Thursday, December 9, 2010

New FAR Coming Soon

A new development aircraft owners should be aware of is a new FAR expected to become effective in early 2011. Designated as FAR 121.1115 it will effectively establish a life limit on airframes. To protect against widespread fatigue damage, once the threshold is reached, the subject aircraft will either have to be permanently removed from service or undergo extensive structural modifications. In the case of the 757, the limit, called a Limit of Validity (LOV), is 50,000 flight cycles and comes into effect 60 months after publication of the FAR. The LOV will vary from model to model. The Aircraft Group can help you ascertain the specifics for your aircraft.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Aircraft Re-Registration and Renewal

On October 1, 2010 the FAA's Rule for Re-Registration and Renewal of Aircraft Registration became effective. This new regulation mandates that each registered owner re-register their aircraft every 3 years. Missing the window may result in aircraft grounding.

Aircraft owners must re-register their aircraft during filing windows detailed in the Final Rule but not less than 6 months before expiration of the certificate. Owners who do not file within the filing window will not be able to file online and will have to submit the 8050-1A paper form to the FAA. Failure to file within the filing window may risk having their current certificate expires before their re-registration has been processed which could lead to the grounding of the aircraft.

Failure to comply with the new FAA rule will result in cancellation of the aircraft registration and loss of the registration number. This grounds the aircraft, can affect insurance coverage, if the aircraft is leased or financed could violate the terms and conditions of the financing or lease agreements, and the lost registration numbers will be unavailable for assignment for a period of five years.

Although seemingly straight forward, administration of the registration renewal process can be complicated by leasing or titles held in a trust, in each case potentially resulting in unwanted grounding. As a result, The Aircraft Group has implemented a program to manage these tasks on behalf of owners. Please call us for details