The Devil's in the Details, Baby: FAA's New Part 145
Rule Panned
"The devil's in the details, baby."
And the FAA, to continue in this colloquial vein, ain't makin'
it.
That's the word from Sarah MacLeod, a Washington attorney who directs
the Aeronautical Repair Station Association.
The FAA, nearly two decades after saying it would, promulgated
a new rule governing aircraft repair stations. Published in June
1999, the new FAR Part 145 was to take effect this year, but after
several postponements now looks to become the law of the tarmac
and hangar in January.
ARSA's problem is that the new Part 145 is hopelessly vague in
key areas, claims MacLeod. Lacking adequate guidance to clarify
and define its general language, it will leave too much discretionary
power in the hands of individual inspectors.
The document is especially deficient in the area of ratings, which
define the sorts of jobs a particular repair station is authorized
to do: Can we fix that if someone else took it off the airframe,
or not? And what exactly do you mean by "airframe,"
anyway? "Too much is left to the subjective decision-making
of each aviation safety inspector," MacLeod says. "They
haven't trained the aviation inspectors on the nuances of the
new rule."
"The nuances," she says, "are supposed to be presented
by the FAA in an advisory circular which wasn't made available
until early July and contradicts the guidance given inspectors
in a late July handbook bulletin."
"The FAA," she continues, "haven't prepared themselves or the
industry for the ramifications of the new rule. They need to set
policy that will make the inevitable enforcement actions fair and
reasonable."
