Operators Complain of Ongoing RVSM Approval Headaches

For U.S. airplane owners and operators the simple four-letter acronym RVSM (for reduced vertical separation minimums, the process for reducing to 1,000 feet the separation between airplanes flying above 29,000 feet) signals the beginning of an onerous process to get formal permission from the FAA to fly in what has become an ordinary fashion. Operators complain about lengthy approval times for the required RVSM letter of authorization (LOA), FAA Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) inspectors who push RVSM manual approvals to the bottom of their large work piles and a lack of understanding even within the FAA about which entity–the owner or operator–is required to obtain the LOA.