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Repair stations should benefit from several provisions in the latest FAA reauthorization bill.
Laws are almost always the product of compromise, which usually means they fall short of anybody’s definition of perfection. The five-year FAA reauthorization bill signed into law May 16 that establishes funding levels and sets some new priorities is no exception.
But while some maintenance industry stakeholders will object to parts of the 1,100-page law, the general consensus is that U.S. lawmakers did far more good than harm.
Take workforce development. The law continues and expands grant programs introduced in 2018, including one tailored to aviation maintenance. Grant awards to date have supported a variety of programs, including apprenticeships at companies and new programs at colleges that get students started on earning their airframe and powerplant or avionics certifications.
The new law approves the grants through 2028, funds each category at $20 million per year and doubles the maximum possible annual grant award to $1 million per organization. It also expands grant eligibility to nonprofits and any FAA-approved Part 147 operations, regardless of whether they are linked to a college or university. It adds a new grant program as well for manufacturing organizations.
Lawmakers and their advisors took aim at longstanding issues, such as the consistency of the FAA’s rules and guidance.
One section of the law orders the Transportation Department Office of Inspector General to review how the FAA’s Flight Standards and Aircraft Certification services interpret and apply rules and policies. The legislation requires audits covering supplemental type certificates, repair stations and technical standard orders.
A related provision calls for the FAA to ensure policies, orders and guidance are applied consistently as well as to “properly document findings and decisions throughout a project.” This, the law explains, aims to minimize disruptions and duplicative work when key agency personnel assigned to the project change.
The agency also must establish an assistant administrator for rulemaking and regulatory improvement. This executive will be responsible for setting and managing the FAA’s regulatory agenda and periodically reviewing rules. The job also calls for monitoring petitions for exemption and evaluating when it makes sense to update rules to head off future petitions.
The FAA’s Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) program—under a white-hot spotlight in the aftermath of fatal Boeing 737-8 accidents in 2018 and 2019 linked in part to lax certification processes—received considerable attention. One section directs the ODA office to convene a forum every two years to share lessons learned and best practices. The gatherings also should “foster open and transparent communication between [FAA] safety specialists, ODA holders and unit members” or the company representatives designed to act of behalf of the FAA, the law says.
Lawmakers also ordered the agency to develop recurrent training for ODA unit members and review each organization’s program.
A series of new requirements grouped under “Global Aircraft Maintenance Safety Improvements” increases scrutiny on non-U.S. repair stations that work on U.S.-registered aircraft. Those shops will receive at least one “unannounced” visit from FAA inspectors every year, the law says. Discussed for years and now codified in law, the prospect of so-called surprise audits has raised concerns among some regulatory officials over possible violations of processes spelled out in bilateral safety agreements.
Airlines also must track and report to the FAA all work done at foreign repair stations as well as any malfunctions or other issues linked to it.
MRO shops in countries deemed to be noncompliant with FAA’s International Aviation Safety Assessment Program—so-called Category 2 countries—cannot add new work or receive their initial FAA certifications. The provision does not prohibit renewals, however.
Labor organizations, most of which vocally oppose any work contracted out by airlines, welcomed the foreign repair station moves as steps to improve safety. The Aeronautical Repair Station Association called the provisions “a solution in search of a problem” rooted in “false safety arguments to make it more difficult for Part 121 carriers to use foreign repair stations.”
