Working with FAA budget cutbacks

[Nigel]

There has been a number of comments re. the FAA budget cuts. I wanted to make a couple of comments about my experience with the FAA and may be start some useful conversations about getting the most from the FAA.

I am under the Seattle ACO. They are suffering like everyone else. I have found that there are some advantages to gained though. I resently got FAA PMA. The MIDO just breezed through everything as they have a budget per company to stick too. So if everything looks ok, they don't really go digging unless they have good reason. Also with the ACO, I am a heavy user of the Seattle ACO and I have found they are very open to streamlining programs. This means I am able to get alot more stuff through at the same same time. I had a meeting with my FAA project engineer, his boss and the ACO manager. We hashed out a program that will really make thigs move. This was done through a MOU.

Give your ACO a hug! It goes a long way.

Nigel Waterhouse
Can-Am Aerospace

http://www.canamaero.com

 

[737eng]

I recently attended the SW Directorate Designee's Conference in DFW and was pretty offended on how they approached this subject. One speaker plainly said that due to the budget restraints and cut backs that they weren't going to work any new projects, only focus on safety items and AD's (all this was stated with a real attitude) and then he immediately went into how the FAA is customer oriented and has a focus on customer satisfaction. What a joke. He also stated how they added more middle management, Get rid of the beauracracy in the FAA and they won't have a budget constraints.

 

[Nigel]

I have heard many people complain about the LAACO and the lack of project progress they get. I don't see how they can amke ther statement about not working any new projects, that would illegal as it is stated in the regulations that anyone can apply to the FAA. AN interesting statement though. Perhaps you should consider working through Seattle.

Nigel Waterhouse B Eng (Hon's)
Can-Am Aerospace,LLC, Canadian Aircraft Certification Centre

http://www.canamaero.com

 

[cmarinelli]

We try to work very transparently and openly with the NYACO, and it has paid off to some extent. While it does take some time for our PMA's to get approved, they eventually slog through it. We are in the process of agreeing to an MOU with the NYACO for non-critical items, and they seem quite receptive to delegating limited authority to our DER.

Basically, it comes from building a level of trust with whomever you're dealing with at the ACO. We have a great relationship with everyone at the ACO as well as MIDO. Sure, it would be better if they worked faster, but once you become adversarial, you're asking for trouble. We basically just jump through every hoop they put in front of us.

What we're worried about is the uneven playing field between the ACO's as evidenced by hundreds of PMA's coming out of Atlanta vs. NYACO or LAACO.

I rue the day that a PMA fails and causes an incident. No matter who it happens to will cause the hammer to come down on everyone.

Chris Marinelli
Dynatech Aerospace

 

[debodine]

<Beginning of Rant>

Rant-averse persons, do not read this entry!

The budget is not the only thing reduced at the FAA. The FAA also has lost much of the experience that was located in the "old hands" at the technical and engineering level. Some (certainly not all, but a disturbing number) of FAA engineers and technical people are not folks who learned engineering from the ground up. Some are there simply to fill government quotas.

My point is that to "just jump through every hoop they put in front of us" ensures compliance with bureaucratic paperwork, but it is not always compliance with good engineering judgment and years of experience.

We do many, many PMA's, so we interface constantly with the FAA. The FAA, like many corporations in America, is slowly being crushed under the weight of "bean counters" taking the place of engineers and technical people.

<End of Rant>

cmarinelli, I admire your company's dedication to compliance with the FAA, but I hope that your company (like ours) is willing to sometimes look deeper than the FAA ACO asks, if you believe the situation warrants. I hope your DER is an "old hand" with lots of that judgment and experience.

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