Acknowledging that the Covid-19 pandemic shows few signs of abating and that meeting currency requirements and renewing expiring medical certificates poses additional risk of infections, the FAA on June 25 published a revision to its April 30 special federal aviation regulation (SFAR) 118 designed to allow flight operations of many types to continue. As we noted when discussing the original SFAR in our June 2020 issue, the new SFAR “recognizes the incompatibility of flight training with social distancing” and provides grace periods for flight reviews plus alternative compliance methods for instrument proficiency and other requirements.
According to the new rule, SFAR 118-1, “Except for medical certification, no individuals who obtained relief under the original SFAR will receive an extension of that relief.” Instead, the agency said, “SFAR 118-1 applies to new persons who may have challenges complying with certain training, recent experience, testing, and checking requirements. This relief allows operators to continue to use pilots and other crewmembers in support of essential operations during this extended period. This SFAR also provides regulatory relief to additional persons unable to meet duration and renewal requirements due to the public health emergency.” The table below highlights some, but not all, of the pending expiration dates the FAA has extended with the new SFAR.
