Mon, Dec 22, 2003
Supplies Short, AOPA Asks For Six-Month Reprieve
Effective on the first
of the year, business jet owners will have to carry an emergency
locator transmitter (ELT), just like almost every other general
aviation pilot. Bizjets had been exempt from the ELT requirement,
but Congress ordered the FAA to remove the exemption in the wake of
a turbojet that crashed in New Hampshire on Christmas Eve 1996 and
was not found for nearly three years.
Some AOPA members who operate turbojets have contacted the
association, asking for help because, as the deadline nears, ELTs
are in short supply, and avionics installation shops are booked
solid.
AOPA estimates that the backlog could result in hundreds of U.S.
business jets being in violation of Federal Aviation Regulations if
they fly after January 1.
While turbojet operators make up only a small fraction of AOPA's
membership, the association is working with the FAA to find a
solution for those operators who have made a good-faith effort to
comply with the regulation but either cannot buy the equipment or
cannot get into a shop to have it installed.
AOPA and other aviation organizations will meet with the head of
the FAA's Flight Standards Office next week to propose a
provisional six-month extension.
"We're proposing that the FAA allow bizjet operators to carry an
ELT bill of sale or other purchase agreement as evidence of a
good-faith effort to comply with the new regulation," said AOPA
Vice President of Regulatory Policy Melissa Bailey. "The prospect
of grounding such a large percentage of the U.S. business aviation
fleet is not good for anyone — the industry, the FAA, or
Congress."
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