14 CFR Part 121, Subpart O - Crewmember Qualifications

This final rule conforms Federal Aviation Administration regulations to International Civil Aviation Organization standards and the Fair Treatment for Experienced Pilots Act, both of which no longer contain a pilot pairing requirement. Accordingly, this final rule removes the requirement for a pilot in command who has reached age 60 to be paired with a pilot under age 60 in international commercial air transport operations by air carriers conducting flag and supplemental operations, as well as for other pilots serving in certain international operations using civil airplanes on the U.S. registry. The removal of this restriction will allow all pilots serving on airplanes in international commercial air transport with more than one pilot to serve until age 65 without a requirement to be paired with a pilot under age 60.

The FAA is correcting a final rule published on March 4, 2015 (80 FR 11537). In that rule, the FAA amended its maintenance regulations for domestic, flag, and supplemental operations, and for commuter and on-demand operations for aircraft type certificated with a passenger seating configuration of 10 seats or more (excluding any pilot seat). The FAA originally proposed to make the effective date of the rule one year after its publication date to give affected operators time to come into compliance with the new requirements, and to allow the FAA time to review information submitted by the operators under the rule. However, in the final rule, the FAA inadvertently overlooked the proposed one-year compliance time, and included an effective date of 60 days after publication. This document corrects the effective date of that document.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) amends the maintenance regulations for domestic, flag, and supplemental operations, and for commuter and on-demand operations for aircraft type certificated with a passenger seating configuration of 10 seats or more (excluding any pilot seat). The new rules require affected air carriers and operators to develop policies, procedures, methods, and instructions for performing contract maintenance that are acceptable to the FAA, and to include them in their maintenance manuals. The rules also require the air carriers and operators to provide a list to the FAA of all persons with whom they contract their maintenance. These changes are needed because contract maintenance has increased to over 70 percent of all air carrier maintenance, and numerous investigations have shown deficiencies in maintenance performed by contract maintenance providers. These rules will help ensure consistency between contract and in-house air carrier maintenance and enhance the oversight capabilities of both the air carriers and the FAA.

This action reopens the comment period for the regulatory evaluation associated with the FAA's June 11, 2013 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), Revisions to Operational Requirements for the Use of Enhanced Flight Vision Systems (EFVS) and to Pilot Compartment View Requirements for Vision Systems. The regulatory evaluation associated with the NPRM was not posted to the docket prior to the close of the comment period. Therefore, the FAA is reopening the comment period to allow the public the opportunity to adequately analyze the full regulatory evaluation for the NPRM. The FAA will accept comments on the regulatory evaluation only; and not on the regulatory changes proposed in the NPRM.

This final rule conforms Federal Aviation Administration regulations to International Civil Aviation Organization standards and the Fair Treatment for Experienced Pilots Act, both of which no longer contain a pilot pairing requirement. Accordingly, this final rule removes the requirement for a pilot in command who has reached age 60 to be paired with a pilot under age 60 in international commercial air transport operations by air carriers conducting flag and supplemental operations, as well as for other pilots serving in certain international operations using civil airplanes on the U.S. registry. The removal of this restriction will allow all pilots serving on airplanes in international commercial air transport with more than one pilot to serve until age 65 without a requirement to be paired with a pilot under age 60.

The FAA is correcting a final rule published on March 4, 2015 (80 FR 11537). In that rule, the FAA amended its maintenance regulations for domestic, flag, and supplemental operations, and for commuter and on-demand operations for aircraft type certificated with a passenger seating configuration of 10 seats or more (excluding any pilot seat). The FAA originally proposed to make the effective date of the rule one year after its publication date to give affected operators time to come into compliance with the new requirements, and to allow the FAA time to review information submitted by the operators under the rule. However, in the final rule, the FAA inadvertently overlooked the proposed one-year compliance time, and included an effective date of 60 days after publication. This document corrects the effective date of that document.

This action proposes to interpret our regulations to not apply to flight segments that are flown by a flightcrew consisting of only two pilots and no other flight crewmembers.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) amends the maintenance regulations for domestic, flag, and supplemental operations, and for commuter and on-demand operations for aircraft type certificated with a passenger seating configuration of 10 seats or more (excluding any pilot seat). The new rules require affected air carriers and operators to develop policies, procedures, methods, and instructions for performing contract maintenance that are acceptable to the FAA, and to include them in their maintenance manuals. The rules also require the air carriers and operators to provide a list to the FAA of all persons with whom they contract their maintenance. These changes are needed because contract maintenance has increased to over 70 percent of all air carrier maintenance, and numerous investigations have shown deficiencies in maintenance performed by contract maintenance providers. These rules will help ensure consistency between contract and in-house air carrier maintenance and enhance the oversight capabilities of both the air carriers and the FAA.