Harmonization
Steve Prentice reports in the October issue that, recently, the FAA and EASA entered into a bilateral safety agreement, (BASA). As Steve reports there are certain possible incursions into our regulatory process contained in this agreement in the name of safety and harmonization.
I recall in the early ‘90s speaking to an FAA person of some rank at a show. We were discussing the oncoming formation of the JAA in Europe. When I asked if the FAA was concerned that it might lose its leadership position in the aviation regulatory world, he said there was no way the Europeans would ever get it together. There were too many cultural, economic, and political differences.
Well look where we are now. It appears the United States will be following the lead of our counterparts overseas in many areas including maintenance operations. To say this will have no effect on how you do your job is probably naïve.
What do you think of what is going on with EASA and the FAA? Do you think it will or will not have an effect on how you do your job? Will more jobs be outsourced overseas because of this? What can be done to try to right the ship?
We look forward to hearing from you.
I hold an EASA B1 and would have welcomed JAR 65 being adopted by FAA. Plenty of outsourcing is going overseas already (including Europe to USA) and that is being driven by cost not regulations. Suggest that harmonization of licencing should be reconsidered as a first step.
One must ask why we are being pushed toward “harmonization”. EASA has come up with a system that seems designed not to enhance safety, but topromote job security for the bureaucrats who populated the old national aviation authorities. Evidently, the FAA bureaucrats find that to be an appealing idea. In fact, the EASA scheme is highly inefficient and horribly wasteful, good only for generating an enormous pile of paper. What is the safety problem that leads FAA in this direction?
Years ago, when China was embarking on opening its civilian aviation program, it looked at all the available systems and settled on the FAA regulatory system as the best to mimic. As a result, it has been able to grow its own national system faster and with the maximum safety. This message seems to be lost in Washington.
My second observation is that “harmonization” has historically been just a code word for capitulation. Look what happened to our airspace “harmonization”. It simply meant that we changed our system to match that of the Europeans, with no safety advantage being derived.
Let’s end the “harmonization” talks before they do too much damage. We don’t need a full employment system here for bureaucrats. That is the only advantage of the EASA system.
Nick,
Just a second thought: When Congress enacted the FAA enabling legislation, they prudently provided that any new regulations would be subject to public comment and review prior to enactment. If the FAA has now agreed to adopt any EASA regulations in an effort to internationalize our system, does this not amount to an abrogation of FAA responsibility to provide that very public review process? This surely looks like a slippery slope to me. The only possible result is less public input and a continuing erosion of our freedoms.
It seems to me that we have a de facto european type of harmonization going on at this point. Try to get hired on with an operator without having experience on all of the aircraft that they operate. You might be able to get around this by getting some training at about $5,000 a pop. That would include all the expenses,travel lodging, and tuition. Nick could give us a better read out on the price.
I think we are putting the cart before the horse here. Before we can “Harmonize” with Europe, we have to Regulate ourselves. Currently, the FAA allows parasite A&P’s & IA’s with no training AND no equipment AND no current technical data to operate on a daily basis. Not only is it blatently contrary to FAA regulations it’s a major breach of safety & no one seems to be concerned about that! When we become one with ourselves grasshopper, we can then “Harmonize” with others…
Hi to all,
Hi there,
the reality now is EASA when it comes to aviation they already monopolize….especially here in the middle east only the saudi arabia is following FAA sytem and pattern….but 90% is EASA.Maybe its time now that America acts to talk with EASA that our FAA license will be accepted coz on vice versa the FAA is accepting EASA license.