion the amendment.
FMI:
Authorization Bill (see Title VIII, Sec. 816: Historical
Aircraft Documents)