Proposed Rule2024-27782
FAA Requests Public Comment on Possible Delegation of Certain Air Operator Certification Tasks
Primary source
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Published
December 5, 2024
Issuing agencies
Transportation DepartmentFederal Aviation Administration
Abstract
The FAA issues this document to assess interest in and invite public comment on the possible expansion of FAA's delegation program to include new certification tasks that might be accomplished by individual designees or Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) holders. The expanded tasks being considered are certification of all commuter and on-demand operator types, excluding 10 or more passenger operations. The effort may require the FAA to initiate rulemaking corresponding with additional certification tasks for individual designees and a revision to policy for additional ODA authorized functions.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 234 (Thursday, December 5, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 234 (Thursday, December 5, 2024)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 96621-96622]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-27782]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Aviation Administration
14 CFR Part 183
[Docket No. FAA-2024-2063]
FAA Requests Public Comment on Possible Delegation of Certain Air
Operator Certification Tasks
AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Department of
Transportation.
ACTION: Request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The FAA issues this document to assess interest in and invite
public comment on the possible expansion of FAA's delegation program to
include new certification tasks that might be accomplished by
individual designees or Organization Designation Authorization (ODA)
holders. The expanded tasks being considered are certification of all
commuter and on-demand operator types, excluding 10 or more passenger
operations. The effort may require the FAA to initiate rulemaking
corresponding with additional certification tasks for individual
designees and a revision to policy for additional ODA authorized
functions.
DATES: Comments must be received by February 3, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Send comments identified by docket number FAA-2024-2063,
using any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> and
follow the online instructions for sending your comments
electronically.
Electronic mail: Send comments to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#c4fde9859297e98b8085e98ba2a2ada7a184a2a5a5eaa3abb2"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="685145293e3b45272c2945270e0e010b0d280e0909460f071e">[email protected]</span></a>.
Mail: Send comments to Docket Operations, M-30, U.S. Department of
Transportation (DOT), 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Room W12-140, West
Building Ground Floor, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
Hand Delivery or Courier: Take comments to Docket Operations in
Room W12-140 of the West Building Ground Floor at 1200 New Jersey
Avenue SE, Washington, DC, between 9 a.m., and 5 p.m., Monday through
Friday, except Federal holidays.
Fax: Fax comments to Docket Operations at (202) 493-2251.
All comments received will be posted without change to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. All comments, including attachments and other
supporting material, will become part of the public record and subject
to public disclosure.
Confidential Business Information (CBI): CBI is commercial or
financial information that is customarily and treated as private by its
owner. Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 United States
Code (U.S.C.) 552), CBI is exempt from public disclosure. If your
comments in response to this Notice contain commercial or financial
information that is customarily treated as private, that you actually
treat as private, and that is relevant or responsive to this Notice, it
is important that you clearly designate the submitted comments as CBI.
Please mark each page of your submission containing CBI as ``PROPIN''
to indicate that it contains proprietary information. FAA will treat
such marked submissions as confidential under FOIA and not place them
in the public docket of this Notice. Submissions containing CBI should
be sent to the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
section.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Scott Geddie, Policy and Oversight
Integration Section, AVS-64, AVS ODA Office, Federal Aviation
Administration, by telephone at 405-954-6897 or by email at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#77241418030359301213131e123711161659101801"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="27744448535309604243434e426741464609404851">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Delegation in the FAA has been foundational to accomplishing the
agency's safety work for nearly 100 years. Title 49 U.S.C. 44702(d)
grants the FAA the authority to delegate to private persons a matter
related to the examination, testing, and inspection necessary to issue
certificates and issuance of the certificate. Regulations implementing
those statutory requirements are contained in 14 CFR part 183,
Representatives of the Administrator. The initial rule for 14 CFR part
183 was published in 1962. Since that time, it has remained largely
unchanged with few new designee types introduced. The last significant
change occurred in 2009 with the introduction of the Organization
Designation Authorization (ODA) when existing Designated Alteration
Station (DAS), Delegation Option Authorization (DOA) and Special
Federal Aviation Regulation 36 (SFAR 36) authorization programs were
phased out. The FAA is now potentially seeking to broaden the scope of
approved tasks performed under the delegation program to assist with
FAA roles in part 135 operations certification activities.
