Office of Safety Standards

Executive Leadership:

• Timothy R. Adams (A)
  Director, Office of Safety Standards
• Robert Reckert (A)
  Acting Deputy Director, Office of Safety Standards
• Vacant
  Acting Deputy Director, Office of Safety Standards
• Office of Safety Standards (AFS) Services and Contacts

The Office of Safety Standards focuses on establishing standards within the Service’s purview for operations, repair and alteration of aircraft and operations, the use of designees or delegation, flight technologies, safety promotion, and international operations. This office represents the safety policy component and shares in the representation of the Safety Risk Management (SRM) and safety promotion components of the Service’s SMS. These responsibilities are balanced across eight divisions.

The eight divisions of the Office of Safety Standards focus on the following:

1. Air carrier and air taxi operations, and the maintenance and alteration of aircraft
2. International agreements and certification and oversight for foreign entities, and determining operational suitability of aircraft
3. Operating airmen, general flight operations, UAS, and flight technologies associated with air traffic management, airspace requirements, and Instrument Flight Procedures (IFP).

The Office of Safety Standards is responsible for the following:

1. Develops, implements, and tracks regulations, guidance, and directives
2. Works collaboratively and interdependently with other Service offices, divisions, and internal and external stakeholders to identify and create awareness of trends impacting aviation safety.

The Office of Safety Standards comprises the following eight divisions:

• International Program Division
• Aircraft Evaluation Division
• Air Transportation Division
• Aircraft Maintenance Division
• Flight Technologies and Procedures Division
• General Aviation & Commercial Division
• Safety Analysis & Promotion Division

International Validation Branch

Mission

The International Validation Branch is responsible for all inbound and outbound validation activity for aviation products and appliances. This branch improves aviation safety by distributing responsibilities and staff related to validation work efficiently, and by centralizing communication focal points for the FAA and bilateral partners and facilitating future process and bilateral relationships for both inbound and outbound validation activities.

For Inbound Validations: Contact the International Validation Branch

For current AIR contact information replacing contacts in the IPAs please reference:
Aircraft Certification – New Contact Information

Aircraft Certification Service (AIR)

Compliance and Airworthiness Division (AIR-700)

The Compliance and Airworthiness Division Issues all design approvals for both domestic and foreign manufacturers as well as production and airworthiness certificates, executes COS processes, and provides flight test support.

Contact AIR-700

Leadership

• Paul Bernado, Acting Director

AIR-700 Offices

• Certification Branches
• International Validation Branch
• Military Certification Branch

Industry Drug and Alcohol Testing Program

Are you keeping our skies safe?

Drug and alcohol testing of safety-sensitive aviation employees helps protect public safety and keep our skies safe. Testing is required by the Omnibus Transportation Employees Testing Act of 1991 and by DOT and FAA regulations (49 CFR part 40 and 14 CFR part 120).

The Drug Abatement Division oversees the aviation industry's compliance with the drug and alcohol testing law and regulations. We accomplish this by performing on-site inspections, providing guidance to companies, individuals, contractors, and service agents, and establishing policies and procedures to increase the program's effectiveness. We also develop and implement regulations for DOT/FAA drug and alcohol testing.

If you can't find the answer here, please visit our Contact Us page and ask for the help you need.

Air Carrier Training Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ACT ARC)

The ACTARC provides a forum for the United States aviation community to discuss, prioritize, and provide recommendations to the FAA concerning operations conducted under parts 121, 135, and 142. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is committed to maintaining the safest air transportation system in the world. One key area to ensure a safe system is maintaining the quality of air carrier training.

The FAA must continue to review existing air carrier training and qualification regulations, policies, and guidance to ensure it is current and relevant. In addition, the FAA continues to identify new challenges with changing technology and new research that may necessitate the development of new regulations, policies, and guidance. The ARC is a key resource in the FAA’s ability to identify and address these challenges.

Brief History of the ACTARC

• Sponsored by AVS, the ACTARC was chartered on January 21, 2014.
• The ACTARC member organizations include pilot, flight attendant, and dispatcher training stakeholders across part 121 air carriers, part 135 air carriers and operators, part 142 training centers, and safety advocacy organizations.

Industry Co-Chair: Rob Thomas, Managing Director Flight Standards, United Airlines
FAA Co-Chair: Lee P. Abbott, Manager, Air Transportation Division, Training & Simulation Group Manager, AFS-280

ACTARC Charter

ACTARC Products

Flight Procedures and Airspace Group

LVO/SMGCS Program

Low Visibility Operations/Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (LVO/SMGCS)

The following lists are continually revised and although information is believed to be accurate, users should confirm the latest information from the airport such as Automatic Terminal Information Service (ATIS):

• Accepted LVO/SMGCS Airports(MS Excel)
• Order 8000.94, Procedures for Establishing Airport Low-Visibility Operations and Approval of Low-Visibility Operations/Surface Movement Guidance and Control Systems Operations.
• AC 120-57, Surface Movement Guidance and Control System

Flight Operations Group

Flight Operations Group

Satellite Based Navigation (SatNav)

Note: If using Internet Explorer (I.E.), download pdf files by right clicking on the link and selecting: "Save target as..." . Some pdf files on this page may cause I.E. to hang and/or crash

The FAA plans to transition the U.S. National Airspace System (NAS) navigation infrastructure to enable performance-based navigation (PBN) as part of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). The FAA plans to transition from defining airways, routes and procedures using VHF Omni-directional Range (VOR) and other legacy navigation aids towards a NAS based on Area Navigation (RNAV) everywhere and Required Navigation Performance (RNP) where ben-eficial. Such capabilities will be enabled largely by the Global Positioning System (GPS) and its augmentations such as the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) and Ground Based Aug-mentation System (GBAS). As a result of this transition, the need for ground-based navigation services will diminish, and the number of federally provided ground-based facilities will be re-duced accordingly, but with sufficient time for users to equip with SATNAV avionics.

Navigation Programs – Satellite Navigation

Flight Technologies and Procedures Division

Useful Links

FAA Guidance and Record

• Civil Aviation Registry
• Dynamic Regulatory System (DRS)
• Inspectors Handbook
• Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs)
• Strategic Lateral Offset Procedure (SLOP)
• Technical Standards Orders

Joint FAA / Industry organizations

• Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) (Limited Access)
• Equip 2020 (Limited Access)
• Performance Based Operations Aviation Rulemaking Committee (PARC)

Flight Procedures and Airspace activities

• Aeronautical Charting Meeting – Instrument Procedures Group (ACM-IPG)
• Air Traffic Command Center
• Air Traffic Plans and Publications
• FAA Satellite Navigation Programs
• Jeppesen
• National Aeronautical Charting Office (NACO)
• National Geodetic Survey (NGS) Aeronautical Survey Program

International Aviation Organizations

• European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)
• International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
• ICAO Regional Offices
• Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA)

Aircraft Registration Branch Responsibilities

The Aircraft Registration Branch issues approximately 126,000 aircraft registration certificates and processes approximately 184,000 documents affecting title to or interest in aircraft, engines, propellers, and air carrier spare part locations annually. The Registry reserves and assigns all U.S. identification marks (N-Numbers) to U.S. civil aircraft.

We maintain the permanent records of over 290,000 active civil aircraft and provide electronic access to those records for review to users of the Public Documents Room located in the Registry Building at the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

We are responsible for the review, evaluation, and development of any new or amended regulations pertaining to aircraft registration and the recordation of documents contained in Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations, Parts 47 and 49, and petitions for exemptions thereof.