The FAA has reorganized its certification division, scrapping the familiar Transport, Small Airplane, Engine and Propeller and Rotorcraft Directorates in favor of a new “functionally-aligned organizational structure.” Effective July 23 all certifications, whether on airliners or light aircraft, will flow, as is appropriate, through new organizations named Organizational Performance, International, Policy and Innovation, Compliance and Airworthiness, System Oversight and Enterprise Operations. The goal is to reduce the amount of time spent on certification so more emphasis can be put on known areas of concern.
“The agency expects an effective realignment to produce an incremental reduction in involvement during the certification program,” the agency said in a fact sheet issued late last week. “In turn, freed resources will be refocused on areas of high safety impact and areas that the service does not currently have the capacity to support, such as fleet safety activities, new technology, or working with emerging foreign airworthiness authorities.” Although the titles and office door signs will change immediately, the practical implementation of the changes will happen over time. “Streamlining its regulations and policies will help the industry move products to market faster and retain competitiveness,” the FAA said.
