The System is Broken (and Here's How to Fix It)

Here is what is happening to aviation businesses that are just trying to do the job right and deliver some service to their customers. A company plans installation of a mandated avionics system like RVSM or TAWS. Approval by a local FAA office is part of the process. The manager of the avionics shop calls the local FAA office to see about scheduling an appointment to handle the necessary approval. The FAA response? "Sorry, we're very busy. The best we can tell you now is that in about three weeks, we can let you know when we'll be able to think about scheduling your job."

The shortage of FAA manpower isn't just in the modifications-approval arena. Every time I meet with FAA maintenance inspectors, they rattle off a list of all the operators that they are charged with monitoring, and the numbers are staggering. One inspector often has dozens of companies to oversee, and that doesn't include hundreds of mechanics with Inspection Authorization.

Aviation is growing again, and this is putting enormous pressure on understaffed FAA offices. At the same time, due to shrinking budgets, the FAA is unable to provide enough money to allow the inspectors to travel to visit their constituents. There is also no money to hire new inspectors.

Another problem, not as critical but certainly important, is that as technology used in aviation advances, the FAA has not kept up. Technologically, the FAA is behind from the standpoint of training its maintenance inspectors on new-generation aircraft and avionics and from the shamelessly outdated regulations covering mechanic education (Part 147).

Even money and an army of new, well-trained FAA inspectors probably wouldn't fix this problem. Any change to the Part 147 regulations would simply encode today's technology in a fixed set of rules that will just have to be updated again in a few years.

There is a solution to the above problems. Some of you won't like it, and I suspect many in the FAA will be vehemently opposed. But it's truly the only way out of this mess. And, it is a mess that's getting worse and costing not only money but lives, as well (see Safety News, page 41, in the May 2005 of Aviation Maintenance).

The solution might be found in the new Light Sport Aviation aircraft category that is poised to revitalize the entry-level of aviation.

Light Sport is breaking down all sorts of regulatory barriers. These Light Sport rules abdicate the creation of regulations for this new aircraft to an industry-led consensus body. The voluntary consensus standards team, which includes the FAA and anyone who wants to join, chose ASTM International to manage the creation of standards under which these aircraft are designed, manufactured, approved, operated, and maintained.

The ASTM system is elegantly simple, flexible, and quite stringent. For example, the standards covering maintenance of Light Sport Aircraft require the owner to comply with all manufacturer strictures. This is completely different from the Part 43 and 91 FAA regulations, which the FAA admits do not mandate compliance with manufacturer service bulletins. An engine TBO on a factory-built Light Sport Aircraft, for example, is a hard time, no matter who owns the aircraft or how it is operated.

Because the voluntary consensus standards are created by an industry team, changes can happen at any time. All that is required is input from the team. Anyone who doesn't like a proposed new standard is welcome to join the team and express an opinion. This should be far faster than the endless back-and-forth FAA regulatory process that takes sometimes decades to modify or create rules.

The real beauty of this system is its flexibility. Can you imagine how much more current U.S. A&P schools would be if they were approved under an ASTM standard instead of FAA regulations? The schools would be hot-beds of new technology and few would choose to teach dope-and-fabric repairs.

ASTM standards are coming to the maintenance industry, so don't think that this isn't going to apply to you, even if you never set eyes on a Light Sport Aircraft. ATSM F39 is currently in the works. This is a new electrical wiring design and maintenance standard for small aircraft (business jets and down) that is going to replace Chapter 11 in Advisory Circular 43.13-1B. If you want to observe the activity on F39, go to www.astm.org and put F39 in the search box. If you don't like what you see, join the committee and express your opinion.

As far as replacing an existing regulation like Part 147 with a voluntary consensus standard, I'm not aware of any formal process to do this, but I suppose that if you like the idea, you could form a committee, contact ASTM, and figure out how to make it happen.