FAA Warns Operators, Its Own Inspectors About Operational Control

U.S. FAA officials are reminding aircraft operators and their own safety inspectors about the operational-control requirements of air operator certificates and associated regulations. Helicopter operators, particularly EMS ones, were alarmed in recent months by FAA inspections of who had actual vs. paperwork control of flight operations. Rather than focusing on helicopter operations, the inspections are part of an agency-wide effort to improve adherence to regulatory requirements for operational control. FAA officials became concerned adherence had grown lax in recent years after a February 2005 corporate jet crash in Teterboro, N.J., the investigation of which revealed operational control was not by the FAA certificate holder. The FAA’s manager of commuter, on-demand and training services, Hooper Harris, was to brief attendees of the Air Medical Transport Conference in Phoenix this week on the issue.