The Feb. 13, 2025, edition of the eHotline newsletter from the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) included two news stories about FAA feedback.
The first, “Final Piper Rudder AD Rejects Most Community Input,” is about FAA Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2025-02-11.
“Numerous commenters opposed the AD when it was proposed last year, including EAA and its Vintage Aircraft Association (VAA) division,” EAA officials reported on the association’s website. “VAA invested extensive time and resources into proposing an alternative on-condition testing technique, as well as an alternative strengthening method that was minimally invasive and would not require a fabric re-cover. EAA argued for the rescinding of the AD due to its being based on a small number of occurrences, including several uniquely modified aircraft, as well as covering many low-horsepower models that have no known history of failures.
“In the end, the FAA disagreed with almost all comments that were critical of the AD and made almost no changes. The only significant concession was creating a new ‘Category IV’ for aircraft such as the J-3 and PA-11 that have low-horsepower engines installed — not removing these aircraft from the applicability list but giving them a 10-year compliance time instead of 5 years.”
I fly a J-3 owned by a friend, so I’m glad to see he has more time to comply with the AD.
But the juxtaposition of the Piper AD story and the story that followed put a smile on my face.
The second news story, “The FAA Needs Your Input,” is about the FAA’s annual General Aviation and Part 135 Survey.
From the EAA newsletter: “Participation is voluntary, but the FAA needs your help to inform funding, recommendations, and more. We encourage everyone who is contacted to respond!”
I’m not a cynical person, so if you received a notice from the FAA asking for your feedback, I hope you will speak up.
Regardless, well done EAA. Thanks for the chuckle.
