Yesterday, we reported that nearly 3000 additional FAA staff had been ordered back to work. The FAA has confirmed that this number will include some Aircraft Certification staff.
As of today the MIDO’s are nearly up to full strength. The FAA’s focus is on returning the MIDO employees to work, restructuring oversight plans, and starting surveillance up again.
This should be good news for anyone who needs their MIDO to approve quality system changes, renew a delegation, or advise on quality issues.
Some Aircraft Certification engineers are also returning. They will likely NOT be performing regular certification work (such as issue of PMAs). Instead, we should expect to see them focused on continued airworthiness tasks, like working on airworthiness directives, supporting accident investigations and providing oversight to ODAs and individual designees. Many of the engineering managers are already working, and they are evaluating what work can be conducted under the revised DOT guidance. The return of engineering staff appears to be a gradual (and ongoing) process.
The total number of aircraft certification engineering staff remains small – on the order of a hundred individuals that hold an engineering classification in both management and non-management positions – but this return will help to ensure that the FAA is able to maintain safety.
These returning FAA employees will continue to work without pay until the lapse in funding has ended. Congress passed a bi-partisan bill to ensure payment of back-pay to the federal employees, and that bill was signed by the President yesterday, so we know they will be paid, eventually. MARPA continues to empathize with the FAA staff whose pay remains withheld, but we also remain proud of the dedicated FAA staff who are returning to their safety mission during the funding lapse.
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