Workload Bogs Down Fast-Track Effort

An effort to permit Part 135 cargo operators to fly larger - and more modern - aircraft was unexpectedly delayed during a recent Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rule-making committee.

A special meeting was held in late August to iron out any differences on a proposal to boost the payload weight limits from 7,500 pounds to 18,000 pounds. The move would enable regional cargo operators to fly aircraft as large as the ATR-72. The Regional Air Cargo Carriers Association (RACCA) and the Regional Airline Association (RAA) are seeking the new weight limit.

Based on a straw vote taken during the June session of the Part 135 steering committee, the proposal was slated for a final vote at the August meeting. However, a vote never took place. The operations and airworthiness subcommittees had not completed their reviews of the proposal, said Stan Bernstein, RACCA's president.

If the plan had been approved in August, FAA participants on the committee said the agency would consider fast-tracking it - separating it from the rest of the Part 135 revision so that it could be enacted in as little as six months. The comprehensive revision may take several years to make it through the cumbersome FAA rulemaking process.

The rulemaking committee will review all proposed changes at its last meeting in November.