The FAA on December 6 issued its interim final rule on a controversial new aging-aircraft inspection regime proposed for multi-engine airplanes operating under Parts 121, 129 and 135. Scheduled to take effect next December 8, the rule would require such airplanes to undergo inspections and record reviews after their 14th year of service and at “specified intervals thereafter.” The mandate essentially disregards objections raised by the Regional Airline Association and a number of U.S. regional airlines over the cost implications of its damage-tolerance inspection requirements, even in the case of commuter-category airplanes for which such programs do not exist.
Although it excludes airplanes operating within Alaska and allows for service-history-based inspections on airplanes with fewer than 10 passenger seats, the rule will likely result in the grounding of types whose operator base cannot justify the cost of recertifying their airplanes to more stringent damage-tolerance-based regimes, according to RAA technical affairs director Dave Lotterer. “This one is really bad, especially for charter operators and people who rely on these airplanes,” said Lotterer, who specifically identified the de Havilland Canada Twin Otter, Fokker F27, Beech 1900 and Jetstream 31/32 as models whose certification did not require damage-tolerance-based inspection programs. “Even if you have a damage-tolerant program, you still have to go through a process that begs the question, ‘How flexible is the FAA going to be?’ This is, in effect, a process of recertifying everybody’s maintenance program. It’s very disturbing.”
