FAA CERTIFICATION CHANGES MANDATED
The FAA must change portions of its existing aircraft certification process but the overall structure will stay in place following passage of the Aircraft Certification, Safety and Accountability Act. The concept of organization delegation authorization (ODA), in which the companies themselves conduct much of the certification oversight, survived the final version of the bill, which was included in an Omnibus spending and COVID-19 relief bill. Some in Congress wanted to see ODA scrapped after the many failings of the process in the certification of the Boeing 737 MAX but the compromise bill attempts to fix it internally. FAA oversight and the standards for ODA compliance will be beefed up and manufacturers will have to adopt safety management systems. Any aircraft design changes will go through an extensive review process. The Act also includes a topto- bottom review of Boeing’s ODA, safety culture and capability to do the work.
DRONE OPERATOR FINED $182,000
A serial offender drone pilot is facing up to $182,000 in fines for numerous illegal flights, most of them over downtown Philadelphia. The operator, who ignored at least three warnings and “counselling and education” sessions by FAA officials, never missed a beat and by last August the agency had had enough. It tallied up 26 violations of Part 107 regulations ranging from flying without a special use authorization for the airspace being used to flying at night, in poor visibility and too close to buildings. The agency gathered its evidence from the numerous YouTube videos of drone footage that the man posted.
