Attendees Said FAA Proposals Are A "Good First Step"
John Allen, the FAA official in charge of flight standards, told
HAI’s Industry Forum on Public-Aircraft Operations that the
agency will provide clearer guidance for operators, safety
investigators and its own inspectors on how to determine when a
civil-certified aircraft is being operated as a public aircraft
beyond FAA oversight.
FAA Flight Standards Director John Allen
Allen was one of the featured speakers at the Jan. 20 forum,
which about 100 people attended in Alexandria, VA, and more than
200 joined online. HAI hosted the forum as an opportunity for the
FAA and NTSB to address industry questions about federal oversight
of public aircraft and their operation. NTSB Member Earl Weener
discussed the safety board’s investigation of accidents
involving public aircraft and the oversight problems they
uncovered.
Attendees praised the FAA’s proposed revisions as a good
first step in fixing unclear rules about the operation and
oversight of public-aircraft missions.
“Instead of shying away from the oversight responsibility,
it sounds like the FAA is stepping up to it,” Steve Bandy,
chief pilot and director of flight operations for Columbia
Helicopters in Portland, Ore., said. The forum, which he attended
in person, “was a very good dialogue on a very difficult
issue.”
“All parties agree there needs to be a simple and precise
set of guidelines on the rules governing operations as public
aircraft,” HAI President Matt Zuccaro, who moderated the
forum, said. “John Allen made clear that the FAA recognizes
that need and wants to work with the helicopter industry and other
government agencies on fulfilling it.”
Public aircraft are those owned and operated or contracted by a
government agency. Such aircraft generally are operated outside the
regulations and surveillance of the FAA. But U.S. regulations are
unclear about who bears responsibility for the safety of those
aircraft and their passengers and when aircraft shift from civil to
public operations. Problems arise particularly when operators of
civil-certified aircraft under Part 135 of the Federal Aviation
Regulations work under contract to a government agency exempt from
those rules.
“The statute is vague,” Allen told those attending
the forum in person and online. “It is very
confusing.”
NTSB Member Earl Weener
New guidance being developed by the FAA will clarify that. Once
that guidance is finalized and briefed to FAA inspectors, Allen
said, “the FAA will consider all contracted aircraft
operations as civil aircraft operations,” until the
contracting government agency provides the operator in advance with
a written declaration of public aircraft status on a
flight-by-flight basis and notifies the FAA in advance that it has
hired that operator to conduct “eligible” public
aircraft operations.
“The FAA also must determine the flights in question are
legitimate public aircraft operations under the terms of the
statute,” Allen said.
Without the declarations and determination, Allen said,
“the operation is civil and the FAA has oversight
responsibility.”
Allen said the FAA will draw on the discussions at the forum in
refining its guidance on public-aircraft operations and is seeking
further input, which HAI members and others can offer via e-mail. The
FAA hopes to issues an Advisory Circular on the subject in the near
future.