In the last four years, the FAA Flight Standards Service (FS)
experienced a steady increase in applications for Air Carrier, Air
Operator, and Air Agency certificates. This increase has outpaced FAA's
capacity to timely process
[[Page 96622]]
applications and complete certifications.
Growing concerns from industry stakeholders, increased
congressional mandates to improve the certification process, and
continual growth of the aviation industry over the next decade will
continue to affect FAA resources available to conduct initial
certifications. Comprehensive changes in the delegation program may be
one way to increase operational performance to meet the increase in
demand and lower the impact on FS resources.
Description of Request for Comments on Expansion
To address this issue, the FAA is considering additions to and
expansion of the current delegation program to include tasks associated
with issuing operator certificates under 14 CFR part 135, excluding 10
or more passenger operations.
For individual designees, this effort would require the FAA to
initiate rulemaking to amend part 183 and add these new certification
tasks. Part 183, subpart C, Kinds of Designations: Privileges, does not
allow an individual designee to perform functions related to
operations. However, for organizations, current provisions in part 183,
subpart D, Organization Designation Authorization, specifically
Sec. Sec. 183.41, 183.59, and 183.65, already contain privileges
related to operations and may provide an efficient method to expand the
delegation program to part 135 certification tasks. Accordingly, the
FAA could expand the ODA program without rulemaking through a revision
to its policy and guidance to include the additional ODA authorized
functions for operations.
The information obtained from this Notice will assist the FAA in
determining potential interest from qualified private persons with
operations, training, and/or maintenance experience applicable to air
carrier and/or air operator certification activities, and application
activities involving FAA roles.
The FAA wishes to hear from the public and any stakeholders that
would consider participating in an FAA delegation program specific to
Part 135 certification tasks. Through this Notice, the FAA seeks
information regarding:
<bullet> Recommended certification tasks to be delegated (refer to
FAA Order 8900.1, Volume 2, Chapter 4, Section 1 through 8), available
at <a href="https://drs.faa.gov/browse/ORDER_8900.1/doctypeDetails">https://drs.faa.gov/browse/ORDER_8900.1/doctypeDetails</a>,
[cir] Phase 1--Preapplication
[cir] Phase 2--Formal Application (Safety Assurance System [SAS]
Business Process Modules 1 and 2)
[cir] Phase 3--Design Assessment (SAS Business Process Modules 2,
3, & 4)
[cir] Phase 4--Performance Assessment (SAS Business Process Modules
2, 3, & 4)
[cir] Phase 5--Administrative Functions
[cir] Single-Pilot, Single Pilot-in-Command, and Basic Part 135
Operations
[cir] Evaluate a Part 135 (Nine or Less) Certificate Holder/
Applicant's Maintenance Requirements
<bullet> Potential barriers to success,
<bullet> Steps the FAA should consider to optimize implementation
success, and
<bullet> Commenters' business information including address,
primary contact, FAA certificate(s) held, and experience with FAA
operator certification tasks.
The following is intended to be an illustrative but not
comprehensive list of possible certification tasks per FAA Order 8900.1
that are within the scope of this Notice.
<bullet> Review, evaluate, and accept certification application
documents.
<bullet> Review, evaluate, and accept or approve operator manuals
and written procedures, including operations and maintenance manuals.
<bullet> Review and evaluate personnel qualifications.
<bullet> Review and evaluate aircraft records.
<bullet> Evaluate applicant demonstration activities.
<bullet> Perform and evaluate aircraft configuration conformity.
<bullet> Review, evaluate, and approve aircraft inspection
programs.
<bullet> Review, evaluate, and approve Minimum Equipment Lists
(MEL).
<bullet> Issuance of operating certificates.
Comments Invited
The FAA invites interested parties to provide comments on this
notice and the specific information requested in the preceding
paragraph. Send your comments to an address listed under the ADDRESSES
section. The subject line should state ``Response to FAA's request for
comment on possible delegation of 14 CFR part 135 certification tasks''
and should include ``Docket No. FAA-2024-2063'' at the beginning of the
comments. The FAA will consider all comments received on or before the
closing date and will consider comments filed late if it is possible to
do so without incurring delay.
Scott A. Geddie,
Manager, AVS-64, Policy and Oversight Integration Section, AVS ODA
Office.
[FR Doc. 2024-27782 Filed 12-4-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P
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